By Frank J. Diekmann
It’s no longer about asking where is the leadership? There’s another question now.
In November, I wrote what readers made the most read-column of 2020 when I asked that question and others after credit unions—for the second year in a row—finished behind banks in consumer perceptions of “satisfaction.”
In short, I opined the folks who can’t get no satisfaction should be everyone in the credit union community, all of whom should be disappointed in their own response and that of their trade associations. After all, all those millions of member dollars being spent on advocacy in Washington aren’t going to do many CUs much good when they’re no longer around to advocate for.
But there is one new glimmer of hope flickering in the consumer sentiment darkness after CUNA announced it is launching a new task force called the Digitization Working Group.
Might I suggest a rebranding: The Survivability Working Group.
That’s because what has been unfortunately overlooked in that American Customer Satisfaction Index Survey conducted by the University of Michigan is one critical area where credit unions were viewed as dial-up in a 5 G world: e-services.
The ACSI survey found CU websites lost ground for a second year, with satisfaction waning 2% to 82 out of 100-point scale, (banks were given a score of 84). Mobile app quality (82) for credit unions also slipped for a second year showing a net loss of 4% since 2018.
An Unnecessary Reminder, But…
I don’t need to remind you of what you already know: as I wrote here, it’s not 2021, it’s 2031. New entrants and fintechs have seen huge gains in users of their financial services offerings with their clean, easy-to-use and simple offerings. Meanwhile, supposedly stale, old traditional banks have bucked tradition by putting the e in easy and exciting with their own offerings.
So, where does that leave credit unions? With a choice between two e’s: Evolve or Exit.
To evolve and respond, the only option for credit unions is to collaborate. Every credit union of less than, say, $250 million or even $500 million should be thinking about rolling out a common platform that can be white labeled and personalized on the member-facing side and that out-chimes the Chimes and drives the Acorns of the world nuts. U.S. credit unions would be wise to put their biases and personal self-interests in the vault and learn from CU movements in other countries that collaborated to create a common competitive advantage that is good for everyone.
The Good, The Bad, The Disappointing
The good news in the announcement this week is that CUNA’s Digitization Working Group says it will be looking at member/consumer expectations (if you’ve ever ordered from Amazon you know what those are, so that part of the meeting agenda can be checked off quickly), as well as looking to find ways the system can work together to drive scale.
The bad news in the announcement is the group plans monthly meetings initially. Monthly! Hourly is probably not frequently enough given the challenges CUs face. Don’t think so? Do you plan to check your phone within the hour? Or will you wait until March before you tap in your PIN to see what might be going on?
But most of all, there is some disappointing news here: The need to respond cooperatively isn't limited to credit unions, it must apply to their trade groups, too. This shouldn't be a CUNA initiative. It should be a credit union initiative. We haven't seen a credit union community wide response to an emergency since 1997/98's Campaign for Consumer Choice. You can make a pretty good argument the current threat is far more existential. That earlier campaign succeeded in ensuring consumers have a choice--the irony is now they're making choices, and it's often not a credit union.
It's time for the working group to get working--and for others to join in.
It seems I did overlook one thing when stating credit unions really need leadership to step up. I should have also mentioned they need to step up fast.
Unless, of course, you chose Exit above.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of the new book, ‘501 Name Tags: Everything You Need to Know About Business Can be Learned at a Conference & Forgotten in the Trade Show.” For info: www.501nametags.com.