At a recent meeting of our owners, MEMBERS Development Company asked Kurt Schroeder, chief experience officer at Avtex Solutions, a Bloomington, Minn.-based customer experience consulting and solution provider, to offer some insights into how to design a better member experience. Based upon his work in studying consumer experiences, Schroeder shared his ideas about heuristics. A heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently. Heuristics are helpful in many situations, but they can also lead to cognitive biases. These cognitive biases often impact how we view experiences, and are so numerous that they are given names to identify them.

Designing a Better Member Experience

According to Schroeder, credit unions can improve their members' experience by paying attention to the following heuristics:

• The Peak-End Rule: People's memories are more like a slide show, made up of separate instances, than a movie. The way people remember past events is impacted by the peaks – the intense positive or negative moments – and the end moment. For example, someone visiting an amusement park might remember the thrill of riding the roller coaster or standing in the hot sun in a line that slowly snaked closer to the chosen ride. How could that peak moment be turned to a positive? Improving the member experience used to be about identifying the pain points and working to solve them. Instead, figure out how to create a memorable positive moment followed by a big ending. It could be something as simple as providing a confirmation that a deposit has been scheduled and when the funds will be available.
• Projection Deficiency: In general, someone's expectation about how they will feel during an activity is not accurate. For example, from looking at pictures of people camping beside a stream full of trout, some people might decide to take their family on a camping trip. The reality of mosquitoes, summertime heat and no flushing toilets isn't incorporated into this vision. To avoid the trap of betraying a members' expectations about an experience, manage their expectations early and then deliver the experience promised. For example, before peppering members with multiple security questions, give them a heads up that answering a series of questions is necessary to ensure the safety of their account. Studies have shown that satisfaction increases by 20 points when people know what to expect.
• Head Start: When a member needs to fill in lots of information on a form, they might decide it's too much trouble and abandon the effort. Or, they might wonder whether their credit union even knows who they are. Instead, pre-populate as much information as possible. Notice transactions a member routinely makes, like transferring funds to a child's account after a paycheck is deposited. Send the member a reminder asking if they want to initiate the transaction. Show the credit union is paying attention and helping to make members' lives easier.
• Paralysis of Choice: Human brains work better with binary choices. If there are more than two choices, people start to feel confused and anxious. Design systems to lead members to a decision by a series of binary choices. For example, do you want a checking account that pays interest, yes or no? Do you want to have a minimum balance, yes or no? The member will be able to make decisions more quickly and will feel better about the experience.

Looking to the Future

Consumers are becoming more demanding, expecting everything from more personalized experiences to increased security to omnichannel delivery. Credit unions will have to use every tool available to please the more sophisticated consumer. Heuristics are always involved in every consumer decision, and credit unions would do well to learn how to use these simple tools to their advantage.

Note: Looking to learn more about heuristics and how to create the best possible member experiences? We suggest reading "Stumbling on Happiness" by Daniel Gilbert, "Brain Apps" by Robert Best and "Before Happiness" by Shawn Achor.

Sarah Lietz

Sarah Lietz is Chief Experience Officer at MEMBERS Development Company based in Columbus, Ohio.