CASE STUDY
Honda FCU Redraws Digital Roadmap with In-Depth Member Feedback Analysis
Client: Honda Federal Credit Union ($1.1B assets; 10 branches; 69K members)
CX Research Project: Digital Channel Member Feedback
Industry: Credit Unions, Financial Services
Support EXP Solutions: Insight Builder surveys, Digital Booster online/mobile banking evaluations, Managed Services Data Translation
Outcomes:
- 32% Improvement in Digital NPS®
- Deployment of 16 New Most-Preferred Digital Features
- 16% of Non-Digital Users Requested More Information About Digital Banking
- Increased Operational Efficiencies
As a not-for-profit credit union, everything Honda FCU does revolves around helping its members through their financial journeys, every step of the way. Its Brand Statement commits Honda FCU to make every member experience an exceptional one; to make access easy and solutions simple; and to instill in each member a sense of belonging and a sense of family.
Since 2001, Honda FCU has continuously engaged Support EXP to provide solutions and guidance for measuring its members’ experiences and improving the performance of their frontline employees.
As part of Support EXP’s ongoing industry research initiative – and specifically in response to industry disruptions sparked by the COVID pandemic beginning in 2019 – Support EXPreached out to its client base, including Honda FCU, to identify the unique challenges they now faced, and to determine how Support EXP could help them expertly and precisely gain control of those challenges. The research showed that one of the biggest tensions faced by many credit union executives in the wake of COVID involved competing priorities around digital strategies and execution.
This identified tension strongly resonated with Honda FCU’s senior leadership:
“
"It really shows great collaboration. Very good research on your part, and how you took the data and made it make sense for us, and a lot more actionable. When you look at it in totality, you really did a great job of giving us a lot of data and a lot of good feedback, as well as nice concise summary. Very well done on this project."
– Brock Kasnick, Chief Experience Officer, Honda FCU
Their Situation: Digital Disconnect
In 2020, results from Support EXP’s ongoing CX research for Honda FCU revealed the Digital Banking experience as an underperforming channel with an NPS®(Net Promoter Score) of 50.55. (Honda FCU’s overall NPS was a sustained score of 69.16.) This was further validated by their annual Raddon surveying, which revealed similar NPS results. Thus, Digital Banking channels were identified as a major opportunity for improvement.
Sometime prior to learning of these results, Honda FCU had entered into a 5-year agreement with a new digital banking service provider. Honda FCU’sDigital Platform investment provided members with more functionality than the previous “customized” platform, but it was widely regarded to be “not as user- friendly.”
While Honda FCU understood why their Digital NPS was significantly lower than their overall NPS, they wanted to dig deeper to ensure that they were making key decisions and acting based on a clear picture of their members’ needs, perceptions, and expectations.
In addressing issues related to member usage of and satisfaction with digital channels, Honda FCU’s senior leadership had found through its experience with other data providers that “it’s very hard to prioritize without enough data” – or without the ability to extract useful insight from the available data.
Much of the data Honda FCU had captured from various sources to date was too general and too static, lacking the depth crucial to informing a plan to correct their situation.
With that in mind, Honda FCU senior leadership asked Support EXP to review their Raddon survey results and data from the digital services provider to gain additional insights that perhaps they were unable to extract from the presented format.
Targeted Research Project
Not only did Support EXP draw deeper insights and cross-pollinate them with the in-depth data it had collected, we recommended a highly-targeted, customized research project to fill in the gaps, capture even more insight and equip Honda FCU with the answers they needed.
In a collaborative approach with Honda FCU’s senior executives, Support EXP’s strategy consultants identified Key Objectives for the CX Research Project on Honda FCU’s Digital Channel Performance:
- Ensure that digital functionality and related service are meeting or exceeding members’ expectations.
- Understand what Honda FCU’s members need and want in their digital banking options, i.e., online banking and mobile app capabilities.
- Determine why a portion of members were NOT using digital banking services.
In short, Honda FCU sought a clear and direct path from its ex data to its ultimate objective: consistently delivering an exceptional digital member experience.
A Data-Driven Approach to Digital
Support EXP mobilized a short-term CX Research Project to get the answers to Honda FCU’s questions around member experience with digital channels. The data-gathering approach featured an iterative survey methodology, in-depth data analysis, and high-level collaboration. Following a specific set of requirements and a defined four-month timeline, the project was designed to ensure Honda FCU achieved its key objectives quickly and accurately.
Honda FCU onboarded Support EXP’s Digital Booster surveying solution, powered by Insight Builder, and engaged its entire member base – both users and non-users of Honda FCU’s digital banking channels – to determine satisfaction with digital channels and related experiences.
Through this rigorous, survey-driven market research, Support EXP discovered what digital functionality (e.g., Bill Pay,Venmo, external account transfer) Honda FCU’s members most wanted (Figure 1), used (Figure 2), and valued. Iterative member surveys targeted specific digital channel users/non-users, age- based demographics, and other defined segments of the member base. In addition to quantitative product and market research metrics, Support EXP captured qualitative voice-of-the-member data by inviting open-ended suggestions or recommendations for improving Honda FCU’s digital channels.
Delivering Results to the C-Level
As a result of Support EXP’s iterative survey methodology, in-depth data analysis, and high-level collaboration, Honda FCU was able to identify and prioritize tasks. Support EXP’s analysts demonstrated to Honda FCU’s executive leadership, at a hands-on level, how insight from Honda FCU’s digital feedback data analytics could best be used to inform their digital roadmap and strategy, change digital practices, and accomplish their objectives. The analytics provided the proof Honda FCU’s executives needed to change course in their approach to digital banking services. In other words, Support EXP’s translation of the data into targeted, well-informed action kept them from following a path based on insufficient data and incomplete analysis.
Outcome #1: 32% Improvement in Digital NPS
Before this CX Research Project, Honda FCU’s NPS for its digital banking channels was 50.55. Following conclusion of the project, digital NPShad increased to 66.66. This represents a 32% improvement in members’ digital banking experiences and, ultimately, greater loyalty to Honda FCU- far exceeding all expectations. Moreover, these NPS results identified the drivers or root causes underlying members’ reported feelings about Honda FCU’s digital offerings.
Outcome #2: Deployment of 16 New Most-Preferred Digital Features
As a result of Support EXP’s rigorous process methodology, in-depth data analysis, and high- level collaboration, Honda FCU was able to identify and prioritize tasks according to demographic usage of digital channels. Based on data analysis that revealed exactly how members wanted to engage further through the digital platform, Honda FCU deployed 16 new digital banking features and is planning to deploy almost 20 more over the near term.
Outcome #3: 16% of Non-Digital Users Requested More Information about Digital Banking
The project had the benefit of increasing member awareness of Honda FCU’s digital banking capabilities. Over both rounds of surveying, hundreds of Non-Digital members were able to provide their direct feedback to Honda FCU on their Digital Banking perceptions, experiences, and obstacles. Based on results from the first round of surveys, an option was added in the second round to enable a member to alert Honda FCU for assistance in setting up Digital Banking capabilities. Almost 16% of Non-Digital members in the second round of surveying wanted more information about and/or to sign up for Honda FCU’s online banking platform, leading to improved “stickiness” with these members and greater satisfaction in the member experience.
Outcome #4: Increased Operational Efficiencies
Without sacrificing the best-in-class service its members expect, Honda FCU was able to identify and implement operational efficiencies, including:
- Prioritization in sequencing deployment of new digital features by comparing costs, experience impact, and member demand.
- Use of open-ended member comments to precisely identify friction in particular areas of the digital experience (e.g., with Bill Pay and Money Movement features).
- Outreach to and conversion of Non-Digital members to Digital users through deeper understanding of their needs and concerns.
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"I was blown away by all the useful data. Timing is everything, and this is perfect. As we move into our budgeting for our next fiscal year, it helps us either refocus, or just backs the decisions around some of the projects that we're pushing forward for the next year."
– Jerry Reese, Digital Services Architect, Honda FCU
Building Success... Together
Both Honda FCU and Support EXP attributed the positive results of this research project in large part to their ongoing commitment to communication and collaboration. Both parties were willing to test assumptions and make adjustments based on Honda FCU’s stated objectives. Overall, the synergy produced from both parties fully “buying in” to the process was a primary driving factor in the project’s success.The acknowledged success of this project demonstrates the value of a working relationship based on trust and aligned toward the common goal of improving the member experience.
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