Your member experience is a nonfungible token (NFT)

Nonfungible tokens (or NFTs), are all the rage in lots of circles these days. Examples include NFT digital artwork (one selling for a whopping $69 million), NFT William Shatner career memorabilia and NFT Major League Baseball trading cards.

Now, we know exactly what some of you are thinking (if it’s anything close to what we thought the first time we heard about this): what the heck is an NFT? Good question! It’s also one of those questions where the answer may just confuzzle the mind more than the concept itself. Yes, confuzzle. When you can’t decide between confused and puzzled, go with confuzzled. This adaptive thinking will help as you dive into the Willy Wonka chocolate river boat ride of NFTs.

What’s An NFT?

In layman’s terms, an NFT is a unique and non-duplicatable token minted on a blockchain and then stored in a cryptocurrency wallet. (Again, if you are NFT noobs as we once were, that first sentence may have left your brain tired and confuzzled.)

NFTs represent proof of ownership to a consumer and authenticity of the asset. This can be digital artwork, an in-game video game item, a ticket giving access to an event, a virtual shoe or even a tweet. While the concept can be a little confusing, once you invest time to learn about NFTs and their future potential, especially in financial institutions, it all comes a little easier.

While NFTs can be many things, key elements include:

• Uniqueness
• Authenticity
• Fun

Pretty cool when you consider these are also three key traits when it comes to your credit union having an amazing member experience!

Your Credit Union’s Unique DNA

A terrific member experience is what truly differentiates your credit union from its many competitors. You may have the most branches in town, the friendliest people and the coolest website, but you will never, ever truly set yourself apart if elements like these are your only barometer. Certainly, it’s great to have a healthy number of branches, friendly people and a cool website. But ultimately, your competitors either already are claiming or could claim the same thing.

Your member experience is the very DNA of your credit union – that unique fingerprint that sets you apart from any other financial institution. It definitely takes work and conversation to dig to the heart and soul of your credit union culture, brand and member experience, but the payoff is priceless (almost as priceless as a virtual taco!).

It just so happens your member experience must exhibit, among other things: uniqueness, authenticity and fun.

Have a Unique Member Experience

Just like an NFT, your member experience must be unique. Again, you will never truly set yourself apart by talking about friendly people, fast service or your ATM network. These are claims that virtually all your competitors can also make.

Your unique member experience plants a flag on territory only your credit union can hold. By digging through data, having in-depth conversations and going through some sort of member experience workshop exercise, your credit union will find this territory. Once you have identified it, trained staff to it and delivered it, no one else can ever truly be it— they can only duplicate (which is pretty much cheating).

Have an Authentic Member Experience

Just like an NFT, your member experience must be authentic. Being unique is great as long as that uniquity is legit. Don’t try to force your credit union into a member experience it simply cannot live or that does not accurately represent your brand. There’s nothing more painful in the retail world than someone or something trying to be something it’s not.

If you have an inauthentic member experience, members will see through it quickly and easily. Even more problematic, your staff will recognize what you are teaching them as a farce and likely have a very difficult time buying into it.

Have a Fun Member Experience

Just like an NFT, your member experience must be fun. Yes, we know, let the gods of business strike us down now. Fun!? In the workplace? Even worse – in a financial institution? Release the Kraken! Yep. You bet. Has to happen. If you’re not having fun where you work, every day is likely a little more miserable than the next. Compound that with how many hours a day you spend at work and the math is pretty simple. In fact, there’s a good chance you (and your staff) may spend more time with coworkers than they do with actual family at home.

Therefore, your member experience must be fun and engaging for both staff and members. Fact – when members see your team interacting and having fun, they are much more likely to plug into your brand and buy into your uniqueness and authenticity (see what we did there?). The fun element also helps your member experience last for the long haul, as it keeps it much more of a lifestyle than anything scripted or rehearsed.

NFTs and your member experience: while the concepts may seem a little disconnected at first, you now see just how intertwined their shared elements of uniqueness, authenticity and fun actually are. Now it’s time to jump back into the world of NFTs and the original reason the entire internet was created —cats and cat videos. Enjoy your $65 digital CryptoKitty!