Is Your Credit Union Core Built for 2024?
By Ashley LaBombard, Marketing Associate, Sharetec
December 13, 2023
As we sit and reflect on 2023, thoughts of personal resolutions we kept and those we didn’t naturally arise. Did we stick to that gym schedule, save money, or spend more time with loved ones? How about professional goals? Ask yourself, did your credit union meet the needs of your members in 2023, and is your credit union core built for the demands of 2024?
Discover what your members expect from their credit union, how to ensure your credit union is their primary financial institution and determine if your credit union core is built for 2024.
What Members Expect
With so many financial institutions to choose from today, you need to keep that competitive edge. What are your neighboring institutions offering that you’re not? More importantly, what are your neighboring credit unions offering?
Members stay loyal when they feel secure and trust in your credit union’s offerings. Maintaining that trust means keeping the lines of communication open, being consistent with your messaging/branding, growing to provide the best services, and offering continuous support. As a modern financial institution, you are also expected to provide minimal, simple, quick, and secure online banking features and core technology solutions.
Communication
Communicate with your membership regularly regarding any service changes, potential service outages, upcoming events/closings, and anything else that directly affects your membership. The last thing you want is for a member to discover online banking is temporarily offline when they go to log in.
You need to provide advanced notice whenever possible to avoid misunderstandings, delays in service, and other frustrations.
Consistency
Your members get used to the way you communicate and how your brand looks. If you usually advertise events on Facebook, and you only inform members of an upcoming event via email, you’ll likely have members who miss out on the event. “It wasn’t on Facebook,” is a complaint you could hear. They don’t want to hear how else you advertised it; they’ll want to know why you didn’t advertise it the way you always have.
The same is true for your branding. If your credit union is known for advertising with animated graphics and you send out a notice using a photograph, the message could be skipped over because it doesn’t look like it came from you. Also, a member could get the impression that the credit union is making bigger changes that could directly affect them, such as merging with another institution.
Growth
It might sound contradictory to consistency, but growth is also imperative to member retention. If your current online banking platform requires multiple, time-consuming steps or is constantly giving members issues, you need to be willing to upgrade in order to retain members.
There also needs to be a willingness to provide something new when the opportunity arises. If there’s a new service that people begin to rely on, it’s time to do your research and implement the option that will benefit your membership most. Don’t just assume your members will stay with you even if you don’t offer new services; growth is key to future success.
Support
As a partner to growth, your credit union needs to be ready and able to provide support to members. If you change your online banking platform, make sure members know who they can contact with questions or concerns. The same goes for implementing new services. Provide FAQ information via email and on your website so members can walk themselves through any service changes. Put together a webinar that explains how to use the new technology.
What Makes You Their Primary Financial Institution?
Let’s face it: most people have more than one financial institution. It doesn’t matter how great your services are, people feel more secure when their finances aren’t all in one place. That being said, you should strive to be a member’s primary financial institution rather than their sole one.
So, what makes your credit union their primary financial institution? The ability to do everything quickly, easily, and securely. The only way to ensure this is to provide your membership with the most modern, up-to-date core technology solutions.
When was the last time you thoroughly reviewed your credit union core? Connect with Sharetec to schedule a demo and get the ball rolling for a successful 2024!
About Sharetec
Sharetec is a cutting-edge technology company providing the latest in core processing software. Sharetec’s robust, yet easy-to-use, web-based core includes everything needed to run credit union operations and create an effective digital experience for members.