3 minutes
This is bonus coverage from “No Crystal Ball” in the March 2015 issue of Credit Union Management magazine.
A branch prototype is an overarching concept for how your branches will promote your brand. Here are 10 things you’d expect to find in a successful branch prototype, according to Paul Seibert, CMC, principal/financial and retail design, in CUES Supplier member EHS Design, a NELSON Company, Seattle.
1. Clarity and simplicity of brand translation. Every element of the branch environment must support the brand and business objectives. Clarity ensures top-down understanding of the branch experience easily explained to members and the community by the board, management, and all staff members.
2. Attracts, retains and develops target members. Each branch must present a brand experience that attracts target members, and focuses attention on key products during every visit. How can the branch be designed to come alive, to become a stage upon which to orchestrate and drive relationship building and share of wallet?
3. Delivers differentiation in image and experience. The branch experience must project something uniquely desirable about the CU. How does the experience connect to the community and target members’ values and interests? What is it about the new design that substantially differentiates the CU from the competition?
4. Balances a strong brand statement with local values. What percentage of the branch experience should be about the CU’s brand and what percentage is about each unique community as served by a particular branch? What are the most efficient ways to deliver a strong brand statement while celebrating the local relationship?
5. Converges with all delivery channels. Branches are an essential delivery channel, but one of many. Location is second only to brand in terms of the financial institution selection and must be an integrated part of the delivery system. The brand “experience” in the branch and online must be the same.
6. Is easily applied to a variety of locations. The branch prototype and accompanying “kit of parts”—a specially chosen set of facility details—should be applicable to a variety of locations, sizes, and scenarios to deliver a consistent brand experience–without losing strength of brand or productivity.
7. Balances technology, the environment, and human touch. Should the technology be design-forward? Should members transact with a universal associate or a partner through a remote video teller system?. Brand will be projected consistently through multiple delivery channels.
8. Flexible and able to evolve with change. Gone are the days of completing “The Branch of the Future” that will perfect delivery for the next 10 years. Today, we need to deliver a vivid, seamless member experience that can change with new technologies and products without the high cost.
9. Enhances staff success and ROI. Is the branch engineered to promote member engagement and ensure staff success? What spaces are provided for different levels of privacy, use of technologies and introduction to remote team members? Is the staff proud to work in the facility? Staff satisfaction will drive high ROI.
10. Is cost effective and measurable. What is the bottom line? Can today’s 4,000-square-foot branch be reduced to a 1,500 square-foot micro branch, while doubling or tripling deposits and loans? How can technology and an evolved culture and operating model reduce cost and increase profitability?
With 25 years of marketing and communications experience, Stephanie Schwenn Sebring established and managed the marketing departments for three CUs. As owner of Fab Prose & Professional Writing, her focus is assisting CUs and industry suppliers with their communications needs.
