MINNEAPOLIS—Members want great mobile services, but will they want the credit union as much once they get them?
That is a big concern of Jeff Kline, CEO of Members Development Co., who fears that credit unions may lose a key advantage they possess over banks—personal service—as more impersonal digital delivery channels take hold.
“At MDC we are about to jump into the pulpit and scream to credit unions about the risk of migration to mobile,” said Kline, adding the move to mobile is necessary but the potential downside should be addressed at the same time.
Kline stressed that credit union employees truly like their members, and that feeling comes across when people walk into branches.
“It’s not the same feeling you get when you walk into a bank,” said Kline. “What you get at a credit union is an ‘implied hug’ from the staff in how they treat their members.”
Fewer ‘Hugs’
Kline said that as more people turn to mobile apps for their daily banking needs the fewer “hugs” they will get from the credit union.
“And over time that will erode the substantial advantage credit unions have over banks in the satisfaction ratings,” said Kline.
In fact, recent studies show that credit unions’ consumer satisfaction gap over banks has been shrinking.
“My fear is that at some point lower satisfaction levels will affect member retention and could even affect the credit union’s ability to cross sell,” said Kline.
That’s why it’s critical that as CUs deploy their mobile apps that they pay close attention to the experience delivered by each app, insisted Kline. “As we develop mobile apps, we have to spend more time looking at the experiential side of the app.”
Credit unions, too, will need to compare their app to those outside financial services, said Kline, as consumers make judgments based on what they experience with all of their smartphone tools.
From App To APP
“For me, my most used apps are National Car Rental, Hilton Hotels, and Southwest Airlines,” said Kline. “As I go from app to app to my credit union’s app, while it may be the best credit union app in the world, it might leave a bad taste in my mouth compared to the other three apps I use a lot. Now what you have done with your mobile app is actually hurt your member satisfaction.”
Kline acknowledged that mobile app development is often limited to what the credit union’s technology vendor offers, if the CU is not developing in-house.
“This conversation feels a little like the ones we used to have in the ’80s and ’90s about our core systems. ‘Well, we’re stuck with what we have,’” said Kline, suggesting that credit unions should collaborate on developing their own mobile apps.
“If five years from now I am out of the game because I can’t get a key piece of my strategy implemented, this is an important conversation to have now,” he said.
Kline reiterated that credit unions must think about the experiential side of the app as much as the transaction side—what the app does.
“At some point, with the proliferation of mobile apps, the transaction side of mobile becomes table stakes,” he said.
Wow Factors
Kline suggested that credit unions should closely examine the main transactions they conduct in branch to look for the “wow factors” in each transaction—what steps really lead to member satisfaction, and to look for what steps lead to dissatisfaction, as well.
He said to apply those learnings to development of mobile apps to see if those wow factors can be delivered via mobile.
Kline suggested conducting the same evaluation with mobile apps.
“Whether it’s in-branch or via the mobile device, go through transactions with members and have them evaluate steps in the process—not from an efficiency perspective but form an experiential perspective,” Kline said. “You may find simple things that are important and impactful that you are not even thinking of. You might find steps that knock people’s socks off. You too will find things that members do not like.”
Kline said CUSO MDC—which focuses on research and developments—is working with its 40-plus credit union owners to break down what is a large task for one CU. “Say each credit union evaluates two processes and we all share learnings.”
Kline added that just as credit unions’ strong member service may not be conveyed via mobile, banks’ weaker service does not come across either. Kline thinks that may lead to fewer “pissed-off bank customers,” which he reminded have fueled credit union growth for several years.
“If we don’t pay the right kind of attention to mobile, we could get hurt not only on the member retention side but on the growth side as well,” Kline said.