Happy New Year!

I anticipate this blog reaches most of you kicking off the new year working on your credit union’s 2013 operating plan strategy and tactics. For those who have member experience as a strategy in 2013, you are not alone. According to Forrester Research, 86% of companies say customer experience was a top strategy in 2011. Of those companies, 76% want to differentiate themselves based on customer experience. Forrester also states that, over the last two years, the consumer technology adoption and market forces have propelled the field of customer experience into strategic stature.

Statistics such as these and many more will be discussed this week during the CUES webinar series. On Thursday, January 17, I have the great privilege to lead the webinar, ‘Mapping the Member Experience’. During the webinar, I will expand on the information shared during the CUES Next Top Credit Union Executive competition of how we are mapping the experience at Allegacy. The webinar will expand on statistics and figures that impact the experience, the importance of culture, member experience management and metrics.

This is an exciting time of year as last year’s Member Experience team is regrouping in coming weeks to discuss next steps for our flagship member experience enhancements. As you may recall, we identified and prioritized twenty-two touchpoints (also known as impressions or moments of truth) from the entry of the location to the teller line. Now, we will expand our journey and identify the touchpoints throughout the teller transaction and identify our impressions.

If your organization is considering touchpoint mapping, it is a great starting point and introduction to including a strategic focus on member experience. Mapping helps the organization identify the experiences they are providing and frame the work where they want to focus. Once you have mapped out an experience(s), you can make informed decisions from the members’ perspective when making changes.

I hope you are able to join us on Thursday to learn more about what we are doing at Allegacy as well as share ideas/suggestions based on what your credit union is doing to enhance the member experience.

Ashley