What members really want with your credit union

Facebook…it’s a wonderful thing.  It allows us to connect with others in deeper ways. It can be daunting at times too.  However, today it was a research tool. I recently took to Facebook to ask my friends “What’s the One Thing you wish your Credit Union did for you?”  

Oh…the answers!

Let’s start with Nancy.  She said “Clean My House”  Say What? Nancy was going with the sarcasm answer. But so often we know that where there is smoke, there is fire.  I ask this question…without any sarcasm. Can your clean your members house? You might think “No Way”. Or perhaps you could flip that approach and think…sure…how could we pull that off?  Would that be just a simple one time cleaning? Who would do it? So many questions here. I would propose that Nancy isn’t the only member that would love to have her house cleaned. To which I offer, what if you had a cleaning service as a member, and you hired them, once a month to clean another members home.  Certainly some folks would find issues with this setup…oh the liability. But you really can find a way to make this work.

And if I was consulting with Nancy’s Credit Union…I’d call someone there, to get on the phone asap with a cleaning company, get an agreement in place, and have them call Nancy to schedule it.  Talk about Surprise. Nancy would be talking about that all over Facebook…for months if not years! She would never forget how you made her feel!

There were some other really great suggestions as well.

Trave suggested that if his CU had 24 hour call center support, and would have rushed a new card to him during a fraud issue, he wouldn’t have left for a big bank. In Trave’s case he felt that policies and procedures ruled over the relationship and lacked having practices in place that treated him like a person and not just an account.  As indicated, he left to go to a bank.

Anita chimed in that this is exactly what she loves about her CU…they offer that 24 hour call support.  Proving that this feature does matter to members. Something to consider adding if you don’t already have it.

Rick who works in banking and previously worked at a CU suggested having people answer the phones on a regular basis.  It makes it more human. I love this, but I also recognize it may not always be possible. Note that Rick mentioned “on a regular basis”.  Just start with something more often than you have now, and that will translate into a better experience.

Kat wanted better business hours.  She found that her CU was closed when she needed to go most of the time. She had a very interesting comment which all CU’s should hear “To win a customers business…convenience, flexibility, options, great rates, customer service and other perks” matter.

Bob suggested that more Credit Union’s particpate in shared services. I’ve seen this with my credit union, and I’ve used it. However in Bob’s case he found it wasn’t available and that limited him.

Adam suggested that the CU help fill out his FAFSA Forms and College Aid Information.  He also stated that an entire college planning and finacial program would be invaluable.  Seems reasonable to me to expect your financial institution to help with these things.

Fees. Oh the Fees. There was plenty of talk of ATM Fees.

Brian suggested that CU’s have more partnerhsips so that ATM fees were free, or at least lower. Other like Matt chimed in with lower fees.  Matt even stated “Eliminating fees would prevent me from looking for another financial institution that covers the cost.” Meaning he has, or is, looking for another institution.

Stephen understood the need to charge overdraft fees but felt that it was extreme to charge $30 if the overdraw was under $1.

This is what I heard from this impromtu study.

Your members want to be treated as people. They want relationships just like everyone else in business and life.  They want to be charged fairly for services, and when they are charged for services that want to be provided with access to customer support in exchange for that.

What lessons can you learn from this unscientific Facebook study? There is some really low hanging fruit here that could help your CU rise to the top in your market.

Can you train someone in your office to understand, articuluate, and educate members on college planning and FAFSA forms? Could you build a partnership with a local college planning company, so that you don’t have to learn the details of college stuff? Could you randomly start waiving members atm fees each month? Could you monitor branch traffic, or run a survey to see if longer hours or Saturday hours are an option?

So many options here!  What action can you take, and how quickly can you take it to move the ball closer to the goal of retaining and recruiting new members to your Credit Union.

Bottom line…find ways to care. It matters to the members, and more importantly it’s memorable to the members!

Matt Ward

Matt Ward

Matt is the founder of Breakthrough Champion... In 2002 Matt began working with business owners through his website agency, inConcert Web Solutions, to improve their bottom line, gain more clients, ... Web: www.Breakthrough-Champion.com Details