Understanding the Credit Union Member Journey: How to Find the Story in Your Data

TIBCO Credit Unions
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Whether it’s a well-timed offer for a new car loan or credit card, the products and services your credit union delivers to members can make a real difference in their financial lives. That’s why it’s critical to know how to mine your data for insights into members’ needs—even before they’re aware of them.

Strengthening member loyalty and engagement starts with learning their stories and responding with the right offers at the right time. Credit unions already have the data required to accomplish this goal. It’s just a matter of learning how to uncover and apply it.

In a recent webinar, award-winning industry expert and author Anne Legg, Founder and Principal at THRIVE, shared key insights into how credit unions can mine their data to drive more robust member engagement and grow wallet share. Joined by Jon M. Deutsch, Managing Director of Financial Services at TIBCO, attendees learned the approach and associated data necessary to:

  • Understand the member purchasing journey and to improve the member experience
  • Offer the right products and services to members at the right time
  • Identify and resolve member friction
  • Create competitive advantage and deliver optimal member value.

Below is a summary of several of the main points Legg made during this webinar.

Look at the Purchase Journey Through Your Members’ Eyes 

You might see your members’ needs as a car or mortgage loan, credit card, or help to solve short- or long-term cash flow problems. But, at its core, members have four specific needs at various times in their lives:

  1. Shelter
  2. Transportation
  3. Travel and leisure
  4. Savings and retirement funds

So, how do your members make purchases to resolve these needs? They embark on a seven-step, ongoing journey. 

TIBCO Credit Unions
The Purchasing Journey: Discover, Evaluate, Engage, Zero Moment of Truth, Access, Use, Advocate, and Leave or Repurchase.

What Data Does Your Credit Union Have to Illuminate the Member Purchase Journey?

Your member data is a goldmine of information if you know where and how to look for it. But with so many different data systems—usually between 60 and 100 for most credit unions, it can seem like an overwhelming challenge. Yet, it doesn’t have to be difficult: you can use the member purchasing journey to help carve out the data you need.

Once you visualize and understand a member’s current state, you can identify and act on the triggers to alert you to an impending opportunity—for example, when a member may need a vehicle. In some cases, you might even be able to predict what type of car they want, allowing you to reach out with information about that car, along with a proposed payment schedule that suits their financial needs.

There are many ways to actively participate in your members’ purchasing journeys by extending timely information about relevant products and services that help them meet their needs. By doing so, you deepen the member relationship and move closer to becoming their true financial partner, always one step ahead to help them solve their financial puzzle—whether it’s related to shelter, transportation, travel, or savings.

There are many ways to actively participate in your members’ purchasing journeys by extending timely information about relevant products and services that help them meet their needs. Click To Tweet

Watch the Credit Union Times, TIBCO-sponsored webinar, Understand the Member Journey to Drive Growth for Your Credit Union, to benefit from Legg’s experience working with 600-plus credit union leaders to design and launch their member-centric data journey. The webinar also features a demonstration of the analytics required—descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive—to tie together the disparate data systems that illuminate the member purchase journey and deliver a deeper, richer member experience.

This blog is the first of a four-part series that explores how credit unions can leverage data and analytics to improve the member experience, achieve operational efficiency, attract a new generation of members, and maximize marketing success. Bookmark it to ensure you don’t miss an installment.