Many financial institutions and industry publications these days are fearing “the rise of fintech” and digital banking, overall.
While we obviously view things a little differently at QCash – we enhance the member experience by partnering with credit unions to improve financial inclusion and health for the member – we still understand the existential challenges involved in the congested and competitive landscape that is the financial services industry in the early 2020s.
We still believe that every challenge or obstacle the industry faces can become an opportunity. The “challenge” in many institutions’ perceived cases – the growing fintech market – also offers an opportunity to reimagine their cooperatives; to identify and fill the gaps fintech may expose, level up to meet the financial needs of members, and achieve member preference and long-term loyalty as a result of those updates.
All the above suggests that viewing fintech as a partner rather than a threat presents a more productive and growth-focused perspective, especially when a platform like QCash provides a more simplified, easy-to-use, streamlined, and personalized financial health-focused experience – all accessible through virtually any mobile device.
The credit union cooperatives that have succeeded in achieving this capability are the organizations that manifest member experiences that run the full gamut of 360-degree financial services for their members, regardless of product or service. Your credit union’s mobile application can become their default, go-to banking experience; from ease-of-use member onboarding and financial wellness programs and info to emergency tools like QCash’s Life Event Loan platform that can get members an approved life event loan, 24/7, into their account in 60 seconds.
In short, any credit union that makes itself available and looks ahead on behalf of its membership every single day with easy-to-use products and services that are faster and more personalized will be the cooperative that will be around for the long-term.
You got them, now give them the digital banking assets to stay
Once you have a member in the door and onboarded to completion, the mission now is giving them the reasons to continue with your credit union for the long-term.
Credit unions need to define their own 24/7 digital banking priorities; what products or services will keep members interested and engaged with their digital app. It means delivering for them ultimate value throughout your memberships’ entire financial life.
Implementing focused digital banking features and services allows your credit union to supply the relevant and applicable tools and services they can’t get anywhere else. Such features include the financial health tools necessary to support them in their daily lives while enabling them to make smart short- and long-term decisions. By incorporating a holistic, 360-degree view of accounts for each member and the available products and services they could access and inform themselves from the convenience of their mobile devices, your credit union will be able to offer distinctive and purposeful insights to assist those users in finding their way back on the path to financial wellness.
Authentic financial wellness, however, isn’t as simple as just having an overview of your members’ financial assets and accounts. Financial wellness demands insight into the resulting effects that newly-formed decisions have on members’ overall financial health. Digital banking tools and fintech partners like QCash enable credit unions to enhance their member offerings with such services as savings literacy programs that help members evaluate and adjust their purchasing habits. Such evaluations can notify the member to reallocate those extra funds to the areas that are most important to financial growth.
Another example is digitally suggesting tips and actions members can take on their mobile devices to positively impact their financial wellness profile. Such recommendations include credit card consolidation or the creation of an online budget that can help the member stay on track in controlling their spending habits in specific areas (cutting down on mochas, perhaps). By utilizing automation and analytics tools like these, credit union staff members can represent that added level of mentorship that can be the difference in cultivating their members’ financial health goals and accomplishments.
Tailoring member experience to life’s most important moments
QCash’s own Life Event Loan products are centered on delivering near-instant funds to you when life’s emergencies hit at the most unexpected times. All too often, some of the key moments that occur in members’ lives have direct financial indicators – some good, some bad. Credit unions cannot afford to lose perspective on how their members’ financial requirements can change in some of their most significant life circumstances.
Impactful and well-analyzed information can help credit union staff tailor more influential and impactful member interactions. For instance, by employing effective analytics and automation tools, knowledgeable staff can offer applicable and exacting advice that will match key life circumstances that members are experiencing. Such communications touchpoints can also be delivered digitally through, say, a push notification on members’ devices notifying them that their account has gone under their minimum amount allowed. Immediate access to data allows credit unions to enable proactive measures to work with and protect their members’ best interests in achieving improved financial health.
The future of the credit union lies in personalized, digital services
The days of simply competing in the contemporary financial services environment are history. We saw the signs of the coming digital transformation even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to both survive and thrive, credit unions must endeavor to become the proactive initiators of easy-to-use, fully-accessible, and personalized digital banking. They must create an engaging atmosphere with their memberships that reaches far beyond what they’re currently getting from their existing financial institution’s services.
Particularly when it comes to differentiating themselves from for-profit banks, credit unions must personalize every area of both their digital and analog financial programs with the ultimate goal of improving their members’ financial lives and the lives of their families, all while increasing and improving their cooperatives’ revenue and operational productivity for themselves.
These goals and objectives can only be accomplished by ensuring that all data, products, touchpoints, and channels are connected while feeding into one another to achieve a smooth-running, intelligent, and pleasing digital experience for the member.
