By Rusty Groos and Tom Farquhar
The deeper your legacy roots, the stronger your association will be between member service and how well your contact center agents handle incoming calls.
Provide a good (interactive voice response) IVR experience; deliver short queue times; give agents member history and context when they answer the call.
That methodology has provided great service for a long time and still does in mature markets where member behavior remains consistent and the barriers to entry for competitors (i.e. banks) remain high.
But as Bob Dylan said, “the times they are a-changin’.” Today, credit unions face tough member service challenges. Competition is relentless, switching costs are low, and most important of all, member expectations are much higher. Traditional models of providing member service can still be effective, but do not address the full spectrum of what is known as the member “journey.”
Imagine this scenario: A member calls to inquire about his mortgage payment. While on the phone, the agent asks if he has access to your website and, if so, walks him through the process of making an online payment. The next time that member needs to make a payment, he will naturally choose the faster, easier method. Then, 48 hours before its due, the member gets a text, a payment reminder on his mobile device. Ah, but he cannot make it to his computer, so he chooses a callback option which promises a personal call within five minutes. On that promised call, an agent is able to process the payment for the member.
And after the call, the member receives a survey via email or text, which they fill out on their positive experience. And since it’s positive, they are automatically asked to “like” the company on a social media site.
'It's Not All You Can Do'
There are six different touch points here, using five different interaction methods. But it’s all part of the same unified member experience. It ties together; it’s omni-channel. But it’s not all you can do.
Not hearing complaints does not equate to member satisfaction and loyalty. It’s incumbent upon you to proactively engage members to not only check in, but to also stay relevant and top of mind.
Proactive service implies anticipating situations that might trigger a problem and addressing them before they materialize. CRM data can be leveraged to drive proactive member outreach.
Is their checking account overdrawn? Reach out and tell them. Do they qualify for a low-interest line of credit? Let them know.
Know What The Member Wants
Credit unions will have more success by engaging members via their preferred interaction method, be it phone, email or text. Once these preferences have been determined and integrated with CRM, agents will always know how (and hopefully when) to contact specific members.
Members value personalization, and new technology enables contact centers to deliver that via omni-channel communication. Being proactive includes knowing what the member wants. When automation and agents can seamlessly choose among (and move between) the various modes – voice, IM, video, text – they will ease the member’s journey in ways that no inbound-only call center could ever achieve.
Rusty Groos is vice president of sales and marketing, credit unions, with TeleVoice. Tom Farquhar is channel manager, computer telephony products, with Enghouse Interactive.