WRITTEN BY CHELSEA
Management guru Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” It is a “law” of any business: It is more cost effective to keep your current customers satisfied than it is to look for new customers to replace them. A recent Ernst and Young global consumer survey found that 25% of customers changed banks in 2011 due to poor levels of personalized service and branch location proximity. While it would be nice to think that most of them switched from banks to credit unions as part of Bank Transfer Day, odds are that plenty went the other direction too.
Successful credit unions will look at all aspects of their operations for opportunities to retain current members by constantly striving to improve their member experience.
The phrase ‘member experience’ is broad and encompasses practically every aspect of a credit union. There are many ways credit unions can improve the member experience. Loyalty programs, financial education, and community involvement are a few things your credit union may want to look at adjusting. There is another area of member experience, however, that is often overlooked even though it comprises a large part of your members’ interaction with your credit union: ATMs.
