Leveraging Data Analytics to Improve Member Service

The past couple of years have brought many changes in the credit union space. Member expectations have shifted, with consumers now demanding modern digital banking experiences. Members are also using more channels than ever before to engage with their credit unions (e.g., phone, web, mobile app, email, chat, video), forcing financial institutions to find ways to make all channels work together smoothly and efficiently. Moreover, data-savvy companies—like digital giants or fintech start-ups—are increasingly attracting customers with their user-friendly, personalized and fast banking solutions.

To stay in the game and continue serving their communities, credit unions need to figure out how to deliver an empowered human experience, similar to what they are known for in branch, on digital channels. The objective is to continue to do what they do best: deliver value and an incredible member experience at every stage of the banking relationship.

4 Ways Analytics Improve Business and Service

Data analytics can help credit unions translate their culture and brand value to digital channels. Credit unions are sitting on piles of data, often without being able to uncover its value and meaning. By building data analytics strategies and proactively investing in analytics technology, credit unions can turn their member data into meaningful analytics and transform it into business value. Here are four ways in which data analytics can help improve your business:

1. Truly understand members—With a clean data environment, credit unions will be able to analyze their members’ banking activities and get a clear understanding of each members’ needs. The data will show what products the member is using the most, how often they are using them and what products they aren’t using. This will help service representatives have more meaningful conversations with accountholders and make evidence-based decisions on which products and services to suggest (or not), delivering the best service and support possible. This will result in higher levels of member satisfaction and, ultimately, increased retention.
2. Create more business opportunities—Once credit unions can define member relationships and households, they then can then segment them based on product and transaction behavior, revealing how to drive value from each relationship. Credit unions will also be able to use transaction data—such as scheduled payments—to determine if a member holds products and/or services with another financial institution and suggest credit union-based alternatives.
3. Manage risk—Data analytics help credit unions minimize compliance risks by ensuring the completeness, accuracy and availability of a single data source. This enables them to assess the risk profiles of their credit applicants in much greater detail, improving their credit assessments and advancing early-warning systems. These features will help credit unions lower their risk and compliance costs and become aware of fraud or regulatory issues faster.
4. Improve productivity and decision-making—With the advantage of advanced analytics, credit unions will be able to identify areas for operational enhancements, improving productivity and internal communications between departments, and making faster decisions for everyday activities. Employees will also be able to use reporting tools clearly see how the credit union is supporting members and positively contributing to their financial health, which boosts employee motivation and engagement. Moreover, this type of visibility into member relationships can help with employee training, as the leadership team will have a clear view of what is and isn’t working.

To take advantage of these benefits, credit unions must start with a clear data analytics strategy with the flexibility to evolve, followed by investments in modern data analytics technologies that will curate the credit union’s data to create a single source of truth. Once the technology is implemented, the leadership team should provide opportunities for all departments to learn how to seek data for their daily operations and decisions, building a culture that supports good data analytics.

By implementing data analytics, credit unions will be able to deliver a relational and personal experience on digital channels while simultaneously creating more business opportunities, enabling them to reinvest in the business at a higher rate for the benefit of their members. With the industry changing at a rapid pace, and as we head into a likely recession, it is crucial for credit unions to continue to deliver a human approach to banking on all channels.

Mac Thompson is founder/president of White Clay, Louisville, Kentucky, which provides financial institutions with a single, accurate view of their data to optimize profitability and liquidity and improve member relationships. Please visit http://www.whiteclay.com for more information.