In many ways, personalization may very well be the single most powerful weapon in a credit union's arsenal--especially when compared to what the "big banks" are offering in terms of the overall member experience.
When it's executed in the right way, strategic personalization efforts can have a major, meaningful, and long-lasting positive impact on revenue. Personalization does this chiefly by creating greater member loyalty, which helps to improve retention rates as well.
Maximize Member Retention with Personalized Cross-Selling HERE!
At the same time, simply addressing a letter "Dear [INSERT NAME HERE]" instead of "Dear Sir/Madame" is not enough to get the job done. If your credit union (CU) truly wants to offer personalized services to credit union members to create loyalty and trust, there are a number of things it will want to remain focused on.
Building the Future of Your Credit Union on a Foundation for Loyalty
In the world of financial services, the term "personalization" means taking an entirely new approach to member interactions. For far too long, people have simply been "sold to." They've grown cynical about it, and they can see it coming from a mile away. They're trained to believe that when they get a piece of correspondence about a great new service a financial institution (FI) is launching, it's not because that FI has their best interests at heart--it's because the FI wants to improve its own bottom line.
Because of this, your CU needs to break away from that programming. Here, "personalization" means knowing the member well enough so that your credit union can earn the right to take a conversation to the next step.
Think of it a bit like dating. A person doesn't go into the first date under the assumption that a fifth date is a guarantee. Instead, he or she tries to make a good enough impression to get to the second date. Then, they use that as an opportunity to continue--and so on and so forth. Through this process, they build a relationship with someone by getting to know more about them.
In many ways, personalization efforts like credit union cross-selling are no different.
Loyalty Isn't a Given; It Must Be Earned
Overall, there are a number of essential ways in which your credit union can breed a deeper sense of loyalty among its members. Content and language choices are a big part of that. Your CU needs to get rid of the old "sales" mentality and focus everything around the concept of trying to be helpful without necessarily expecting anything in return.
Naturally, human interactions are also essential. If members wanted a cold, impersonal, calculated experience, they would go to a bigger national financial institution. Instead, they came to your credit union.
Your CU needs to lean into that idea through best practices like these, along with thoroughly personalized and curated "offers." The more your members feel understood and noticed, the more likely they are to take the desired next step. Stop thinking about things from the perspective of your credit union and start focusing on what your members want and need. That creates an excellent situation for all parties involved.
At FLEX, we believe that when it comes to offering better, more personalized services to members that create significant amounts of loyalty and trust, cross-selling is still among the best if executed appropriately. Download the FLEX Cross Selling eGuide to learn more.
