As Warren Buffet famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” From initial contact to ongoing support and service, every interaction your members have with your organization represents your brand's reputation and values. To achieve success in this landscape, businesses should be constantly looking for ways to improve and grow, and one key factor that can make or break your success is the member experience.
In this article, we'll explore why building a positive member experience is crucial for sustainable growth and success, the importance of culture and credibility, and the risks of miscommunication and having the wrong culture.
The Expert Guest
Michelle Peterson is the Chief Member Experience Officer at A+ Federal Credit Union, where she works closely with her team to create an outstanding experience for the Union’s clients.
She brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and has spent the last 15 years in credit union executive roles working for both large and small organizations.
Our discussion yielded several key points, but these were particularly noteworthy:
#1 What is Member Experience and Why It Matters
Creating an exceptional member experience is essential for any business looking to achieve sustainable growth and success.
The member experience is the sum of all a member's interactions with your organization, from initial contact to ongoing support and service. It represents your brand's values, beliefs, and reputation in the eyes of your members.
A positive member experience builds loyalty, trust, and advocacy, increasing retention, referrals, and revenue. In contrast, a negative member experience can damage your brand's reputation, decrease retention rates, and cause a loss of revenue.
#2 The Importance of Culture in Building a Member Experience
A business's culture reflects how customers or members see the organization and how they feel about their interactions.
When employees are treated as integral to the member experience equation, frontline staff and management receive the same level of attention as executives. This approach ensures that the employee experience remains balanced with the member experience.
Culture determines how everyone in an organization treats one another and the priorities set. For any organization, it should be purposeful and intentional. A culture that prioritizes relationships and values how people feel can make all the difference in the success of a member experience strategy.
#3 Turning Company Values into Behaviors
Company values are integral to the organizational culture and help shape the employee experience. However, having them listed on the company website or mentioned in the occasional meeting is not enough. To truly embed these values into the company culture, they need to be translated into expected behaviors from every employee.
To start, it's essential to communicate what each value means in practice and how it applies to different aspects of the job. It's also helpful to provide examples of how employees demonstrated these values in the past. This helps to make the values tangible and easier to understand and emulate.
In addition, the leadership team plays a critical role in modeling these behaviors and holding employees accountable for living up to them. When leaders demonstrate that they take these values seriously and are committed to upholding them, it creates a ripple effect throughout the organization.
#4 The Dangers of Having the Wrong Culture
If a company's culture is not intentionally crafted and nurtured, it can lead to many problems.
For example, a culture that tolerates unethical behavior can lead to lawsuits, fines, and damage to the company's reputation. A culture that does not prioritize customer satisfaction can lead to a loss of customers and revenue.
But the cost of the wrong culture goes beyond financial implications. It can also affect employee morale, productivity, and retention. A toxic work environment can lead to high turnover rates, difficulty attracting top talent, and decreased motivation among current employees. A culture that doesn't prioritize employee development and growth can also lead to disengagement and a lack of innovation.
Lastly, if a company's culture is not aligned with its values and mission, it can lead to inconsistency in how members are treated and their needs are met. This can result in a poor member experience, decreased loyalty, and negative reviews.
#5 Credibility in Member Communication
In the sales industry, credibility is among the most essential factors in building trust with potential customers. When it comes to member experience, this trust is equally crucial to create a positive relationship with members.
When speaking to members, the team must know about their products and services. They should be able to clearly and concisely explain each product's features and benefits. The team must communicate their expertise in a way that is easy to understand and relatable to the member.
#6 Keeping Knowledge in a Transient Group
Retaining knowledge can be challenging when your team consists of a transient group. Managers hire and train new staff, so they need to know to pass it on to them.
Involving an internal training team is crucial to make the training sustainable and repeatable. In addition, it’s necessary to be willing to invest time, focus, and effort to make the program successful.
Learning and applying the concepts happens in the real world, not just in the classroom, and that's why the regionals should create a workshop with role play, gamification, and activities. It's essential to make the learning experience fun and interactive for new staff, so they can apply what they have learned in their real-world interactions with clients.
Conclusion
Building a positive member experience is crucial for any business that aims to achieve sustainable growth and success. A positive member experience builds loyalty, trust, and advocacy, increasing retention, referrals, and revenue, while a negative one can damage the brand's reputation, decrease retention rates, and cause a loss of revenue.
Culture and credibility play a significant role in achieving a positive member experience. The right culture prioritizes relationships and emphasizes how people feel. Company values also need to be translated into expected behaviors from every employee.
But internal communication is just as important as member communication. While retaining knowledge can be challenging when the team consists of a transient group, managers need to involve an internal training team to make training sustainable and repeatable.
