Transform Your Underperforming Digital Self-Service Initiatives

Just like consumers, credit unions are facing financial challenges, making the enhancement of efficiency more crucial than ever. Despite the promise of digital initiatives and automation as a solution, Boston Consulting discovered that almost 70% of digital transformations fall short of expectations. For instance, self-service tools may end up frustrating members, leading them to seek assistance from live member service representatives despite initial efforts.

At Curql Collective, we've gained valuable insights from our fintech partner, Constant. Constant specializes in assisting credit unions in transitioning to a more self-service-oriented approach for loan servicing. This shift aims to alleviate the strain on loan servicing teams while addressing the frustrations of members seeking support.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Consider this illustrative example: a credit union spends $11.00 per contact when servicing a member through a live channel, whereas the cost drops significantly to $0.10 when utilizing a self-service channel. Gartner reports that only 13% of customers currently find resolution within self-service channels. Now, imagine the impact if we increase that success rate to 25% for 1,000 member interactions. What unfolds in such a scenario?

Visualizing these numbers, it becomes apparent that implementing this improvement across your entire membership base can lead to substantial cost savings for your credit union.

Becoming Self-Service Dominant

Traditionally, many credit unions' skip-a-payment programs involve labor-intensive manual processes, including application review, decision notifications, obtaining co-borrower signatures, and debiting fees from accounts. A self-service-dominant approach streamlines and automates these processes, eliminating the need for manual intervention. In essence, a self-service-dominant credit union empowers its members to address issues independently within self-service channels, minimizing the reliance on live resources.

Self-Service Strategies

While certain core processing systems may pose limitations on the self-service options credit unions can provide, forward-thinking fintech companies like Constant are devising ways to access data stored in legacy cores and seamlessly post transactions back to the core. This "roundtrip" of data enables credit unions to implement a self-service strategy that not only reduces costs but also fosters a self-service-dominant environment.

Today, credit unions can adopt four key strategies to enhance their self-service dominance:

1. Identify Business Goals: Pinpoint three critical business goals where self-service can have a substantial financial impact and enhance member satisfaction. Evaluate your current inbound traffic related to member service support, focusing on high-volume tasks like loan servicing or collections in the current market.
2. Explore Fintech Solutions: Assess fintech partners or other collaborators with readily available, out-of-the-box solutions. Look for options that truly deliver on the promise of self-service containment, ensuring a seamless member resolution journey without any dead ends. Choose solutions that can seamlessly integrate with your digital banking platform and core system providers, or other data sources like a data warehouse.
3. Optimize Discoverability: Ensure that self-service options are easily accessible within your digital banking experience or member portal. If members struggle to find or access self-service features, they may resort to assisted channels for help. Incorporate self-service options prominently in the member's primary menu, such as the online banking dashboard, or make them easily discoverable through search functionality. While other channels don't necessarily need elimination, redirect them to the self-service option.
4. Evaluate and Redirect Investments: Scrutinize planned "self-service" investments. If members struggle to resolve issues in the self-service channel, consider reallocating those funds to initiatives that can address these concerns. For both existing and future self-service investments, track two critical metrics: the percentage of members resolving issues through self-service channels using tools like Hotjar, and the reduction in issue volume handled by loan servicing representatives.

Implementing these strategies will guide your credit union in selecting and implementing the right technology, making significant strides toward achieving self-service dominance. For more information on Constant and how they facilitate complete online issue resolution to drive cost efficiency for credit unions, visit them at constant.ai.