“We value our credit union’s reputation,” recently proclaimed a credit union’s CEO during a meeting with our firm.
“Our reputation is only questioned during the time of a crisis,” said a CMO of a California-based credit union.
“Our reputation is stellar and healthy,” touted a board member from another credit union.
All statements are true . . . kinda.
When the discussion about a credit union’s reputation is addressed, there appears to be varying degrees of confidence in its value, when it’s important, and how healthy it is.
The value of reputation
The financial health of any credit union is critical to its success, even as a not-for-profit organization. A case can be made that your credit union’s reputational health is almost as critical as the financials. According to a recent World Economic Forum study, the reputation accounted for more than 25 percent of a company’s market value. Based on a current survey by the world’s largest public relations firm, Weber Shandwick, global executives attributed 63 percent of their company’s market value to their company’s overall reputation.
If these numbers hold true and reputation is indeed valuable and impactful to the bottom line of a credit union, how is it being regularly monitored and checked?
Gauging reputational health
To gauge your credit union’s reputation involves tracking various metrics that reflect how it is viewed both inside and outside your credit union, including key audiences like your board, executives, managers, front-line staff, members, prospective members, community, media, and social influencers. Amongst these important audiences, it’s important to gauge how they genuinely perceive your credit union, and the overall sentiments aligned with the perceived health of your credit union’s products, services, people, and processes.
Further evaluations involve several factors that represent a credit union’s reputation, including:
- Solidify and validate perceptions inside and outside your credit union
- Confirm the credit union’s mission and core values are relevant and resonating
- Helping the credit union’s business growth
- Identify vulnerabilities
- Improve reputational performance year-over-year
The tools to assess a healthy reputation
To assess and measure a credit union’s reputational strength and capture valuable staff and public sentiment, several tools can be deployed, including:
Surveys and polls
- Staff and member surveys: These are structured surveys sent to various stakeholders to gauge their perceptions of the credit union. The questions usually address different factors, such as trust, ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), innovation, leadership, and member satisfaction.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): This is a widely used metric that measures member loyalty and satisfaction. It asks members how likely they are to recommend the credit union to others (i.e., word of mouth) which is a direct indicator of a credit union’s reputation.
Media and social media analysis
- Media monitoring: Tracking the frequency and tone of news articles, blog posts, press releases, and other media mentions. Positive, neutral, or negative sentiment in media coverage is an important indicator of public perception.
- Social media sentiment analysis: Using tools to analyze social media mentions and comments on platforms like X, Next Door, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics
- CSR reports and ratings: The credit union’s CSR initiatives and impact can play a big role in its reputation. Assessing how well a credit union performs on social and environmental issues can help measure its reputation, as many stakeholders value ethical business practices.
- ESG scores: These are third-party evaluations (e.g., from agencies like MSCI, Sustainalytics, or Refinitiv) that assess a credit union’s commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and good governance practices.
Employee feedback and engagement
- Employee surveys: Employee satisfaction surveys or engagement surveys (e.g., Gallup surveys) are critical for assessing internal perceptions of the company, as employees are key ambassadors of a credit union’s brand and critical to its reputation.
- Glassdoor and job review sites: Reviews and ratings on platforms like Glassdoor, Indeed, and Linkedin can provide insights into how the credit union is viewed by its employees and potential talent.
Brand and customer metrics
- Customer satisfaction scores: Metrics like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Customer Effort Score (CES), and NPS help measure how members perceive the credit union in terms of product quality, member service, and overall experience.
- Brand equity and recognition: Brand value surveys and brand recognition studies (e.g., Interbrand, BrandZ) measure how well the credit union’s brand is perceived in the marketplace.
Member reviews and ratings
- Online reviews: Websites like Trustpilot, Yelp, and product review platforms provide a large volume of direct member feedback. Analyzing trends in online ratings and reviews provides insight into how public opinion can impact a credit union’s reputation.
Benchmarking against competitors
- Competitive comparison: Measuring how the credit union’s reputation stands relative to its nearby competitors provides context. If a credit union ranks higher or lower than its peers, it can provide a clearer picture of its relative reputation in the industry.
Reputation recovery and crisis management
- Crisis impact analysis: Evaluating the effectiveness of reputation recovery strategies following a crisis or negative incident can show how resilient a credit union’s reputation is. Monitoring reputation recovery over time is key to understanding the long-term health of a credit union’s brand.
The bottom line of reputational health
Gauging your credit union’s reputational health requires a comprehensive approach that combines subjective audience perceptions with objective data, allowing your credit union to monitor and improve its reputation effectively. Benchmarking your credit union’s reputation year-over-year, if properly implemented, can provide a gold standard by which your credit union’s reputation can be measured and showcased.
