How Credit Unions Can Boost Customer Satisfaction

With the mainstreaming of digital products, credit unions (CUs) are under increasing pressure to launch new services in hopes of retaining members.

Research by PYMNTS and PSCU finds that non-CU members are nearly twice as likely to report ease of use with their online banking and account management capabilities, with 13% listing this as their main reason for satisfaction with their financial institutions (FIs).

Credit unions trail other FIs in this area, with just 6.3% of CU members pointing to online banking capabilities as a key reason for satisfaction.

Digital products and services are so important to some CU members that they say they’d switch FIs to obtain them, with upwards of 35% saying they would leave their CUs if they did not offer features like mobile check deposit, digital cards, P2P payments, digital wallets and cardless cash withdrawals.

The good news is that CUs still enjoy higher consumer trust compared to other FIs, with 39% of CU members naming trust as the greatest reason they are satisfied with their credit union. Just 22% of non-CU members list trust as the key reason for satisfaction with their FI.

What can CUs do to improve member satisfaction? Take advantage of the fact that many banking services will still need to occur face-to-face, even as digital engagement grows.

Striking the balance between the two sides of banking could mean making digital investments to attract new members while emphasizing their traditional strengths, like their not-for-profit status. That alone could draw substantially more Generation Z customers, who have recently shown a greater interest in credit unions compared to millennials.

Credit unions can also play to their strengths by investing in solutions that improve experiences for all members, both digital and in-person as well as across generations.

Some consumers still value a highly personalized process, especially older CU members. Collaborating with third-party innovators can lead to automated solutions that improve processes across channels, like easing the lending process by cutting back on the need for time-consuming paper-based procedures.

For more on this topic, download the latest edition of the Credit Union Tracker, a PYMNTS and PSCU collaboration.