HARRISBURG, Penn.—For the second consecutive quarter, one of Pennsylvania’s largest credit unions has been named Best in Class for its Net Promoter Score.
In the credit union category, PSECU achieved an NPS of 80 (see chart below). The industry average is 60. Now, with real-time tracking tools that let the CU view members’ survey responses in real time, PSECU feels it can push that number even higher.
Greg Smith, CEO of the $4.4-billion CU, said he looks at a Net Promoter “dashboard” daily to track how the CU is doing overall, how various departments are scored in the Net Promoter system, and to read member survey comments. The metrics are provided by the Member Loyalty Group (MLG) in Chicago, a CUSO founded by six credit unions that helps CUs measure, manage and take action on member feedback.
All Eyes On Data
The credit union has been tracking Net Promoter Scores for several years, but the MLG program allowed PSECU to take the data collection effort up a few levels. MLG provides real-time member responses, giving the credit union the opportunity to respond quickly to member issues, and to thank those who rate their experiences highly.
In addition to Smith, senior management and other members of the CU’s NPS team have access to the dashboard, placing a lot of eyes on members’ interactions with the credit union. With the data the MLG system provides, the credit union has a chance to stop a problem from becoming larger. “As you know, when you fix a problem quickly you often strengthen the relationship with the member,” said Smith.
In addition to more than 2,000 Net Promoter surveys sent to members each month, PSECU’s data system randomly polls members following their interactions with the CU. What Smith likes a lot about the dashboard is that it can break the Net Promoter Score down to department and staff levels.
Staff Performance True Score Driver
While the dashboard can help improve the Net Promoter results, staff performance is a big driver of the score, Smith said. The credit union believes that if the staff’s needs are met — they have a good place to work, and receive fair and market-level compensation and good benefits — they can focus their energy on providing the type of member service that drives NPS scores higher. Not only is PSECU is exceeding the credit union industry’s NPS average of 60, the banking industry’s average is 35.
With any type of benchmark, best results for improvements come when you compete against yourself, contends Smith, who watches competitors’ scores—including USAA’s NPS of 75.
“I was blown away when I realized that PSECU came in higher than USAA Bank ratings,” he said. “I’ve always joked that my ambition has been to garner the same kind of member satisfaction as USAA Bank—now we have.”