Make 2017 the year of member experience

Happy New Year! (Can I still say that even though we’re almost to the end of January?)

I read recently that only 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions and, of those, only 8% are successful in keeping them. Further, the study showed that 40% had abandoned their resolutions by June.

For many of us, our personal resolution should generally be to improve our lot in life – lose weight, break a bad habit, find a new job, etc. For our credit unions, those resolutions need to be focused on improving the member experience and optimizing our delivery channels. The success of all current and future numeric and financial goals are dependent on this one resolution: to make the member experience as easy and frictionless as possible.

Hopefully your credit union is among the 40% who established resolutions (goals) at the outset of 2017 and following are five steps to help you be among the 8% who succeed.

1. Make your goals visible and keep them visible. It’s not too late to conduct a kickoff meeting with your team to recap successes from last year and talk about your targets for the coming year. Make 2017 the year of member experience … with the goal of identifying all the ways you need to improve to create the greatest experience possible. Just because you can’t thoroughly quantify a goal (i.e., member experience) doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a highly visible resolution. And just because you’ve done well in the past doesn’t mean you don’t need to better in the future.
2. Tie your goals to your vision. The focus shouldn’t be on what you do for members but why you do it. The goal shouldn’t be to improve Efficiency Ratio or save money, it should be to fully deliver your brand promise to serve members in the most thorough and personal manner possible. The “why” of our business is far more important than the “what” or “how”. The “why” makes it emotional and positive emotions will lead you to positive experiences. Partner with your staff to craft your desired “why” – why are we in business? Why are we different? Why are we better for our members?
3. Make the goals tactical and unique for each employee. Your goals need to make it crystal clear for each employee in your credit union – what do they need to do every day to optimize the experience? And what can they do to improve the experience? Everyone should know how their day-to-day production impacts the overall goal of optimizing member service. If they don’t directly affect the member experience, they directly affect and support those who do. Define everyone’s role so this message is clear.
4. Get everyone involved and engaged. It starts at the top with the CEO but cascades down to every employee – member-facing and non-member facing. Everyone has a role to play and everyone can identify ways they and the credit union can better deliver optimal experiences. Some of your best ideas will come from asking your employees how they think you can better serve your members. Don’t leave it just to the senior execs or business leaders; talk to the people who are responsible for the experience every day and creating that emotional connection with members.
5. Celebrate success and progress every step of the way. Don’t wait until the end of the year to talk about your wins; celebrate those wins every time they occur. Early in 2017 you’ll want to recognize even the small ones so you can build enthusiasm and momentum going throughout the rest of the year. Get regular anecdotes from members and staff about positive service and hold those up as the model for all future experiences. Tie any and all quantifiable growth – loan growth, member growth, usage growth – to strides made in optimizing the member experience. Include success stories in all meetings (team and individual) and staff communications.

It’s not too late to make a resolution of 2017 being the “Year of the Member Experience” and following these five steps will allow you to fully satisfy that resolution.

If you’d like to discuss further how your credit union can be one of the 8% who succeed with their New Year’s resolution, my firm would be pleased to help. We can be reached at Probert@fi-strategies.com or 636-578-3280.