With the credit union motto of “people helping people” and the desire to deliver on financial wellness and cost savings, why are most credit unions still experiencing year over year declining membership numbers?
We are in a world that is defined by digital convenience and shifting loyalty—a world that is significantly different than the world our average aged members (think 50+) grew up in. Although many credit unions have improved their digital experiences, the question remains—have you improved or enhanced the way you interact with your members through communication, delivery, interactions and their overall experience?
Redefining the modern-day member
Imagine creating and executing strategies that solve the equation for declining membership. When we begin to think about the solution, we may want to ask, “who is this modern-day member and what are they searching for?”
We’ve known the answer all along; they want convenience (digital), they want to feel seen and heard, and they want to know your institution cares about the community or local causes. So how do we begin to shift our perspective to better align our strategies with their expectations?
Key shifts in strategies to build connections
Connecting with your members (current or future) continues to build the relationship where trust, loyalty and advocacy grow. Before building out strategies to bring in new members, let’s make sure to assess how often we’re reaching out to existing members. We need to realize that part of the solution to increasing membership is doing a better job at maintaining the current membership.
Now that we know how important retaining members are to the overall membership growth, consider building in a few “member retention” strategies that will not only have a positive effect on your current membership, but it will also help to retain new members as well. Below are a few strategies that can help increase connections and improve retention:
Membership benefits
Develop a program where you send personalized notecards to your member(s) at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20+ (and beyond) years of membership with your credit union. Allow them the ability to request a gift card, reduce a future loan rate, or some other valued benefit. The key is to give them a choice in what is most valuable to them.
New member onboarding
When was the last time you evaluated your new member onboarding program? Or have you taken the time to put one in place? I believe we can all agree our branch traffic isn’t what it used to be—take the opportunity to build out a connection process like the one below where a team member reaches out to new members in:
- 3 days: To thank them for their business and answer any additional questions.
- 2 weeks: Check-in to be sure they were able to access digital banking and receive their debit card (if applicable).
- 1 month: Follow up to ask about their experience with the credit union and discuss additional opportunities that may have been missed during the initial interaction.
Business account touch points
If your credit union offers business accounts, are you reaching out to the business owner at least twice a year to understand changes or struggles they may be encountering? If you don’t offer business accounts today, now is an ideal time to begin building out your business deposit accounts. Think of all the new membership possibilities you’re missing out on by not offering business accounts—the opportunity is not just the business account, but the business owners’ personal accounts, and the personal accounts of all the employees as well!
Community engagement
The expectation for community involvement is more than setting up a table at your local farmers market, or community event—the modern-day member expects you to support local causes that give back to the community and make an impact on others. Determine the local cause that is “most loud” in your community and find a way to collaborate. Creating a new product that ties into and promotes the local cause can help you cut through the competitive noise out there in the market. In addition, the credit union can donate funds based on:
- Establishing a new membership;
- Opening additional accounts;
- Applying for a loan; or
- Anything else that would be important to your credit union
Growing credit union membership doesn’t have to be a complicated algorithm. It’s realizing the importance of connecting and nurturing what we have as a retention strategy; while also recognizing it will make a positive impact on the way in which you increase and retain new members. As with any strategy, it will only be as effective as the accountability, measurement, and consistent execution you put in place. Membership growth is not only necessary, but also possible by shifting and developing strategies that drive greater connection between you and your members.
Tired of consistently seeing a decrease in membership? Reach out to Innovative Business Solutions and let’s start the conversation.
