What obstacles come between you and your credit union members’ financial needs?

What makes somebody choose a brand, return to it for repeat business, and tell their friends how great it is? Across every industry, there’s a common answer. The companies and brands that thrive are the ones that remove pain points to create remarkable experiences for their consumers.

How can your credit union remove pain points and create a member experience that gets people raving about you and better yet, using you more? Let’s take a look at a few brands that have done it well and how you can adapt their success strategies to your own situation.

Brands That Have Done It Well

Warby Parker® revolutionized the once clunky, expensive process of trying on and purchasing glasses. The company created a dynamic and seamless online consumer experience, including a 5-day home trial that gives consumers the opportunity to “test drive” the product. With a strong online presence and a limited number of retail locations, they were able to reduce price while maintaining a high level of interaction and engagement. As the cherry on top, Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses to those in need for every purchase.

Dollar Shave Club® also used an online strategy to improve the process of purchasing razors. While purchasing a razor sounds like a pretty simple process, DSC realized there was opportunity to address two key consumer pain points: the high cost of razors and the challenge of having a new razor right at the moment of need. By creating a commitment-free, fee-free, and (importantly) hassle-free online subscription program for affordable high-quality razors, DSC streamlined the razor purchase process and gave consumers a better alternative to traditional purchase methods.

What about improving processes that aren’t online? Shake Shack® offers a great example. Shake Shack took what was once thought to be an unchangeable, sub-par product (fast food) and revolutionized the experience through higher quality sourced ingredients, quick friendly service and a fair price point. When their success led to another pain point – long lines – Shake Shack installed a webcam that allowed customers to check ordering wait times online. This alleviated the consumer pain point, mitigated their traffic issue, and reinforced their innovative, customer-focused positioning.

How You Can Improve the Member Experience

Let’s face it, there are a lot of processes at your credit union. That means there’s probably a fair amount of room for improvement. To get started, you should conduct an audit of all member experience points to determine where the pain is. From there, you’ll want to prioritize the pain points in terms of member usage level, impact of overall member experience, and value to the credit union if resolved. Here are a few questions to consider.

In Branch

• What obstacles come between you and your members’ financial needs?
• Are the wait times in your branch and phone centers long?
• Are you giving your member access to their product/service immediately?

Online

• Is your website optimized for mobile and tablet use?
• Is the online experience intuitive, helpful, engaging, and interactive?
• Does the online experience match the in-person experience and your brand?

Offerings

• Are your products/services easy to understand and use?
• How do your products/services add value to members’ lives?
• Do you know when, how, and why you lose members, accounts, loans, etc?

Reviewing each of these areas and addressing inefficiencies will not only lead to a happier member, it will also help improve your bottom line.

Summary

Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club, and Shake Shack are all well-known, successful brands that are booming. Why? Because they’ve removed stumbling blocks to make it easy and enjoyable to do business with them.

If you want your credit union to inspire lifelong loyalty, positive conversations, and devout product use, take a close look at where the pain points are in your processes. Then do everything you can (within reason) to remove those pain points and create a remarkable experience for your members.