By Ray Birch
NEW YORK—When it comes to those “moments of truth”—those times when new and old member relationships are either growing or broken—are credit unions doing a good job?
One expert is concerned many CUs are not, and that may be contributing to the growing perception among consumers that credit union service is sliding. As CUToday.info has extensively reported, the perception of credit union service has fallen below banks for four consecutive years in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index study.
But just what is it specifically that is contributing to the negative perceptions of CUs?
“When it comes to friction or high effort, which are in many ways the same thing, the single biggest point of friction is when consumers start an interaction on an organization's website or mobile app, but then having to go to a live person to finish,” explained Rick DeLisi, author and research analyst at Glia, citing research the company has conducted.
What makes this point in an interaction so pivotal in relationships is that not only is the person upset they can’t complete the effort online, the consumer realizes he or she must now wade through the organization’s phone system, according to DeLisi, who has authored several books on digital service.
“You’re in the middle of a digital interaction, but you then find out you have to go to a live person to get things completed,” said DeLisi. “You not only have to wade through the phone system, you have to do so after taking all the steps that you completed online and took all that time. This disconnect between the on-screen and the off-screen experience is now the leading cause of unnecessarily high effort in today's digital-first world.”
Glia offers a platform that integrates the call center with digital delivery services.
Triggering a Response
DeLisi said the term digital customer service almost always triggers thoughts in the minds of most people that they’ll never have to speak to another human again, that every interaction is done onscreen through messaging, chat or self-service.
“And the reality is in financial services, and especially in the credit union business, which is one of the most relationship-oriented business models in our economy, there are some moments, some interactions, some issues that either require or would greatly benefit from human-to-human contact,” said DeLisi. “But the reality is digital-first customers hate having to abandon their digital journey and start all over again on the phone.”
A Big Moment of Truth
But when they do, that is a big moment of truth for them, stressed DeLisi.
“A moment of truth is any situation, which can be characterized by one, or all three, of the following adjectives: complex, critically important or emotionally impactful,” explained DeLisi. “One of the things that we're urging credit unions to think about is what are the moments of truth that your members are having with you?”
And DeLisi stressed CUs don’t get to define those moments.
“Members get to define them. A moment of truth is entirely subjective. But what we learned is that when a person is having what they would describe as a moment of truth, they are seven times more likely to want to speak to another human being, even if they began their interaction on their own screen,” DeLisi said. “But again, when you reach that moment where you want to speak to a person, it’s because you're dealing with a complex, critically important or emotionally impactful issue.
“But having to stop everything you're already doing and start all over again on the phone, that's already a negative interaction that's high-effort,” continued DeLisi. “Even if the issue gets resolved, it subjects that relationship to some degree of vulnerability."
More Critical for Credit Unions
These moments of truth, asserted DeLisi, are even more critical for a credit union than a bank.
“Credit unions’ business model is built on relationships, that is what they are known for,” pointed out DeLisi. “Therefore, the emphasis on the relationship is even more important. So, when the member has one of these moments of truth—and now you're forcing them to go through this whole unnecessary high-effort added step just to get the thing that they seek—they’re already dissatisfied. They’re already unlikely to recommend you.”
DeLisi emphasized such moments of truth are better handled when the handoff from one channel to another to solve a member issue is seamless, and the person picking up the phone or is on the video screen knows exactly what the issue is. He said members are typically dissatisfied with a service experience that feels disconnected, forcing them to leave one channel to continue the interaction, typically breaking the connection.
“Without a seamless transition between channels, members often need to repeat information, disconnect and start the interaction over again, which in turn encourages many to abandon an experience altogether before a proper conclusion is reached,” said DeLisi.
A Level of Inefficiency
When staff are unable to manage all channels on the same platform, it forces divisions among the support team, asserted DeLisi.
“This adds a level of inefficiency to the staffing mix, as they will either need to learn the ins and outs of multiple completely different platforms or focus on specializing on only one,” he explained. “Staff won’t be able to help members on separate channels, unless they juggle multiple platforms simultaneously, creating further inconvenience for the staff experience, not to mention a lousy member experience.”
In order to overcome these pain points, credit unions should look into uniting their many separate member service channels into “one singular holistic platform,” said DeLisi.