Giving your clients the best customer experience is essential for any credit union that wants to attract new members and retain the ones they already have. Customer buying habits and technology are always shifting and financial institutions of all sorts have to adjust to meet the demands of this new generation of clients. Here are some ways any credit union can improve their customer experience.
Give Your Employees Easy Access to Information
Your service employees are the frontline of your credit union and you should empower them by providing them with consistent, up to date and accurate information, fast answers to any questions, and easy access to resources.
According to a survey that was conducted by SilverCloud, it was reported that key “go-to” managers spent around 30% each day assisting frontline staff and answering their questions. Not only does it slow down operations, but it clearly shows that employees too often don’t have a way to access information on the fly. So, if you want to improve your employee productivity, you need to streamline your processes and focus on allowing them to get access to important information fast.
Give Your Customers More Self-Service Options
Today’s customers are more self-reliant than ever, and technology largely enables that. You should start by allowing your customers to find quick answers to their questions through self-service support. Providing great self-service customer support content across all platforms is a great way to improve your conversion rates, improve satisfaction levels, and increase your retention rate.
You should also allow your customers to conduct more operations on their own, like cashing checks, for instance. Using technology like remote deposit capture will allow you to offer digital check scanning, depositing, and clearing services to your account holders. Offering this option alone could save your customers a lot of time and inconvenience, which will have a direct effect on customer retention and satisfaction.
Become an Advisor for Small Businesses
These days, business owners want a relationship with their banker that goes way beyond lending. They also want a partner, an advisor. However, too many credit unions and banks still don’t understand how to make the transition from traditional services and take advantage of this opportunity.
But according to a McKinsey & Co., community banks who are able to make the transition from lender to advisor could see significant revenue upside. And one of the ways they could do that is by providing fee-based services. Some banks are adding services like bookkeeping, strategic planning, and capital raising services in order to supplement their deposit and traditional loan offerings. Some banks have even gone further and changed some of their branches into cashless banking shops that are more advisory focused and serve business owners in their local community.
Conclusion
Understanding the recent changes in the banking landscape and the new nature of customers in the 21st century is important if you want to increase your number of members and improve their satisfaction level. Make sure that you consider implementing some of these recommendations if you want to improve your client’s customer experience and gain their loyalty.
