NASHVILLE–The new currency at credit unions isn’t newly minted bills, it’s “experience,” according to one person.
Brian Scott, EVP and chief growth officer with Velera, the new name for the merged PSCU/Co-op Solutions, told the THINK24 meeting that the company is focused on the notion that experiences, for both CU clients of the CUSO and for credit union members, are “everything.”
“It's the new currency and what I mean by the new currency is if you think about going into a credit union in the 1980s, the differentiator was rates and fees. Then it became rewards. Now, we're in a place where it's experience,” said Scott. “We have asked in (Velera’s consumer research), ‘How do you define experience?’ We've asked this question for years and we’ve come up with four things: ease of use, convenience, personalization and security. Those things are different for everybody.”
Scott said credit unions that don't design around those four principles are going to “miss something” when designing any new offering.
“If you don't, your consumers or members will not have the best optimal experience,” Scott said.
Two Examples Cited
During his remarks he cited examples of companies that truly understand the value of experiences, including:
- Disney. The company has full-time engineers whose job it is to imagine experiences all day long. The company also does a very good job of not “squashing” ideas when they are proposed. “That’s the easiest thing to do, to say, ‘That won't work.’ We're programmed as humans to look for dangers, to look for things that won't work.”
- Ben & Jerry’s. The company’s co-founder, Ben Cohen, has difficulty tasting and smelling, which is why the company’s ice cream experience is so “chunky.”
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