How a Human-First Strategy Paid Off for a Credit Union
The world is consistently becoming more digital. Some would argue that we have transformed into digital-first beings. In the past decade, we’ve seen the rise of social media platforms and the evolution of technology—from cell phones becoming “smart devices” to everything (including your appliances) being connected to the Internet. As IoT and our digitalization becomes more prevalent, so does the desire to humanize our interactions and experiences.
In the article, “Finding the human touch in an increasingly digital world,” Accenture’s Alan McIntyre writes that “one of the most pressing questions in banking today is how financial institutions deliver digital experiences at scale that maintain a human touch.” With the shifts in the pandemic restrictions, digital-first interactions will remain important to many, but some are reverting back to their preferred in-person interactions. McIntyre writes: “Savvy digital banks can minimize this number that equal or surpass what is available in the branch.” He goes on to quote his colleague:
“We shouldn’t really have a human channel and a digital channel. You need to bring the feeling of the human touch into the digital channel.”
– Alex Trott, Accenture
So, how can financial services organizations maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of digital channels while also delivering differentiated service? With Digital Customer Service (DCS), representatives are equipped to meet customers where they are while emphasizing the human connections in every step of the experience.
Human Connection, Not Deflection
Community First Credit Union took a human-centric approach to digitally transforming its member services. The credit union focused its strategy on how digital channels could enable better ways to connect with members instead of strategies to deflect phone calls. A chat solution alone was not going to provide the rich, personal engagement that Community First wanted for its online member experience. Adding separate chat, video and CoBrowsing apps would only create a disparate system that makes online connections complicated and even confusing.
“Our secret sauce is that we found a way to generate ROI by creating human connections through digital member services. Our lending team more than doubled production last year with Glia. It’s because we’re facilitating a digital experience that members find interesting and relevant.”
– Jimmy Lovelace, SVP of Member Experience, Community First Credit Union
The human-first strategy paid off for Community First. Implementing Glia’s Digital Customer Service platform has empowered representatives to connect with members and offer proactive, personalized service. For example, Live Observation is fueling rapid growth for loans since reps see where members are within the Loan Options page and can offer tailored messaging and suggestions. The outreach has increased proactive engagements 9 fold, driving increases in both online conversions and overall loan growth.
View the complete case study to learn how Community First has transformed their digital member services by focusing on the human connection.
