By Ray Birch
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Providing members with a personalized experience when they connect with the credit union or any of its services, such as payment cards, is no longer a “nice to have,” says Chuck Fagan.
As a result, PSCU’s president and CEO is warning that if CUs don’t recognize consumers’ expectations for a tailored experience in 2022 and beyond, they are going to lose transactions and accounts.
“PSCU is certainly playing a strong role in helping our owner credit unions utilize data we have,” said Fagan. “PSCU will do more than seven-billion transactions this year, with 49 million accounts on file. The data that represents, the spending preferences, the geography… The high-performing credit unions are linking that data with the data they have on their members with respect to their utilization of branch services and other products and loans. Those credit unions are well-positioned to provide that same level of personalization that some of these fintech companies are providing.”
Fintechs, in addition to some of the giant online retailers consumer are accustomed to using, such as Amazon, have simply raised the bar with regard to a personalized experience, noted Fagan, saying credit unions must meet members’ and prospective members’ new expectations.
“That ability to connect well with members, to provide that personalization, it is going to be required moving forward,” said Fagan.
Where Mistakes are Being Made
Chuck Fagan
Where some credit unions are making mistakes, said Fagan, is by not utilizing the data they already have available to them.
“There are so many different channels that a member connects with a credit union today,” Fagan pointed out. “With some members, it’s just pure electronic banking. If the credit union stays focused on the traditional channels…they don't connect payments with a channel where consumers or members are connecting with the credit union. All channels provide data and insights into behaviors.”
As an example, Fagan noted how ignoring individual member behavior characteristics can lead to a credit union underserving large demographic segments.
“My father, at 81, expects to connect with the credit union differently than I do, which is different than the way my daughters connect,” said Fagan. “I recognize this is not an easy position for the credit union to be in, to make every experience a member has consistent through all of their channels. But, while not an easy task to pull all that together, they really have to do this. And, in the end, they will make all of their delivery channels stronger.”
Picking Up Where You Left Off
Not only do credit unions need to personalize experiences through all of their delivery channels, Fagan said they also must ensure each channel experience is similar and all channels are connected. That means, for example, if a member begins a transaction online and then completes it via the call center, the call center rep should immediately pick up the transaction right where the member left off online.
“No question, that is table stakes right now,” said Fagan. “In terms of the overall experience, you really have to have that in place. And for credit unions, I think that's more difficult because they're usually going to be connected to more partners than the large banks. So, they are pulling those various best of breed partners, like a PSCU, together…I think it's a formula that's going to require constant attention and those that do it well are definitely going to see a benefit.”
How to Stop the Slide
Fagan said attention to a seamless and personalized experience across all channels is that much more important as credit unions have slipped in a highly respected national consumer satisfaction survey. As CUToday.info was first to report, for the third year in a row the nation’s credit unions have not only again fallen behind banks but also hit another “historic low” when it comes to consumer “satisfaction” with their financial institutions in the 2021 American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
“This is the third year in a row that study has produced a very similar result for credit unions,” said Fagan, who agreed part of the reason for the movement’s slide is due to the definition of service changing from a friendly in-person transaction to seamless digital service. The PSCU president added he recognizes digital costs money, and that banks have more of that than CUs, saying collaboration is essential.
“PSCU along with credit unions and their partners, we can pull together so credit unions can create a strong and seamless digital experience for members,” he said, noting PSCU data and the CUSO’s Lumen Digital arm will play key roles. “That's the only way we're going to recover from this…It’s one of those areas where the industry is going to have to connect the dots in order to make up that ground (on banks).”