3 keys for designing member experience

Wise organizations know that creating exceptional customer experiences can build loyalty, make employees happier, reduce costs and grow revenue.  So how will you create exceptional experiences for the human beings that are your members and employees? Now and in the future?

Think of positive experiences where you felt valued and understood.  Painless experiences that left you feeling satisfied. Connected and loyal to the company.

Take a step back and think about your employees and members.  What do they want? What are their challenges and concerns?

Think about the future.  Who will you be serving? What types of experiences will they want?  What technology will they be using?

In January 2019, Filene published research outlining what the credit union of the 21st century will look like.  They explored trends and factors that will be important to capture peoples’ time, attention and and money.  It’s an interesting read if you haven’t already checked it out.

Here are three keys to keep in mind:

1. Focus on the people, not the product.  We typically want to focus on the solution instead of the problem.  Start with understanding the person, their problems, hopes, dreams, values and barriers.  Your product offerings will evolve from there. That’s the essence of a human-centered design approach.  And incorporate behavioral science to focus on how to reduce friction.

2. Engage with the right partners. Your credit union will need partners because you simply won’t have all the necessary resources in-house.  You’ll need to leverage mission-aligned partners for their unique capabilities, expertise and perspectives.  Be selective in choosing your partners. Insist on organizations that are committed to win-win-win partnerships that lead to wins for everyone — your members, your credit union and the partner.  You can find helpful partnership insights by checking out our free whitepaper on CUES called Building Successful Nonprofit-Fintech Partnerships.

3. Take time to reflect and learn. Build in small chunks and focus on learning.  Commit to a process of testing, measuring, analyzing, tweaking — and then begin the process of testing again.  Or kill the test and move on. Embrace learning from your mistakes.

The future will be here before we know it.  One thing is certain — the future will be different.  What will yours look like?