Member loyalty is generally not a critical goal in credit unions

… and here is why your greatest strategy should be creating and retaining loyal members.

Peter Drucker said, “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or Customer gets out of it.” Therein lies the opportunity for your credit union, frame the issue in terms of what does a customer/member/client really want? Expand that by asking what is your definition of a customer/member/client? When you have defined your customer, it is simpler to recognize what they want. Much has been written about the long term value of a loyal customer and that it is far less expensive to retain a customer and increase the share of wallet, or products per household than it is to attract new members.

When I facilitate executive strategic planning with credit unions and other industries, I ask, “What is your Net Promoter Score?”, and most do not know either what their NPS is or what a NPS is.

In the 29 years I was a credit union CEO, we spent tens of thousands of dollars on annual member surveys. Year after year the #1 quality that members valued most was accuracy. In last place was using their name. Yet credit unions place the emphasis on using the members’ name as that demonstrates we are different than other financial institutions. Nonetheless when mistakes are made and accuracy is questioned, the member is forced to plead with several layers of management to get satisfaction and a fee refunded. You can use the member’s name all you want in that conversation…it is no longer important.

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