Swaystack recently announced our partnership with Colorado-based On Tap Credit Union, addressing one of community banking’s most costly blind spots, the period between account opening and member activation.
That space, measured in days, not months, carries disproportionate weight. It determines deposit depth, primary financial relationships, and long-term growth. Most institutions treat it as an operational step. On Tap Credit Union chose to treat it as a strategy.
Acquisition numbers look healthy across the industry, yet the economics underneath tell another story. Too many accounts open without gaining traction. Too many members complete enrollment but never take the next step that signals commitment. The cost of early inactivity multiplies beneath the surface—unrealized deposits, weaker primacy, and declining share of wallet.
The team at On Tap Credit Union sought to make that invisible gap visible and turned to Swaystack to help define the markers of early engagement in behavioral, measurable terms.
Together, the teams built a gamified onboarding framework designed to move members from intention to engagement. The implementation aligned Q2 Digital Banking and HubSpot into a unified environment that turns early member activity into insight and action. Unlike traditional digital onboarding tools that route members to external microsites, Swaystack keeps the journey inside online banking, where members already are.
The onboarding experience now:
- Helps new members fund accounts, set up direct deposits, and transfer recurring payments to build account utility from day one.
- Engages indirect members with guided pathways into everyday banking, included in the next phase, to turn a single loan into a broader relationship.
- Uses personalized prompts based on behavior and timing to increase completion of key onboarding actions.
- Sends engagement data to marketing and service teams to connect member activity with institutional response.
“We knew we were leaving value on the table. Accounts were being opened, but cards weren’t becoming top of wallet, and members weren’t always taking the steps needed to switch their everyday spending,” said Janelle Herrera, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at On Tap Credit Union. “Swaystack allows us to apply our Crafting Solutions approach at the right moment by identifying early signals, removing friction, and helping members complete the actions that truly activate the relationship. Our teams are more aligned, our standards are higher, and members feel supported from day one.”
For today’s credit unions, the window between account opening and action is the new battleground. Members don’t need convincing; they need direction.
“The cost of silence after acquisition is the most expensive line item most institutions never measure,” said Har Rai Khalsa, CEO and Co-Founder of Swaystack. “On Tap Credit Union approached onboarding as an enterprise problem, not a marketing campaign. That shift changes everything. Because when you define the early journey, you define the lifetime value that follows.”
The On Tap Credit Union and Swaystack partnership signals a mindset shift taking hold across forward-leaning credit unions, from viewing onboarding as a compliance requirement to treating it as the first act of relationship management. It’s an operational discipline, a data exercise, and a cultural statement all at once.
Because the future of community banking won’t be won by who opens the most accounts, it will be defined by who earns the most trust, earliest.
If you’re navigating similar challenges, let’s compare notes and chart a path forward.