What Makes or Breaks the Member Experience

Front-line staff have a direct impact on member satisfaction. Recent studies define what consumers find most valuable and important in their service interactions.

With this research, managers can determine where staff succeed—and where they might improve in daily encounters with members:

* Fast isn’t always best. Companies often focus on speed as the most important component of customer service transactions, but a study reported in Gallup Business Journal indicates a fast transaction doesn’t always lead to the best experience.After all, the article notes, “‘Speed of service’ contains two critical elements: speed andservice.Customers don’t [necessarily] want to be rushed through a store, a branch, or an encounter with a service representative. They want their needs met, whether they involve a transaction, a request for information, a problem to be recognized and addressed, or just some plain, old-fashioned hand holding.”

* Courteous and helpful often translate into competent and knowledgeable. Gallup found financial institution customers “nine times more likely to be engaged with the brand” when service staff were reported as “courteous, willing, and helpful.” Those same customers also perceived courteous tellers as “competent” and “knowledgeable.”

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