Key Takeaways
- Pairing Experian Marketing Attributes with Psympl’s Motivation Mindsets showed FreeStar both whom to reach and how to talk to them, turning 10,000 qualified prospects into $1.2 million in new deposits within 30 days.
- Motivation-based messaging kept paying off after the first campaign, driving a 337% increase in First Mortgage loan applications and an average loan size more than $132,000 higher when comparing 2025 with 2026.
Financial institutions have access to extensive consumer and customer data that they can tap into to drive new deposits. But they often fall short when it comes to identifying qualified prospects and having a better understanding of what would motivate those consumers to take action.
This is the issue that faced FreeStar Financial Credit Union, a member-focused financial institution providing banking, lending and financial services to its members. For its high-yield savings campaign, FreeStar needed to narrow a broad universe of potential consumers into a highly qualified audience based on factors such as proximity to a branch, age and investable assets, then develop messaging that would resonate with the different motivations driving financial decisions.
The goal was to connect audience intelligence with more personalized communications and ultimately turn marketing engagement into measurable deposit growth.
Which Partners Helped FreeStar Reach Its Deposit Growth Goals?
To reach its goals, FreeStar worked with Psympl and agency partner MarketMatch, combining Experian Marketing Attributes with Psympl’s Motivation Activation approach.
Powered by Experian’s consumer intelligence, its solutions help marketers better understand their customers and prospects, build and activate audiences, and deliver more relevant experiences across channels. The marketer combines data, analytics and technology to help organizations identify the right consumers, uncover actionable insights and drive measurable marketing outcomes.
How Did Experian and Psympl Build a Qualified, Motivated Audience?
Experian provided the demographic and behavioral intelligence needed to identify and qualify 10,000 consumer prospects. FreeStar used criteria including proximity to a branch, age range and a minimum level of investable assets to focus the campaign on consumers who fit its acquisition goals.
Psympl then layered its psychographic Motivation Mindsets onto the qualified audience to help FreeStar understand what could motivate different consumers to act. Those insights informed tailored communications promoting a 4% high-yield savings account across a direct mail drop and geotargeted digital advertising.
The approach gave FreeStar a way to connect audience selection and messaging. Experian helped determine whom the credit union should reach, while Psympl helped inform how FreeStar should communicate with those consumers based on their motivations.
What Results Did FreeStar’s High-Yield Savings Campaign Deliver?
The campaign translated consumer intelligence and motivation-based messaging into measurable business growth. Within two weeks, FreeStar Financial generated $690,000 in new deposits. Within 30 days, that figure reached $1.2 million, delivering a 3X return on the first campaign.
The results also encouraged FreeStar to expand the approach beyond its initial high-yield savings campaign. The credit union has since applied Motivation Activation across lending, digital banking and member communications. In a subsequent First Mortgage campaign using the approach, FreeStar reported a 337% increase in loan applications and an increase of more than $132,000 in average loan size when comparing 2025 with 2026.
“We started with a focus on a marketing campaign and ended up with something bigger,” said Jennifer Martines, Chief Growth Officer of FreeStar Financial Credit Union. “Knowing what motivates a member changes how we market, but it also changes how we lend, how we serve, and how we talk to people every day.”
What Can B2B Marketers Learn From FreeStar’s Data-Driven Approach?
The FreeStar Financial campaign demonstrates how marketers can make consumer intelligence more actionable by connecting audience qualification with complementary partner solutions, Kevin Dunn, Chief Revenue Officer at Experian. Experian Marketing Attributes provided granular demographic and behavioral context that helped FreeStar identify the right consumers for the campaign, while Psympl added motivation-based insights to inform how those consumers were engaged.
The model is designed to be flexible. Experian’s consumer intelligence can be applied alongside marketers’ chosen technology and activation partners, enabling organizations to build on their existing marketing ecosystem rather than requiring a closed or prescriptive approach.
“Experian’s consumer intelligence gives marketers granular demographic and behavioral context, so they can identify the right consumers and understand what makes them different,” said Dunn.
