In this series of posts, we will explore the idea of using member surveys to improve service.  Being based in the Credit Union industry, we’ll be looking at the topic from the perspective of Credit Unions who want to create their own survey.  In other words, how to use a DIY approach. Read the full blog here (who, what, when, where, why, and how).

Why Should I Survey My Membership?

The first “W” to explore is “Why”.  Why survey your members at all?  Of course, there are many reasons to launch a survey initiative, but saying “there are many reasons” doesn’t help you find out what your reason is.  So let’s look at some of the common reasons and the motivation behind them. Perhaps some will resonate with you.

  1. Solve a specific problem – You may decide to run surveys for a period of time to help you solve a known problem within your organization. This could be something like long wait times, employee mistakes, or transaction types that members find difficult to complete.
  2. Improve member loyalty – For years now, Member Loyalty has been a big reason for Credit Unions to initiate and maintain a survey program. Measuring loyalty is really about member retention as a key foundation for growth.  You can’t grow if you are losing as many members as you are bringing in with your marketing efforts.  By far, the most popular method of measuring member loyalty is Net Promoter Score©, usually shortened to NPS.  However, Customer Effort Score (or Member Effort Score, in our case) is a more recent alternative to NPS that’s gaining in popularity.  We’ll explore both of these topics in a later post.
  3. Increase business – It’s true. All of the reasons above could fit into this category as well, but there is a specific type of survey which helps generate sales in a more direct way, by raising member awareness of products and generating leads for staff to follow up on.

Notice that the reasons we examine aren’t about “knowing,” but rather, they are about “doing.”  Although you will be using your surveys to gather information, it is actually about what you do with the information that makes it useful.  That’s why it is important to look at the survey creation process from the perspective of the actions you will take once the information begins to flow.