By Jaime Dominguez
We talk a lot about the “Amazon Experience,” but do we take enough action to create the right experiences, at the right moments, to delight members and win new business?
Things are on the up-and-up for the economy right now. Raddon recently predicted a strong 2018. Consumer confidence is high. For credit unions, this means opportunities to capture new accounts, support new ventures, and provide more value
There are many options for the members and businesses that will drive this upcoming wave of opportunity. They already have relationships with several providers – your credit union, an external card provider, perhaps a bank – and they may be exploring or actively using new, third parties for things like P2P.
Rather than focusing on the minutia of these options and gaming out how to compete with each, we suggest that credit unions consider a different approach: focus on experience across the board.
Some Context
Let’s put this into context with an example. According to Javelin, one-in-five Americans opened a checking account in past 12 months, representing a great deal of important, net-new growth activity.
At the same time, on average, almost half of those that attempted to open an account online (47%) fail to do so. That is a lot of missed opportunity and muddied experience, and we at Fiserv wondered why this was happening and how our partners could recapture some of the loss.
We engaged a third-party consumer research firm and discovered difficult to navigate online and mobile experiences for account and loan opening.
Consumers commented broadly on the time it took to complete an origination application online, how complex the information layouts were, how easy it was to make an error, and how frustrating it was to not have continuity between mobile, online and branch channels.
The experience did not work.
The Differentiator
And experience is the differentiator of the day for any credit union, especially since every interaction is flavored by member encounters with the likes of Amazon, Disney and other brands that consistently hit home runs at the intersection of experience and critical customer-journey moments.
In 2018, credit unions and their partners need to think from the member’s point of view and create winning experiences, especially at pivotal moments within the member relationship.
When you are away from your credit union this year, take a moment to consider what’s going on back at home.[HM(-U1] How can you make tEhe experience with your credit union a bit more member-centric, providing them with confidence, fast service, and a simpler, more streamlined journey?
We hope 2018 is a banner year for you – we are confident that with the right experiences, it certainly can be.
Jaime Dominguez is Director, Product Management, with Fiserv.