One of the key differentiators for credit unions is their superior service. Or at least, it should be a key differentiator. But are you sure you’re doing it right?
And if you are, are you providing that same great member experience across all major touchpoints?
Here are a few major member touchpoints where you should prioritize member satisfaction. If you feel that you’re falling behind on one or two of them, don’t panic! There’s an easy way to turn things around.
Member Satisfaction Touchpoints
Your members interact with your credit union across many different channels. What’s more, each of those interactions is with a different person—or a different technology.
Member loyalty depends on your ability to provide great experiences on each channel. Here’s where to look.
1. In branch
Your tellers, loan officers, and other in-branch staff are the face of your credit union. Especially when people enter a branch, they want to deal with people rather than electronics. To drive member satisfaction, your people need to be friendly, helpful, patient, and competent.
Moreover, only 18% of people prefer banking in branch. For those who might prefer mobile banking, the rare trip to your brick-and-mortar should reflect the convenience and ease of digital banking.
2. Mobile app
At this point, a strong majority of people prefer digital banking. And as mobile banking features continue to expand and get better, more and more people will consider your credit union’s app to be their primary touchpoint.
If you haven’t invested much into your app, it’s not too late. There are many fantastic mobile app providers out there, most of which can give comparable performance to the offerings from major banks.
3. Online banking
Not everybody has a smartphone, and many people prefer online banking to mobile banking. It’s therefore very important that your online banking portal provides an intuitive, pain-free user experience.
If you ever look at your online banking portal and think, “Eh, it would be easier to just go into the branch,” then it probably needs an update.
4. ATMs
ATMs are an often-overlooked part of a credit union’s brand presence. They satisfy member needs for physical banking locations and cash transaction support, but they also offer an alternative to in-branch banking. Maintaining clean, modern, and capable ATMs can improve member satisfaction and trust in your brand.
ATM interactions aren’t quite as high-stakes as in-branch ones, and they’re used less often than digital banking channels. Nevertheless, they’re a key member touchpoint with your credit union, and they should provide a similarly excellent member experience.
5. Social media
Speaking of low stakes, social media presents an interesting conundrum. Members won’t bank with you on social media. They won’t get detailed answers to their banking queries, either. But they will like, comment, message, or otherwise interact with your brand on their chosen platforms.
And, although social media isn’t great for financial transactions, it’s a major player in social transactions. Every interaction is an opportunity to engage with members and make them feel seen, heard, and cared for.
Improving Member Loyalty
All touchpoints above can add to or detract from member loyalty. If your tellers are mean or aloof, people might stop visiting the branch. If your mobile app is slow, buggy, or limited in functionality, people will switch to online banking. If your ATMs are dirty, unsafe, or often broken, they’ll pay a fee for another one down the street.
Any time one of the above touchpoints doesn’t meet expectations, people will move on to the next best option.
Sometimes, the next best option is another bank or credit union.
These touchpoints are critical to driving member loyalty. Ignore them at your own peril!
Are You Offering Good Member Experience on All Touchpoints?
If you’re reading this and you’re not thinking, “Hey, we’re great at that!” for each thing, then it’s time to dig deeper.
How do your members feel about each touchpoint?
What can you do to improve things?
Which touchpoints are most important to which members?
You don’t have to know the answers to those questions right away, but it’s important to ask them. And if you want them answered, there’s one great way to do it:
Send your members surveys. Even a short post-transaction NPS survey will help.
Surveys are the backbone of any serious member experience tracking initiative. They connect you with the voice of the member, providing valuable, firsthand member insight.
Heck, you might even learn that nobody in your credit union cares one bit about social media. Or you might learn that despite your survey results from 10 years ago, now everybody does care about mobile banking.
You’ll never know if you don’t ask!
If you’re not sure how to get started with surveying, we’ve got a few ideas. We also offer a free NPS survey for credit unions—it won’t address the issues above, but it’ll give you a baseline metric for member satisfaction!
