COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–The credit union movement is facing four megatrends, according to CO-OP Financial Services Chief Marketing Officer Samantha Paxson, who kicked off CO-OP's THiNK 15 conference today in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The conference, whose theme is "Seize the Now," drew hundreds of credit union executives to hear more about these megatrends, which center around life improvement, technology, instant gratification and community.
The first trend, dubbed "betterment," is about the rapid growth of businesses geared toward helping customers achieve their goals, Paxson explained. FitBit and online learning are examples, but credit unions also clearly benefit from the megatrend, she said.
"We've reached a critical moment with the ubiquity of technology," Paxson said of the second trend, called "ubitech." The answer to so much technology is more technology, she explained, and it's a trend that affects credit unions because members have come to expect borderless online services.
"Helpfull," the third trend, is based on people's zero tolerance for waiting, Paxson said. It's about instant gratification and on-demand service. This also applies to credit unions, especially on the technology side.
"When consumers tap a digital app, they expect it to load in two seconds. That's the tolerance window – two seconds," she explained.
The last megatrend facing the credit union movement, according to Paxson, is "local love," which is an attraction to community.
"That's an especially important takeaway if you're part of a movement like ours," she said.
These megatrends aren't thinly-veiled fads; a real trend, she said, is a new way to serve age-old human needs and desires. With 100 million credit union members in the U.S. and the average American checking his or her phone 180 times a day, Paxson said, the megatrends are clearly relevant.
"We are not missing out. Have no fear, because trends are showing us the path forward," she said. "As part of the credit union movement, we're in the right place at the right time."
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