Signals from the Field

Last Month at the Financial Brand Conference (April 2025), Sean Payant, Chief Strategy Officer at Haberfeld, delivered a powerful challenge to credit union leaders: Stop letting outdated assumptions limit your growth potential.

His session, "Overcoming Strategic Contradictions in the Banking C-Suite", exposed several internal beliefs that sound smart on the surface, but in reality, hold credit unions back from achieving sustainable, meaningful growth.

One of the most impactful sessions at the Financial Brand Conference (April 2025) was led by Sean Payant, Chief Strategy Officer at Haberfeld. His session, Overcoming Strategic Contradictions in the Banking C-Suite, zeroed in on a critical growth opportunity for credit unions: earning and growing the Primary Financial Institution (PFI) relationship.

Here’s why that matters more than ever and how your credit union can win that spot.

The Financial Brand Conference (April 2025) provided powerful insights into the evolving definition of "community" and its implications for credit unions today.

One session that really stood out was, "What Will Save Community Banking?" led by Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President of SLD (Shikatani Lacroix Design). He offered research-backed guidance that every credit union leader needs to hear.

Here's what we learned, and why credit unions are uniquely positioned to thrive.

Credit unions thrive on relationships. Whether you're trying to improve the onboarding experience, understand why members close accounts, or measure satisfaction after a loan closes, the only way to truly know how you're doing is to ask.

Email automation can be one of the most powerful tools in a Credit Union marketer’s toolkit. When used strategically, it not only improves engagement, but also enhances the member experience, drives conversions, and strengthens relationships over time.

To help you visualize what’s possible, we’ve broken down automation ideas into three key stages of the member journey: Lead Generation, Member Experience, and Promoter Engagement. These examples are based on real workflows we’ve implemented using HubSpot for Credit Unions.

Each section below includes a quick explanation and a table of workflow ideas you can adapt for your credit union.

Member retention is a big challenge for credit unions. The key to success is making personalized and proactive experiences for members. HubSpot offers strong tools so Credit unions can use data, automation, and member engagement to boost retention. Here’s how.