SAN FRANCISCO–Every credit union marketer is drowning in data–yet they are often in an information desert when it comes to what the member really has to say.
Feedback loops can change that, according to two people.
Speaking to the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council annual meeting here, Olivier Raoust, chief brand strategist and chief creative director with Raoust + Partners said the “voice of the member is often more insightful than the data.”
“The whole purpose of feedback loops is to hear directly from the members,” Raoust told the meeting. “Not to understand how much they like about the credit union or how they feel about the credit union, but instead more about behavior analysis. What we’re looking for isn’t current status but future status.”
Raoust said everyone has heard numerous times about the importance of the “frictionless experience” for the consumer, but to get there involves more than omni-channel technology.
“If we can find another way to understand the mindset of the member, maybe there is something useful there,” he said. “In some ways, it’s an opportunity to reintroduce or relaunch your credit union, even if you aren’t going through a wholesale rebranding. Let’s be honest, that’s an expensive process to do successfully, and it’s not a short one. So, member feedback loops can be a great tool for taking a great leap forward in gaining more traction with your members.”
By a show of hands most of those in attendance indicated they are not currently using such feedback loops, which are designed to have an ongoing conversation with members “without surveying them to death.”
“How many of you are sick of getting a survey every time you do business with a certain company,” said Raoust. “A feedback loop is a different take on that conversation.”
The Vast Amount of Data
There is so much data now available to the average credit union decision-maker that “it’s tough to know where to even start,” he told the meeting. Beyond that challenge, there are also competing priorities within the credit union over who should be handling the data collection, coupled with the “cobbled together” complexity of IT in many CUs, which results in data in silos. Overarching all that? A lack of coordinated vision.
“What we are looking to do is remove friction from the member journey, and to improve multichannel delivery. It’s not just about hearing your members’ opinions, it’s about getting their input,” said Raoust. “It’s not about introducing more tools, it’s about improving existing tools. You don’t need to start from scratch. Before you rush headlong into the rebranding process, look more inward and listen to your members and let them tell you how to improve the delivery system overall.”
Become a ‘Cognitive’ Credit Union
It’s critical, said Raoust, that a credit union align its operational efficiencies with the promises it has made to members.
“If you can’t deliver on your brand promise, then operationally you have failed,” he said. “We have seen this more often than I care to admit. We will spend a lot of money and time perfecting every little facet, every touchpoint of a credit union, and operationally the two haven’t been aligned. Consequently, the desired results have fallen short. It’s only over time and a lot of sweat and equity and effort and struggle that things ultimately improve. It may seem obvious that you will become operationally efficient, but it’s often much harder than you believe.”
Raoust said many credit unions use data in a “backwards” fashion.
“We suggest you look at your credit union in a cognitive manner, through feedback loops specifically, by making members a part of your conversation, so it isn’t just raw data,” he said. “You are hearing the voice of others. We have lost the art of listening in the onslaught of data.”
What “Echo Project” feedback loops are not, he stressed, are net promoter score solutions or lifestyle segmentation surveys.
What Credit Unions Need
Juli Anne Lawrence, chief strategic officer with Raoust + Partners, said net promoter scores provide loyalty measures with an “embedded promise that it might help bring in additional growth. Yet statistically, it is not a very highly predictive method of gaining new marketshare. NPS helps you to know where you need to improve, and that voice is important.”
What credit unions need, she said, is that ability to look forward. As an example, Lawrence cited the long-held assumption that only younger Americans would access the services introduced by Amazon. But that hasn’t been the case.
“The game is changing,” she said. “Consumers are changing their behavioral preferences. That is not something we see in the rearview mirror. We are seeing in things they are starting to express and opportunities they are starting to have.