Growing By Aligning

by Mark Arnold

In a recent post (The One Thing), we asked several financial services experts, “What is the one strategic thing credit unions or banks must do to grow?” We received keen insights from multiple viewpoints.

Due to space, we were unable to run James Robert Lay’s (president of PTP New Media) response. His take on aligning people, product and process, however is unique and offers a fresh perspective on how to grow your financial institution.

Below are Lay’s comments.

Credit unions must take a step back and began to work from the outside in and align people, product and process around their purpose with a focus on digital channels. To begin, what kind of digital experience is your credit union providing to the consumers and members in your community? Forrester research shares that when creating and building loyalty, people respond more to the experience they have than their perception of price. The study reports that for banks and credit unions, customer experience accounts for 55% of loyalty.

To continue, Razorfish consumer research notes, “Digital experiences create customers. The overwhelming majority of consumers who actively engage with a brand in digital fashion are much more inclined to purchase products and recommend the brand to others. 65% of consumers say that a digital experience, either positive or negative, changed their opinion of a brand. Of those, 97% said that their experience influenced whether they eventually purchased from the brand.”