CU staffers get great results when they put themselves in members’ shoes. By Laura Lynch 
At the ServiStar users group meeting in Atlanta last month, 100 credit union staffers put themselves in the shoes of their members and prospective members. At my table, we created a prospective member named Olive, a 21-year-old college graduate who had just landed her first professional job and recently gotten engaged. Olive needed to open a checking account and begin saving for her wedding. She was hearing about retirement at work and getting advice that she should plan for her first house and a family. “Start with what is it that the member wants," recommended Tansley Stearns, CME, CSE, chief impact officer at Filene, Madison, Wis., and a presenter at the users group. "They don't want a car loan. They want a new car.” “Understanding the emotional response of members along the way (for any loan) is important,” she explained. “When doing a mortgage, there is a lot of paperwork and then members wait. Members are wondering, ‘What's going on? Will I get my house? The appraiser just came; what happens now?’” Stearns encouraged attendees to map out the emotional experience for key member processes at their credit unions. The idea of member journey mapping takes the emotions of the member and bumps them up against the processes members experience at the credit union. When a member walks into the branch for an auto loan, he or she is likely happy and excited about a new car. But when you hand over a huge stack of paperwork to complete, the member may feel frustrated, unhappy or scared the loan won’t be approved. Once that member’s emotional process is mapped out, Stearns recommended CUs bring in their dreamers, their big-picture thinkers, to imagine what the loan process should be in an ideal world. The gap between the dream and the reality is where CUs can work to improve members' experiences, she explained. Stearns left the group of ServiStar alums with these five key pieces of advice on member journey mapping and improving member experience:
- Start with the member.
- Snag the low-hanging fruit. If you don’t fix the basics, it won’t do any good to invest in the next new things.
- Include subject matter experts in your efforts.
- You can't boil the ocean. Pick your top three experiences and focus on them.
- Rinse and repeat. You are never done.
Laura Lynch is CUES’ products and services manager. Tansley Stearns, CME, CSE, will join Michael Neill, CSE, creator of ServiStar, in leading CUES School of Member Experience, Sept. 26-27, in Charleston. Also on this blog, read “Innovation is as Close as Your Living Room,” by Tansley Stearns, CME, CSE.
