Credit unions are a growing segment of the financial services market. Recent data reveals they are increasingly popular with consumers seeking share draft accounts, real estate and auto loans, as well as credit cards. Consumers bolstered by today's strong economy are more choosy about financial services and look for products like lower interest credit cards that are typically offered by credit unions.
Industry growth means credit unions have more opportunity — and more competition — than ever. In order to attract those new customers, these institutions need innovative marketing and service strategies. These meet the expectation of the modern consumer and make it easier for credit unions to maximize the value they offer to clients. These are a few examples of new strategies to attract and retain this new base.
Chatbots to Solve Pressing Questions, Day and Night
It's true that consumers have been slow to accept chatbots, preferring to interact with a real person over an automated attendant. But this has changed as the technology has become more advanced. These AI-powered assistants have the capacity to solve many problems on the spot. Ability to take care of issues — the heart of customer service — results in a 58 percent increase in customer loyalty, and chatbots help make this happen. Bots not only make things better for the credit union but keep customers happier.
In 2019, chatbots are more sophisticated than ever before. The most advanced agents can have a real back-and-forth with online users. Customers can feel like they are having an easy interaction, without the awkward robotic experience that hindered the earlier generations of chatbots. For credit unions, chatbots are an essential first line of customer support that can be implemented at a reduced cost. They take care of rudimentary functions. When more complicated issues arise, bots simply transfer the client to a real person to provide assistance.
Personalization to Give Clients What They Want, When They Want It
One of the best ways for credit unions to enhance customer satisfaction is to find the right product for a particular client. Traditionally, that's been the role of an in-person financial advisor or service agent. Now, online interactions can also include personalized offers. Personalization, in the context of marketing technology, means using a person's past interactions with a website to determine future offerings. A prospective client who compares credit cards on the credit union's site might be presented with prompts to go back to those products when they return.
In the future, personalization might be as specific as one-to-one marketing, where an AI-powered interface gives an individual client the offers the data indicates are right for them. The technology isn't there yet, but efforts so far have shown personalization can increase marketing ROI by 5 to 8 times. In order for credit unions to make the best use of this strategy, they should have a coordinated plan to analyze the data they collect and decide how best to use it. The result won't be one-to-one personalization. But it will result in relevant offerings based on past user history, location demographics, and other known info.
Gathering Community Data to Create Targeted Campaigns
Data is central to developing more effective, client-focused customer service at credit unions. DataTree offers property data that helps businesses to learn more about specific properties, including ownership history and title information. This property data, used together with four kinds of searches, gives credit unions the capacity to do a deep dive into information. Unions use this info to develop relevant and detailed pictures of prospective members. They can gauge and manage risk, as well as provide the best financial support and options to new and existing members.
More specifically, these four searches provide different insight into communities and individual properties. Map search offers a visual of the area; flex searches public documents; integrated allows for multiple-property search; and advanced search allows for the freedom to drill down to specific pieces of data. In short, credit unions can use these powerful tools to gather information that gives insight into an entire community, including its general concerns and pressures that the credit union may be able to relieve.
Driving Credit Union Success With Innovative Data Tools
These point may make sense to credit union leaders, but their implementation may still pose a challenge. Reading our post, 5 Ways Data Can Improve Your Credit Union's Local Success can help leaders develop ideas about new ways to use data to support service excellence. DataTree's Credit Union Solutions platform offers information about property history and values that is often a challenge for financial institutions to gather independently. What's more, our Automated Valuation Model can help put price tags on properties, while lien history and chain of title give insight into a home's past. To learn more about Credit Union Solutions from DataTree, sign up for a free trial today.
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Description: Credit unions are more popular than ever before and are poised to compete with other financial institutions. Modern technology helps them improve customer satisfaction.