Most credit unions claim member service as one of their competitive differentiators, but is it really? There’s a lot more that goes into creating a great experience than just offering friendly personal service, especially if you want to strengthen member loyalty and win new members. Here are 3 areas you should focus on if you want to truly differentiate yourself.

1. Improve your digital offerings.

From a consumer perspective, the whole point of digital banking services is to improve their life by making everyday transactions fast, easy and convenient – so you need to make sure that’s what you’re delivering. What that looks like today isn’t the same as what it looked like a few years ago or what it will look like a year or two from now. While nearly all credit unions now offer some form of online banking, a recent CreditUnions.com article revealed that only about half offer mobile banking. Smaller credit unions (those under $20M) are the least likely to offer mobile banking, yet due to their small size and limited branch footprint they’re also the ones who are most likely to experience challenges when it comes to perceived accessibility and convenience (challenges that offering mobile services could help them address). With so many online and mobile banking options available to consumers today, you can’t afford not to offer both online and mobile access. If you already do, don’t congratulate yourself and think that your work is done just yet. It’s important to remember that digital service offerings aren’t a “one and done” deal. The digital service space is continuously evolving, so you need to consistently monitor what’s available and allocate room in your budget for regular enhancements and upgrades to your online banking platform, mobile app, and website.

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