CAREONE DEBT RELIEF SERVICES

CareOne Services Inc. is a debt relief company that offers customers a variety of solutions to help manage a complex array of financial problems.  Formed in 2002, CareOne offers all potential customers a customized plan to support their journey out of debt and further ensure future financial stability. In 2005, CareOne created a community as a resource for their customers to connect with experts and other customers in similar situations. In 2009, CareOne began devoting resources to social media and has since grown to a team of 4 dedicated team members.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

  • CareOne has implemented an end to end measurement strategy for social media within the organization.
  • CareOne has shown that involvement with their online social media community has a tremendous impact on their ability to convert and retain new customers.
    • There are two major points in the conversion process: (1) Signing up for a Plan and (2) Making the First Payment.
    • Social Media has the greatest impact on leads that have not finished the process to sign up for a debt relief plan. Prospects that interact with the community after abandoning a lead form showed a 680% improvement in ultimately signing up for a debt relief plan and a 732% improvement in making their first payment, when compared to those who did not interact with the community.
    • Social Media also has a positive impact on prospects that have not yet begun the process to sign up for a debt relief plan. Prospects who interact with the community  before filling out a lead form show a 179% improvement in ultimately signing up for a debt relief plan and a 217% improvement in making their first payment, when compared to those who did not interact with the community.
    • Customers who interact with the community at some point in their debt relief program are more successful in paying off their debt and staying on their plan. CareOne has seen an 18% improvement in retention rates with customers who use the community when compared to customers who do not.

THE IMPACT OF THE CAREONE COMMUNITY

  • CareOne’s most successful social media initiative has been it’s online community. 
  • The community has been active for over five years
  • The community is open to anyone who wants to join and currently boasts over 1.4 million members
  • The social media team created new interactive features which have increased connectivity amongst community members.
    • Personalized tag clouds – Members can create a tag cloud that describes who they are and why they joined the community.
    • Badges – Members receive badges that tell community members which path they have selected to get out of debt, either On their Own, Debt Management, or Debt Settlement. They also receive separate badges which share their level of involvement in the community from newbie to active member to expert. This has allowed community members to quickly customize feedback and tips specific to the plan the customer is on.  
  • This short video is a great overview:

  • The ultimate objective is to help people on their journey out of debt. Because the community has many members who are not CareOne customers there is an opportunity to convert community members into active customers by showing them the value CareOne’s services can add to their lives.


CAREONE + SOCIAL MEDIA: THE APPROACH

  • The CareOne social media team has one mission. To help support as many people who are struggling with debt as possible.

“Bernie Dancel, CareOne’s founder, had a big impact on our strategy in the beginning. His motto is that our customers are the REAL experts. Our team has been working diligently to give our customers a voice. We want people to know that they aren’t alone. They aren’t bad people because they got into debt. Our customers have amazingly uplifting stories of how they got into debt and what they are doing to regain financial control. The more we can do to spread the word about their stories, the more good we can do for others.” Nichole Kelly, Director of Social Media, CareOne Services, Inc.

  • CareOne has been able to leverage a vast library of content to help people get out of debt with blogs, webinars, guides and other resources. These resources have been the backbone that supports their social media strategy.
  • They are in the early stages of expanding their presence into Twitter and Facebook. They selected the @AskCareOne Twitter account as the primary account to answer debt questions and share resources. They also have the @ADivorcedMom Twitter account which is run by Suzanne Cramer, a team member who is twice-divorced and understands the havoc a divorce can have on your finances. One of their most prominent accounts is @DebtDiva where Clarky Davis shares her frugal tips. Shortly, the group will be making a big splash on Facebook and Twitter with accounts dedicated to customer’s sharing their personal stories.

THE CAREONE SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM

Ali Landow, Director of Customer Experience
Suzanne Coblentz, Social Media Manager
Suzanne Cramer, External Social Media Specialist
Tammy Bradford, Internal Social Media Specialist

Led by Ali Landow, the CareOne Social Media Team has largely redefined the place of social media within the debt relief industry with a vast array of largely successful social media efforts to reach out to individual who would find real value in CareOne’s services.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • The CareOne Social Media Team has firmly established a corporate position of transparency. 
  • With their redesign of the CareOne community, they have introduced cutting edge features that promote connectivity and relationship building among community members. 
  • They have upgraded content to provide more relevant and timely information to community members. 
  • They host informative webinars as a way to offer an additional channel of engagement as well as address opportunities to improve the overall customer experience. 
  • These widespread community enhancements have resulted in a significant and measurable increase in customer retention.

MORE ON THE CAREONE COMMUNITY

FORUMS:  The CareOne community hosts two forums: “Ask the Community”, where community members answer each other’s questions and “Ask the CareOne Expert,” where certified debt counselors provide answers to a wide variety of questions. 

BLOGS:  All of the content provided on the CareOne blogs are created with the objective of offering useful, actionable advice and insights to community members.

The My Journey Out Of Debt blog is where CareOne customers share their stories, tips, and inspirations. The social media team began creating a monthly “spotlight” where they interviewed an active community member who stood out while helping others. These members are asked for tips they would recommend for others who are struggling with debt.

“If you want to be successful the very first thing you need to do is to change your mindset; stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. It's fine to have wants-- we all do-- but you need to be prepared to accept that they are not actually needs. The truth is, you don't need as much as you think you do to be happy.” Susan aka Squade

“Make connections.  I have people that I am connected with.  We don't send out private messages very often, but we all know that we can count on one another to help when we are feeling overwhelmed, but don't want to share with everyone else.  Some of us share tools (budgets, amortization schedule worksheets, etc...) and sometimes we share what is happening in our lives that we don't share with the rest of the Community.  I feel I have made some great friends who understand what I am going through.” Monica aka Mdavis1964

OTHER CAREONE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

TWITTER:

AskCareOne: This Twitter account is dedicated to answering questions about debt, managing money, frugal living and any other topic the community wants to chat about. This account is run by Suzanne Cramer, a certified credit counselor.

ADivorcedMom: When Suzanne Cramer decided to divorce her second husband she decided to share her personal story and help others avoid financial disaster that is so easy to fall into when overwhelmed with the emotions of a divorce. She shares her story on Twitter and on her Divorce, Debt and Finances blog

DebtChronicles: CareOne launched a new type of Twitter account. This account is managed by Travis, an amazingly inspirational customer blogger and community member.  Travis openly shares his story with followers and encourages others to share their debt story and tips for those who are on their journey out of debt.

MINT ANSWERS: AskCareOne: The social media team takes an active role in answering debt related questions and providing personal finance tips in the Mint Answers Community and quickly rose as a Top User.

TALK TO THE PEOPLE BEHIND CAREONE'S SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS

CAREONE CUSTOMERS AND ACTIVE COMMUNITY MEMBERS

TRAVIS PIZEL

Travis is a contributing writer for the My Journey Out of Debt blog and is a very active member of the CareOne community forums.  Travis is currently enrolled in a CareOne Debt Management Plan and in his posts he shares his personal journey to pay off his debt and the tips he’s learned along the way.  As a father and husband he provides a unique perspective on balancing debt, finances, and family. Travis also tweets @DebtChronicles.

MONICA DAVIS

Monica decided to seek professional debt help when she and her husband divorced in 2009.  In her efforts to quickly understand how debt management plans work and how she could reap the greatest benefits from her own CareOne Debt Management Plan, Monica has become an active member of the CareOne community.  Having recently made her eighth payment to CareOne, Monica is well on her way to being completely debt free.

ABOUT CAREONE

  • To date, CareOne has helped over 5 million people and counting.   
  • Since 2002, they’ve helped facilitate over $650 million in payments to creditors.
  • CareOne offers a variety of debt relief solutions, enabling them to be able to focus on the needs of the consumer and the best option for each individual.
  • Over 30% of all consumers who contact CareOne are simply looking for budget assistance to help them manage their present financial situation.
  • CareOne offers budget assistance free of charge and never pushes inquiring consumer to enroll in unnecessary debt relief plans.
  • Of approximately 70,000 new inquiries made in the last year, less than 35 Better Business Bureau complaints were filed against CareOne.
  • Resolving complaints is a very high priority and CareOne maintains an A rating with the BBB.

ABOUT THIS RESOURCE PORTAL


This portal contains information about CareOne Debt Relief Services, Inc., the CareOne community and key metrics surrounding its success in the area of social media measurement.  This brief has been prepared to serve as a resource for those interested in learning more about the CareOne community.  Please feel free to reference any of the information or resources listed below as necessary.  You are welcome to link to the CareOne community in any written content created.  We hope you find this information insightful and instructive.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:   Contact Suzanne Coblentz, scoblentz@CareOneCredit.com