Many credit union CEOs I’ve talked with recently have described how the digital transformation of their credit unions has accelerated over the past year as a result of the pandemic. Everyone knew which way the industry was going, but now there is an urgency to get there more quickly than originally planned – or budgeted for. Although evolution to digital maturity has been on the C-level radar for some time, changes forced by COVID-19 have made it THE priority. For many, not just in banking, digital is now the lifeline of their business. But numerous issues hold back financial institutions from getting to their digital destination more quickly, including:
- lack of organizational ownership
- limited resources
- entrenched or unadaptable legacy systems
- cultural inflexibility or inability to pivot to a new business model
Even after successful deployment of digital infrastructure, organizations face perhaps their greatest challenge: the inability to operationalize the resulting deluge of MX data by improving the member experience. Digital upgrades have opened the floodgates to information. Now credit union execs have mounds of data and no way to make sense of it all. No one wants to take ownership of it, avoiding the responsibility of having to find something useful in it. So it all keeps getting tossed around – a digital hot potato.
For credit unions that want to stay at the top of their markets, keeping pace with digital acceleration means using the data to personalize the digital experience in a way that differentiates them. Credit union executives acknowledge that, if you don’t really know what the member experience is like in your digital channels, it can very quickly detract from your brand. You will be at risk of becoming just another banking option, a commodity like any other. Or worse – your reputation can become so tainted in the consumer mind that you never recover.
Credit unions want members to feel that same relationship with their brand that they experienced when they visited a branch, back in the days before welcoming smiles were hidden by masks. There’s no substitute for the human connection. If you’re just replacing the human connection with the digital or no-touch experience, then all you’re doing is moving toward commoditization (or worse yet, a reputational free fall).
So the key question is: In the midst of advancing the digital experience, how are you preserving the human connection?
As digital transformation continues to accelerate, here are the 3 steps you must take to keep that human connection in your digital experiences:
1. Know your members’ expectations
Current research shows that close to 90 percent of banking consumers plan to keep using digital banking services after the pandemic, and close to half say they would consider switching financial services organizations for a better digital experience. 1 You might know what your gold standard of member service looks like, but you always have to be comparing it to your members’ expectations, which are not only changing all the time but increasing as well. Consumers might be unable to even articulate what their needs and frustrations are now, given the unpredictability and complexity of current circumstances.
- How do you know what your members’ expectations are TODAY?
- Once you DO understand your members’ expectations, how do you adapt to meet them?
2. Provide personalized support in digital channels
There’s no point in getting into a spending war with the big banks over technological capabilities – you will likely be on the losing end. But even if you are not competing with the institutions with deep pockets, your ability to support your members in your digital channels – through member service that differentiates you – is a key competitive factor. First and foremost, your members want you to lower their tension – or at least not be the reason for it! Further, they want to feel assured that you know who they are, that you value their business and that you can help them resolve any issue or concern they may have. Personalization at every level of the online banking process creates a stronger connection with members even without requiring face-to-face interaction. But if you’re adding to their tension and simply not there when they need you, other banking options are more accessible than ever.
- What are you doing to differentiate your members’ connections with you?
- How do you make their digital-initiated experiences with you stand out?
3. Upskill your people for digital connection
Repurpose and retrain your employees to preserve that human touch in the digital experience. Credit unions that equip their employees to adapt quickly to effectively support the new digital reality, to understand what their members want, and to provide it consistently will bridge the gaps that can compromise the stability of organizations unable or unwilling to change.
- Do you know where your employees’ skills gaps are, from the member’s side of the digital experience?
- Do you have the data-driven analytics to reveal them?
COVID-19 has forced businesses in every sector to focus on the customer touchpoints that matter – increasingly, these are online and digital. In the rush toward the “new normal” of banking, it’s easy for the technology to eclipse the human aspects of digital-driven change. Awareness of member expectations, a personalized touch, and a commitment to developing talent – these are the essential steps of a digital strategy that keeps your members close to you.
For more information on keeping the human in your digital experiences…
Footnotes
- BAI Banking Outlook: COVID-19 Digital Banking Update, https://www.bai.org/research/bai-banking-outlook/covid19-digital-banking-update/
