Geear & A Federal Credit Union
Turning siloed banking data into a reliable, credit-union-ready CRM
Due to strict regulatory and compliance requirements inherent to the financial services industry, our client, a regional Credit Union, has requested that their specific brand name remain anonymous for this public submission. While the name is redacted for public-facing materials, all performance data and technical milestones included are fully verified. We have secured client approval for this 'anonymous' submission to showcase the technical solution and impact achieved within their HubSpot portal.
This Credit Union in the Southeast (CUSE) is a $1.9B-asset financial institution serving members across the Southeastern U.S. The organization has 200+ employees and a rapidly growing member base, supported by HubSpot's Enterprise Suite.
The Challenge
By the time CUSE partnered with Geear (formerly WebStrategies), they were struggling with a HubSpot implementation that hadn’t been designed for the realities of a credit union.
Disconnected systems:
CORE banking, loan origination, survey tools and other platforms were not integrated, creating data silos and inconsistencies across member records.
Manual workflows:
Key data had to be manually exported and imported, which limited how often CUSE could refresh their CRM and made any attempt at near‑real‑time reporting basically impossible
Attribution blind spots:
The team couldn’t reliably connect marketing engagement and member interactions to specific applications, products or outcomes.
Plus, previous implementation partner mismatch:
Their earlier HubSpot partner “didn’t really understand credit unions”, leaving them with partial building blocks but no coherent architecture for lending, deposits and branch‑level reporting. After a year with HubSpot and a different partner, they still didn't have data imported, didn't have attribution reporting, and were still dependent on a system they didn't want. They were desperate to get off their original system and migrate all the data and workflows to HubSpot.
These challenges were amplified by CUSE’s context: a fast‑moving organization with leadership changes (a new CEO and CFO) and a strategic pivot towards new-member growth. To execute on that strategy, they needed HubSpot to operate as a proper CRM and operational system of record, not just a marketing automation tool.
The Solution:
A credit‑union‑specific architecture powered by Skyvia, custom objects and HubDB
Geear rebuilt CUSE’s HubSpot environment around our recommended architecture for credit unions, with Skyvia as the integration backbone and a heavy focus on data quality, operational reporting, and frontline usability.-2.png)
1. Data Integration with Skyvia as the Hub
CUSE uses Skyvia as middleware to move data from multiple systems into HubSpot. Geear:
- Helped CUSE select, set up, map and manage their Skyvia integrations so that data lands in HubSpot in the right structure.
- Configured 25 different imports running throughout the day. Applications sync hourly from 8:00–17:00, while customers, deposits, loans and surveys run on daily schedules.
- Continues to monitor and troubleshoot these jobs alongside CUSE’s IT/BI teams, keeping data as close to real‑time as possible and dramatically reducing the manual lift that would otherwise fall on internal staff.
This middleware approach lets Geear own the complexity of the integration while CUSE benefits from fast time‑to‑value and dependable data.
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2. A member-centric data model and custom objects
To support credit‑union‑specific use cases, Geear designed and implemented:
- A Member custom object to track member‑level activity separately from individual contacts.
- Additional custom objects to represent products, applications and other relationships that don’t map neatly to standard CRM objects.
- An adaptable integration that can be easily updated as additional data was needed for new strategies.
Geear also introduced a solution combining a custom object with a dedicated HubDB table to keep members informed on rate changes. When interest rates change in the HubDB table, members and prospects are emailed, about favorable changes (for example, mortgage rate drops) when they’re most likely to act.
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3. Custom-coded workflows that make the data trustworthy
The team has built a range of custom‑coded workflows to make reporting accurate and reliable:
- Referring officer & branch logic – uses a HubDB table with employee details to set the correct referring officer and branch on deals, which is critical because branch‑level KPIs and compensation depend on accurate attribution.
- Date handling – converts string dates into proper date formats so application and membership lifecycle reports are accurate and filterable.
- Email changes & deduplication – manages “current” vs “previous” email addresses and leverages member IDs so email changes don’t create duplicate records.
- Renaming and re‑associating data – standardises property names and associations so data from different systems can be reported on consistently.
Examples include workflows that monitor HubDB rate tables and send rate‑change emails, automatically associate members with contacts and deals, classify members as primary or joint, set age‑range properties for segmentation and reporting, and send annual birthday emails to active members.
These solutions go well beyond standard “click‑to‑configure” features and reflect deep understanding of HubSpot, HubDB and the realities of credit‑union data.
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Custom Coded Workflow Examples
4. Pipelines, workflows, and adoption across the organization
On top of this data model, Geear and CUSE have built around 15 pipelines spanning core deposits, time deposits, loans, applications and a full referral pipeline used by frontline staff. These pipelines pull data from the CORE, MeridianLink, survey tools and other systems into HubSpot, supported by hundreds of workflows that:
- Automatically create deals when key forms are submitted.
- Route and assign tasks to marketing, lending and member‑experience teams.
- Push notifications into tools like Teams so staff can act quickly without constantly checking HubSpot.
Geear also collaborates closely with CUSE’s IT and call‑centre partners on API and private‑app design, ensuring the overall architecture stays cohesive as new integrations are added. Today, 143 active HubSpot users across the organisation rely on this setup in their day‑to‑day work.
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Operational efficiency & time savings
- Automated Skyvia integrations now refresh data multiple times per day instead of relying on manual imports, freeing CUSE's internal HubSpot owner from what would otherwise be a near full‑time data‑upload role.
- Workflows automate hand‑offs between marketing, lending and member‑experience teams; tasks are created and routed automatically, and in some cases surfaced via Teams notifications so staff can act quickly.
Data quality & reporting
- Geear’s custom code and data‑cleaning workflows have significantly reduced inconsistencies in fields and naming, making reports reliable enough to tie directly to compensation and KPIs.
- CUSE now has a member conversion funnel dashboard, tracking the journey from page views to membership applications. Insights from this reporting have led the team to adjust the application itself to improve conversion.
- A survey process now captures why prospective members abandon the application, giving CUSE data to inform further optimisation.
Multi‑system visibility
- HubSpot now aggregates data from the CORE, loan origination system, survey tools and other sources into a single place, enabling branch‑level reporting and cross‑team visibility that simply didn’t exist before.
The sheer amount of data that CUSE brings in would actual be impossible to do on a daily basis in a manual way - it would require going into at least six separate systems and downloaded queries, etc. Not possible to do on a daily basis.
Since June of 2025, their email health has gone from a 6 to a 9 (excellent). This is anchored by how well their automated emails do!
The Impact: HubSpot as an operational backbone, not just a marketing tool
Beyond process improvements, the transformation at CUSE is organizational
HubSpot adoption across the organization:
More than 100 staff across frontline teams, lending, marketing and operations now use HubSpot in their day‑to‑day work. It has become integral to CUSE’s operations, not a side‑tool for one team.
From underutilized tool to core platform:
CUSE previously saw HubSpot primarily as a marketing automation platform. Through Geear’s work, they now treat HubSpot as the foundation of their tech stack. It is now the CRM that underpins lending, referrals, reporting and member engagement.
Referral and frontline empowerment:
MLOs and frontline staff use HubSpot pipelines to manage deals and referrals, supported by accurate routing and reporting logic that they could not have implemented on their own
Leadership confidence & strategic alignment:
With branch‑level and funnel reporting in place, leadership can see how initiatives support the strategic shift towards new member growth. HubSpot data now influences decisions about other systems and processes, such as membership applications.
Geear (WebStrategies) has been incredible in our HubSpot implementation within our organization. They are responsive, knowledgeable, and have incredibly positive customer service. When we need something, they are able to come up with ways to fit our unique situations and quickly put the plan in action, keeping us informed every second of the way. Additionally, they let us drive within the platform so we can get the hands-on experience we need. We cannot recommend them enough!
— Charlotte S.
Client
The financial sector presents unique challenges when it comes to finding the right HubSpot partner who truly understands our needs…From the moment we engaged their services, Geear (WebStrategies) demonstrated a deep understanding of our complex and highly regulated industry. Since partnering with Geear within 3 months, our data infrastructure has been completely overhauled, operational workflows have been streamlined for maximum efficiency along with cleaning up our data, and our marketing efforts have been fully automated. Despite the challenges posed by our systems, the FI sector, Geear found innovative solutions to seamlessly integrate multiple data sources through a cloud-based API, ensuring a successful launch of HubSpot in simply 3 months … I'd highly recommend WebStrategies as a HubSpot partner for any complex industry or a forward-thinking data-driven company.
— Jason N.
Client
AI Use in Focus
While the heart of this solution is the architecture and custom development, CUSE is beginning to leverage HubSpot’s AI capabilities on top of this strong data foundation.
Current AI usage
- CUSE uses Content Remix on key pages such as their “Join Now / Join CUSE” membership page to refine copy and support better conversion.
- Geear has consulted on their customer agent setup, advising on training and configuration even though that initiative is still evolving.
Near‑term roadmap
- Geear and CUSE are planning to implement AI‑driven lead scoring for member value, with scores or tags copied onto the Member object. This will drive future automation and reporting around member engagement and prioritisation.
- Leverage HubSpot Data Agent for internal insights and efficiency
- Use Data Agent to summarize contact, deal, and campaign data, answer ad-hoc performance questions, and generate quick insights for internal teams (for example, identifying trends in member behavior, surfacing common inquiry themes, or supporting reporting without manual data pulls). This helps reduce time spent on analysis while improving decision-making using existing HubSpot data.
- Because CUSE’s data is now clean, structured and integrated across systems, they are well‑positioned to adopt more advanced AI features as they mature.
