What Is Digital Completion and Why Does it Matter?

Nearly all credit unions today have some member-facing digital abilities, whether it’s an online portal for managing day-to-day tasks or an app. Yet far too many members still find that transactions may start online but must be completed in branch or on another channel such as email or fax. Digital completion is the next stage in digitizing that credit unions need to take to ensure members enjoy a fully digital journey from beginning to end.

Deficits Remain in Digitizing Credit Unions

Credit unions have made great strides in digitizing, with an understanding that more digital options yield greater member satisfaction. And recent surveys show that credit union members rate the digital offerings at their credit union higher when compared to consumer ratings of traditional banks. This digital rating correlates strongly with overall member satisfaction and loyalty.

Yet despite general high satisfaction and digital performance, there are a couple of areas where credit unions can stand to improve. While credit unions and local banks tend to serve similar types of clientele with similar priorities, consumers feel that local banks have an easier online account opening experience (16% experienced difficulties) compared to credit unions (21% experienced difficulties). Credit unions trailed even further behind digital banks, also known as neobanks, in this area. Only 8% of digital bank customers experienced difficulties opening an account online.

Another area where credit unions have room for improvement, despite performing comparatively well, is with receiving or servicing a loan online. Here, credit unions outshine local banks as well as multiple other financial institutions. However, 36% of credit union members still say they have experienced difficulties receiving or servicing a loan online. That is not an insignificant number, and as we’ve seen, member satisfaction is directly correlated with the ease of digital interactions.

What’s Stopping Credit Unions From Reaching Their Digital Potential?

Credit unions are close to fully meeting their members’ digital expectations, but not fully there. So what is stopping them from being front-of-the pack digital leaders? Here are some of the main factors getting in credit unions’ way:

1.   Siloed Processes

Credit unions employ digital tools, but they are often standalone, siloed solutions that don’t necessarily mesh with the credit union’s other digital offerings. Systems that fail to communicate with each other ultimately hurt the member experience or lead to compliance lapses. For instance, allowing members to submit e-signatures but lacking a way to automatically send those e-signatures to the back-end system results in messy compliance or efficiency issues.

2. Outdated Channels

Credit unions, like many other financial institutions, often rely on tools like email and PDF to conduct business with their members. Such tools may be a step up from pen-and-paper processes, but they are increasingly unacceptable to modern credit union members who want instant, in-the-moment transactions (in the vein of Uber, Amazon and Netflix).

3. Inconsistent Cross-Channel Experience

Can members apply for or modify a loan through the credit union’s website? Then they should be able to do the same from their mobile phone. Whatever channel a member uses to initiate an interaction – whether it’s on their phone, on their desktop computer or in the branch – they should be able to complete that task from any other channel. Unfortunately, members often find that some activities can only be conducted easily on one channel and not another.

How Digital Completion Tackles These Issues

Digital completion [dij-i-tl  kuhm-plee-shuhn]: the ability to complete every step of a customer journey digitally

All of these issues that we’ve seen in credit unions’ digital strategy result in a choppy member journey, prolonging time to task completion. Siloed processes mean that member information fails to flow from source to source, which leads to more time wasted. Outdated channels mean that members struggle to complete interactions, again leading to more time wasted. And an inconsistent experience across channels means members don’t know what to expect when they begin a journey, leading yet again to more time wasted.

Moving from a general attempt at “digital transformation” to the next era of digital completion means unifying systems, tools and channels into a seamless workflow that accelerates time to completed journey. A coherent digital strategy results in reduced abandonment rates, faster time to completion and higher member satisfaction.

Here are three characteristics of a credit union strategy that’s focused on digital completion:

1. Mobile-First

Whether members want to onboard, apply for a personal loan, or simply update their address, they should have the option of doing so from their mobile phone. This allows them to complete processes from any location and on their own terms. There’s no need to find time to go to a branch or even wait to be in front of a computer.

2. Immediate

Mobile apps and email have their place, but today’s members are eager for instant gratification. They want to complete their task yesterday. When given a choice, they will often prefer the immediacy of chat or text message.

3. Part of a Greater Workflow

Credit unions can harness conditional logic to allow admins to tailor journeys to members’ characteristics. This ensures that the ball is kept rolling between and within steps. For example, if a member shows a low bank balance, they can automatically be prompted with an offer to apply for a loan. Or a member who just finished uploading documents can automatically be prompted to submit their e-signature.

Digital Completion Is 1+1=3

Credit unions that shift their focus to the central question – how can I get my members to complete the tasks they begin faster? – will reap huge rewards. Member and employee frustration is eliminated, efficiencies are boosted and employees gain valuable time that they can redirect to higher-order efforts, such as offering advisory services or special deals. Ultimately, digital completion is about getting to the heart of why members are interacting with the credit union in the first place: To get something completed, as quickly and painlessly as possible. We should help them get there, and with the guiding principles of digital completion, we can.

Zviki Ben Ishay is the CEO of Lightico, a provider of a digital customer interaction platform based in New York City.