Background
Maps Credit Union is a $1.25B financial institution serving over 76,000 members in the beautiful Willamette Valley, Oregon. Maps put a lot of effort into building out their digital banking capabilities in the last several years and they wanted to measure their efforts.
Maps sees digital excellence as part of their strategic growth initiative. Consequently, they’ve put a lot of effort into building out their digital banking capabilities in the last several years. However, despite steady growth and largely positive member feedback, they wanted to see if there were any areas they could improve.
Collection
Maps turned to LiveSurvey, the real-time survey platform built specifically for credit unions. They had already been using LiveSurvey to measure member satisfaction (NPS) and digital ease of use (MES), and they had previously used it to help them uncover branch improvements.
Thanks to its history of turning survey feedback into actionable insight, Maps drew up a game plan. Their strategy was simple:
- Collection: Maps would collect data, including Net Promoter Survey (NPS), Member Effort Score (MES), and member comments.
- Analysis: Then, Maps would quantify scores and segment (or “bucketize”) topics and groups.
- Insight: Maps would look for trends, comparisons, and opportunities within the numbers and comment topics.
- Action: Finally, Maps would develop projects and policy changes to address what they found.
The first thing that Maps did was create a survey to learn more about how members felt about their mobile app, all the way from look and feel to what kind of information they could access. They sent the survey only to members who had recently used their mobile app, ensuring that the responses they got were relevant and timely. Their results were impressive… at first glance.
Analysis
In aggregate, members loved their mobile app. They praised its ease of use and how much they could do on it. These are some real example comments they received with their survey:
- “App is easy and simple to use”
- “The app is simple and easy to navigate”
- ”The online banking is extremely user friendly”
But Maps Credit Union also noticed a handful of comments that weren’t so appreciative of their app. Contrasting the feedback above, they got comments like:
- “The app is basic and buggy”
- “App and website are outdated and hardly ever updated”
From experience, Maps knew that less satisfied members are the best source of constructive feedback. They decided to look deeper.
Insight
Maps segmented member feedback—including the NPS score the member gave—according to how many account types they had: checking only, checking and savings, and checking with savings and at least one loan. They found that on average, members with a greater product mix reported a better member experience than those with just a checking account and debit card.
Next, Maps segmented member feedback by age. They quickly learned that their young adult members were much less impressed with Maps’ digital banking ecosystem. Whereas middle-aged members with savings accounts and mortgages felt Maps’ app was “easy and simple to use,” younger adults with debit cards felt it was “basic and buggy.” The contrast in NPS scores was significant.
The survey data was clear. If they wanted to improve their overall member experience, the place to start with their biggest critics:
- Young adult members
- With checking accounts
- Who interact primarily through online banking
Maps Credit Union had found their least satisfied members, their best constructive feedback, and their key opportunity.
Action
The old saying goes, there’s no point in having data if you don’t do anything with it. Fortunately, projects and policy change are part of Maps’ strategy.
Before beginning any projects, Maps implemented two policy improvements:
First, Maps would put more effort into user testing their digital banking suite. This meant allocating resources toward mobile app development.
Second, Maps would allow members to opt into beta testing new app features. Doing to would enable young adult users to receive the benefits of app improvements as quickly as possible. Furthermore, in allowing them to provide direct feedback, they would become more engaged.
In addition to policy changes, Maps drew up several development projects to improve their app—especially with young adult members. From additional surveys and from beta testing feedback, Maps was able to quickly roll out two new features:
- Mobile wallet improvements: Members could now add their cards to their wallet of choice with a single click within the Maps Credit Union mobile app.
- Enhanced transaction details: Members could click on any transaction in their account history to learn more about the vendor, location, date, amount, and more. They also got the option to include a memo about the transaction for their own notes.
Conclusion
Maps Credit Union doubled down on their digital excellence thanks in no small part to member feedback.
By sending a simple survey, Maps was able to identify an area of weakness, gain valuable insight, enact policy and product changes, and increase member engagement among a key, hard-to-please demographic.
