As consumers continue to engage remotely and aggregate their financial lives from a multitude of apps and institutions, there is significant opportunity for credit unions to shift their strategic approach and win members through their daily exercise of making payments.
This is the premise of a new guide from CO-OP Financial Services, which offers strategies leveraging payments as a pathway to earning primary financial relationships with members.
“The Payments Playbook: A Credit Union CEO’s Guide to Winning the Payments Game” is available immediately for free download by visiting http://visit.coop/paymentsplaybook.
The Payments Playbook is a part of CO-OP’s program of strategic counsel for credit union CEOs and other leaders. The company will also be hosting a CO-OP CEO Forum on Wednesday, August 19. The forum is a virtual extension of the THINK conference, featuring experts from within and outside the credit union industry. Among the presenters will be Taco Bell CEO Mark King, who will provide insights about activating change in organizations based on his more than 20 years as a President/CEO of large companies across a range of industries. To learn more about this event, visit www.co-opfs.org/thinkvirtual.
“Payments already represent the vast majority of member interactions with the institution that holds their primary financial relationship,” said Todd Clark, President/CEO of CO-OP. “Think about the dozen times per day, year-round, that a member dips, taps or clicks to pay, and how that everyday interaction can lead to more opportunities within your credit union – from lending to selling other products and services. CO-OP processes more than eight billion transactions annually; that volume alone tells us that payments can be one of the credit union’s most powerful drivers of revenue and membership growth.”
Clark continues, “By focusing on achieving PFR status, credit unions can continue to maintain the trust and loyalty of their members, in this present COVID-19 environment and long into the future.”
The following is a brief look at four winning payments plays, each of which is explored in much greater depth in the playbook:
Deliver an Exceptional Payments Experience
- Leverage integration with technology partners to give members access to the ever-growing number of payment mechanisms.
- Commit to continuous improvement with a heavy focus on frequent improvements to the payments experience.
Leverage Data to Understand and Predict Member Needs
- Utilize member intelligence to generate highly relevant, hyper-personalized experiences that go beyond member expectations.
- Turn payments transaction data into insights on the relevancy of other products the credit union already does or should offer.
Invest in Tools That Give Members Transparency and Control
- Provide cardholders with controls and alerts functionality, like turning a card on or off, setting spending limits or limiting transactions to a certain location.
- Equip your mobile banking app with features that make member moments simple and enjoyable.
Maximize the Member Experience When There’s a Problem
- Invest in enhancements to the contact center to ensure members receive friendly, reassuring and empathetic communication alongside fast answers to their most pressing problems.
- Make strategic improvements to the disputes and chargebacks experience.
For more information on CO-OP’s credit card programs for credit unions, visit www.co-opfs.org/Credit.
About CO-OP Financial Services
CO-OP Financial Services is a payments and financial technology company whose mission is ensuring the success of the credit union movement. CO-OP payments solutions, engagement services and strategic counsel help credit unions optimize member experiences to consistently provide seamless, personalized multi-channel offerings, while delivering secure, sophisticated fraud mitigation service. For more information, visit www.co-opfs.org.
