The “Hidden Persuaders” of Credit Union Communication
by Lyle Heller, CU-VO
Perhaps you recall Vance Packard and the “hidden persuaders” from one of those distant college courses. This article explores capabilities relating to credit union communications, but don’t look for any subliminal messaging here!
Effective communication is a major component of a credit union’s success. Our interest is communication with people who become members and members that use credit union services.
Historically, communication has changed from person to person(s), to broadcast media, and now back almost to person to person, with the electronic world taking a more prominent role.
The matter has come full circle. In one on one communication of a few thousand years ago, results were quickly determined. Participants enjoyed and responded to the conversation or they did not. Sometimes, the results were not the preferred outcome.
Broadcast communications, such as books, newspapers, radio, and television reach out to a large group of people. Results are seen in two ways: people either buy or subscribe the book or newspaper or they don’t. Secondly, people either “buy into” the message or they don’t. Radio stations and newspapers provide their demographics to support their advertising rates. But that is a blanket approach to the issue.
As the Internet world develops, ability to “target” specific responses has become more refined. We have seen the success of businesses, such as Amazon where a sales pattern is used to successfully suggest other items. And then Google epitomizes the technique where content of emails is used to suggest products and services. (Take a look at the ads that appear for each of your incoming Gmails.)
Both Amazon and Google are using data relating to what the person has done or what the person is talking about to make subtle, although sometimes direct, suggestions of a product or service.
Amazon and Google are different than broadcast media where the message is designed to appeal to an audience with target demographics. Country and western radio stations don’t play classical music, so the audience self selects. Amazon and Google are referring to a specific person, not to a whole audience.
Twitter is a combination approach. Tweets are made and those appeal to some and are ignored by others. Just like birds in my front yard. The tweets of orioles talking about the fresh supply of grape jelly at the feeder are ignored by the jays and the squirrels, but the parade of orioles soon begins.
The credit union has a mix of approaches available. Your website visitors are primarily self-selected by your field of membership. As a result, the website is designed with colors and graphics that will appeal to the visitors to the site. (Pictures and icons are designed to be recognized by the prospective member.)
Visitors to your website begin to self-select. Just like the jays stopping at the oriole feeder are not interested in grape jelly and soon leave, visitors to your credit union website do the same thing.
But there are visitors that have visited before (primarily by the fact that they are members and have logged in.) Unlike the oriole feeder where the choice is grape jelly or nothing, your credit union has a range of items that may be of interest.
Your core system may be using past data to determine suggestions. For example, the member has a car loan that is nearly paid off; does your credit union website suggest that a new car loan may be in the offing?
So we now approach the next level of the issue. How to best communicate and connect with that member who may be in need of a new car loan?
Suppose that your credit union’s field of membership is educational. Teachers as a group are considered a “Guardian” temperament by the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. In this particular paradigm, Guardians are serious, dutiful, and cautious with Mother Teresa as an example.
So teachers:
- Want facts rather than ideas
- Want details, not generalities
- Need to belong
As a result, teachers respond differently to different messages.
Suppose your member service representative were suggesting a loan to a teacher and used three different pitches:
- “Our credit union has great loan rates.”
- “Our credit union loan rates are the lowest in the area.”
- “Our credit union loan rate of 2.99% will save you money over your present loan”
Teachers are more likely to respond to message 3. But, this is a cursory view.
Four-quadrant temperament assessments have been a long standing technique. Among them are Keirsey Temperament Sorter with Guardians, Rationals, Idealists, and Artisans. Also Persogenics uses a set of Traits called Dominant, Expressive, Amiable, and Analytical. Kolbe uses terms such as “Fact Finder”, “Follow thru”, “Quick Start”, and “Implementor”.
In our next article further insight into this topic and we will begin to identify how it may be implemented in your credit union will be provided.
This series is authored by Lyle Heller of CU-VO. Mr. Heller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from University of Wisconsin – Whitewater and a Masters of Business Administration in Production and Operations from Marquette University. Mr. Heller served as Executive Vice President of two CUNA organizations. He has lectured in at the university level in Quantitative Decision Analysis, Simulation, Systems Analysis, and Marketing for more than ten years. Additionally, he was a top-ranked winner of the 2005 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan contest. CU-VO is a strategic partner of CUNA Strategic Services to provide video overlays to credit unions. Learn more at www.cu-vo.com and follow CUVOTweet.
