Credit unions across the globe have always focused on member engagement that’s why member experience is one of the most important assets for them. However, in the past few years, a drip in member engagement has been noticed in the credit union industry.
According to a banking study, “Gallup found that 73% of members who felt their credit union cared for their financial well-being were “engaged,” meaning they had a rational, emotional, and psychological attachment to the brand. Among those who did not feel their credit union cared for their financial well-being, only 20% were engaged”.
Through the aforementioned data, it is clear that people want credit unions to care for their financial well-being through different ways, such as –
- By offering higher interest rates on deposits.
- By charging lower interest rates on loans.
- By providing financial education.
- By using digitally advanced tools and technologies.
- By providing better customer service and more.
Before knowing how to meet these expectations, let’s understand the importance of member experience and then we will focus on strategies to improve Credit Union Member Experience.
Why is Member Experience So Important in Credit Unions?
When we talk about credit unions’ goals, profit-making can never be on their priority list as they are non-profit organizations. It only aims to provide an unmatchable member experience to people associated with the organization. Whether good, bad, or neutral all types of experience act as an asset for the credit union. It helps in curating valuable insights based on which managerial strategies can be created, existing ideas can be tweaked, and impactful customer service can be offered.
But, why is member experience so crucial for a credit union? And, how to offer exceptional member experience to people associated with credit unions?
Members can connect with credit unions from multiple mediums, whether through an in-person visit to the branch, or through online or any digital channels. They want fast, hassle-free, and premium interactions. Meeting all these expectations plays a crucial role in enhancing member satisfaction. A credit union’s success is mainly based on its members’ experience, and the products and services offered are the secondary drivers of the organization.
According to a LinkedIn survey, “86% of members can pay more if they get a better customer experience”. So, it is clear that if the members of the credit union are satisfied with the services, only then the financial institution can flourish in this competitive market.
Now that we know the importance of member experience in the credit union, let’s understand the best strategies to improve it.
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Effective Strategies to Improve Credit Union Member Experience
Automate the Process
Members can interact with the credit union for multiple reasons, like account opening, payment service, loan processing, and other transactions. Every time they connect with a customer support expert, the agent has to create or cross-check multiple data and documents to offer optimum assistance.
Performing the required steps manually requires a lot of time, and effort, and creates repetition which frustrates the members and hampers agents’ performance. Automating these processes can improve the outcome, and create consistency and efficiency. It can be done by incorporating AI-powered tools such as InfiBot into the existing workflow. It understands the caller’s mood, persona, and sentiment and helps improve members’ experience.
| 💡Also Read | The Ultimate Guide to Chatbot |
Opt for Omni-Channel Approach
These days, customers have multiple options for connecting with credit union agents. They can come through social media channels, emails, calls, SMS, etc. Addressing every query effectively coming from any channel is crucial. Any missed response can directly impact the member’s experience. Therefore, to offer exceptional member experience credit union customer support teams should focus on an omnichannel approach using advanced contact center support tools, like CXinfinity. This tool allows agents to access interaction from multiple channels on a single screen. It keeps the conversation consistent and transparent irrespective of channels.
Focus on Contextual Customer Experience
Digital connections like web, social media, and mobile interactions, have almost replaced in-person interactions of members at the branch. Members prefer to communicate with credit union experts through various mobile mediums and the support teams have to offer the best of these services through these channels only. For optimum assistance, they have to ensure engaging with members in their context.
Agents have to know that they have to establish contextual conversations using relevant information and documents available in the knowledge base. On the other hand, management has to focus on enriching the knowledge base with updated information and guides.
| 💡Watch Video | How Credit Unions Can Deliver Consistent Member Service with Digital Omnichannel |
These strategies can improve members’ experience in the credit union. Furthermore, multiple advanced applications in the market can be one of the key elements in delivering a great member experience.
Applications to Improve Member Experience
Fiserv
Fiserv is a more than 40-year-old company leading the fintech and payment industry. It is one of the best tools in the fintech industry that covers almost every aspect of the systems needed for successful financial institutions. With innovative technologies and impactful strategies, the offering of Fiserv is improving the ways credit unions interact and engage with their members.
Just like other financial organizations, Fiserv helps credit unions create a scalable technological environment that meets the transforming business needs. It helps credit unions deliver an unmatchable member experience.
Infosys Finacle
When looking for top-notch digital baking solutions, Infosys Finacle can be one of the best options. It is an emerging innovative financial institution that transforms the banking experience. Banks in 100+ countries trust Finacle, it has a huge customer base of 1.05 billion with 1.3 billion accounts.
Finacle’s exceptional features like open APIs, third-party product configuration, cloud capabilities, etc. make it one of the most widely used platforms in credit unions. By using the Finacle solutions suite, credit unions deliver personalized and exceptional experiences to their members. Finacle improves efficiency, promotes automation, streamlines processes, and produces actionable insights that make reporting and decision-making easier.
Jack Henry and Associates
Jack Henry and Associates Inc. was founded in the 1970s with the motive of serving financial institutions with advanced modern technologies. With years of experience and an aim to promote innovative technologies in the fintech industry, this organization has become the global leader now. It assists credit unions and regional banks in multiple ways, such as in improving online banking, controlling risk, making regulatory filings, and more.
This platform helps credit unions create remarkable experiences for their members. Jack Henry and Associates have won the trust of 2500 credit unions by helping them build a strong relationship with their members. Being a top-notch name as a credit union software vendor, this organization helps its clients drive growth through its scalable, customizable, and dynamic open platform.
Using any of these applications can help financial institutions and credit unions to thrive and outperform in the competitive market. However, while choosing the suitable third-party application that meets the business needs, you have to ensure linking it with telephony systems, like – Cisco, Avaya, Genesys, Five9, etc. using a Smart CTI Connector. This integration will help reap the maximum benefits of both the tools and elevate the overall business growth.
