Credit unions and members: A relationship, not a transaction

When members walk into your branches, call the contact center or use one of your remote channels, how challenging is it to use your credit union’s product and services?  Do members feel as though their experience was easy and they were helped by knowledgeable people?  Or, do they walk away feeling as though the experience was a struggle and too difficult?  

If the answer is the latter, you’ve got a problem. To grow your business and convert new members, impersonal, transactional sales-and-service models have got to go.

Consumers have plenty of choice in the financial services marketplace. Strong as they are, your product offerings, savings and marketing won’t be enough to stand out. To truly compete, you need to offer a meaningful member experience at every touch point with the member.

Building an experience for your members can lead to significant growth in engagement, revenue and member loyalty. But to get there, it’s critical to take a hard look at your processes, culture and philosophy.

At CUNA Member Experience Sales & Service School, we cover a wide range of factors that are important for a member experience, including:

• Knowledge of member personas and how that information can drive better decisions around the experiences
• Comprehensive journey mapping
• Alignment of member engagement and your credit union goals
• Judicious hiring and onboarding practices to find and nurture the right team
• Techniques for motivating staff to achieve higher performance

You need to start thinking about your relationship with members as just that—a relationship. And, as in any relationship, success is only possible when both parties benefit, meaning it’s critical to start viewing interactions from both perspectives.

You want greater use of your products and services, loyalty and support; members want effortless access to quality services and expert guidance for their financial questions. A successful experience must meet both sides’ needs.

In financial services, consumers drive change. Let’s take millennials as an example.  They are rapidly growing their demographic share of the financial services market, and they want their credit unions to embody values that matter to them, such as “community” and “cause.” To meet these expectations, you need more than a hashtag. You need to make millennials feel like they’re a part of something—and that’s only possible with a tailored member experience.

While that sense of purpose and belonging is especially important to millennials, it is appreciated by all demographics. Your members want to know they’re more than just a customer.  Give your members a strong experience and they never will.

Learn how to exceed member expectations at every level at CUNA Member Experience Sales & Service School, August 14-16, 2017, in Las Vegas. To learn more and register, please visit training.cuna.org/memberexperience.