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The financial services market is fiercely competitive and increasingly mobile-centric, with players like Lending Club and PayPal adding to the traditional competition. According to eMarketer, 93 million U.S. banking consumers already receive text alerts from financial institutions – and that number is projected to grow to 126 million by 2019. In this environment, mobile strategy and engagement are increasingly “must have” elements of long-term customer retention. Part of engaging credit union members is demonstrating customer care effectively via mobile – but so far, businesses aren’t doing as well as they think.
Identifying the Care Gap in Business-to-Consumer Engagement, research published by Millward Brown Digital and Mblox, indicates nearly three-quarters of financial institutions think they express customer care effectively – but only 36 percent of consumers agree.
To survive in today’s market, credit unions must employ savvy mobile strategies to bridge this gap in how consumers rate the customer experience. People desire and expect ever more sophisticated, powerful and individualized means of communication. They expect a customer experience that feels authentic and personal whether they’re standing at the counter or receiving a text reminder.
By employing a few simple, mobile-centric best practices, credit unions can better express care, increase engagement and strengthen their business:
Communicate With Members in the Ways They Want
Mblox’s survey found that customers prefer to communicate with financial institutions via mobile, mostly in the form of text, email and phone calls. Credit unions can and should leverage mobile communication in a variety of ways, depending on the message they need to convey.
For example, 64 percent of survey respondents demonstrated a strong desire for financial institutions to alert them of potential fraud via mobile. Among respondents, text message was the first choice. Text messages were also the preferred mobile avenue for balance alerts and deposit/withdrawal confirmations. However, customers identified email as the leading method for notification of deals, promotions or new services. Whatever the message, credit unions should communicate using members’ preferred method to maximize effectiveness.
Invest in Mobile Technology
According to a Federal Reserve report, more than half of smartphone owners with a bank account did at least one mobile banking transaction in 2014. It is clear that individuals want to manage their financial lives via mobile technology.
For businesses, this means that achieving a high “mobile technology IQ” is now a critical survival skill. As credit unions become more mobile savvy, they should look to implement two-factor authentication (2FA) via SMS early on. According to a Verizon report, financial services is one of the top three industries affected by data breaches. Given the clear target on the industry’s back, it is especially important for credit unions to implement industry-leading security protocols. With 2FA, a person can use their unique mobile number to secondarily validate a pass code or other financial information. It’s within that combination of two or more levels of authentication that maximum security is achieved and greater trust is achieved.
Leverage Analytics to Validate and Inform Communication Efforts
As with any new business tactic, credit unions should measure and examine the effect of mobile communication on engagement. For example, does customers’ interest in a new offering increase when they are informed via mobile? Does an SMS-based opt-in strategy drive more downloads of the app? As this swell of data grows, analytics software helps to more accurately identify trends in compliance. Credit unions can paint a nuanced picture of member preferences with quantitative and qualitative insights, by both deploying a formal, randomized survey and requesting open-ended feedback. Showing such a concerted interest in customers’ preferences also demonstrates another layer of customer care.
According to Mblox research, which measured customer satisfaction in several different industries, financial services sits directly at the cross-industry average, with 36 percent of consumers reporting they feel cared for by financial institutions. This leaves room for significant and necessary improvement. Effective communication will deepen relationships with members and increase their sense of care. In implementing mobile customer care, credit unions will find that expressing care more effectively is the key to deeper member engagement– ultimately improving both their financial viability and the success of the business.
Paul R. Ruppert is SVP/global sales & marketing at Mblox, Campbell, Calif.
