How To Use Data Analysis To Better Serve Your Members

Modern members are no longer willing to wait for their credit union to provide them with what they need. Instead, they want it to provide the products and services they need now, when they need them – or even before.

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A Growing Reliance On Data Analytics

Credit unions now have more data at their fingertips than ever before. Consumers raised in a digital world are willing to share more information about themselves, giving credit unions the opportunity to leverage collected data in ways once only imagined. That’s great news for credit unions everywhere, but how do you figure out how to use that data? It starts with a smart strategy.

Here are the 6 vital keys to great credit union data analytics.

• Define. Determining a specific credit union data analytics strategy aligns with and flows from your overall business strategy. And, just as with any other strategic business plan, it requires the support and buy-in of the entire organization.
• Refine. Identify what you want from the data. What information can the data provide that would be helpful to formulating an improved customer experience?
• Organize. Once the vast amount of raw data has been captured, it must be mined and organized before it can be analyzed.
• Identify. Once you’ve established goals and organized the data, it’s time to start isolating the insight necessary for success. Remember, big data starts with the big picture, but it ends with finely tuned actionable information. Tie the data back to your specific customer service strategy and overall business goals.
• Integrate. Use reports and tools to make the data easy to understand. This facilitates internal collaboration and paves the way for turning member information into intelligence you can quickly act on.
• Innovate. Data analysis is an ongoing, evolving process. Big data can make your credit union’s products and services more profitable. To achieve success, though, you must continuously evaluate and improve your collection and analysis processes. It requires keeping goals in sight while measuring what has worked in the past, and tweaking what hasn’t worked.

Utilize Existing Data

The member data you already have is powerful information that helps you get a clearer picture of your member base while enabling you to build profiles and create relevant, targeted product offerings and marketing campaigns. For example, by determining (via their credit card purchase history) where your members shop, you can incentivize them to use their credit card more frequently by offering a related rewards program. The information can also be used to cross-sell other products and services you provide.

“More data is now available making it possible for credit unions to see better ways to serve their members if they take the opportunity to do it.” – Bill Hampel, chief economist and chief policy officer at CUNA, retired.

Hear more of Bill Hampel’s insights on credit unions and how they can use data to deepen their relationships with members from Anne Legg’s interview on the BIGCast.

Conclusion

Data collection has changed considerably in the last few years and it can be challenging for credit unions to keep pace. But credit unions have always faced and overcome incredible challenges. Get creative. Use big data to reactivate old members and retain existing ones. To increase revenue, create a cross-selling and onboarding program. Those credit unions that make the effort to build a data-driven culture hold the key to unlocking marketing gold.