CHESTERFIELD, Mo.-Looking to change your members' behavior? One person says it starts with the branch-but the branch can only take you so far.
"A remodel can't change the location of the branch, but it can change the activity there," said Tom Auer, SVP of design at NewGround, noting that branch redesign has to be based around a thorough understanding of the demographics that use that branch. While certain behaviors can be taught-such as training members to use self-service kiosks rather than visiting the teller-other elements are out of the institution's control.
"Let's say the purpose of a branch needs to be loan generation, and your demographics say that you're in a wealth management area; remodeling the branch isn't going to change the demographic of the neighborhood or the member it serves," said Auer.
Noting that financial institutions can't just design their way out of a problem, Auer said that while branch design may be able to play a role in shifting behaviors, it still can't change the overall membership.
Branch design needs to be based around human interaction or "points of experience," said Auer, noting that institutions can map out the branch experience and then design to that experience. By way of example, he noted that self-service kiosks can help provide efficient, modern service for transactors, while other spaces-often "pods"-can be used as a "consultation zone" for more complex or private interactions.
What's Most Important
What's most important, stressed Auer, is to start with the consumer and then build the branch to what the staff needs, rather than designing the branch and hoping it fits the membership needs.
With the decline in branch transaction volume, CUs can get the most bang out of their buck by designing branches with that in mind, Auer said. "What you've really done is taken the chaff away from the wheat; those folks really only wanted to come into the branch to do a simple transaction and get out. What does the member need? Given the fact that they just walked through the door, they're probably not just there to cash a check. Do they really want to see a teller line with ten tellers waiting for them? Or do they want to see somebody that's going to greet them, assess what their needs are service that need through whatever means. The point is that the need is now different, and needs to be met."
A similar theme was expressed by Andrea Simler-DeGolier, retail design and development at DEI, Cincinnati, who noted that the most effective move FIs can make with branch redesigns is "to take away the barrier of the teller line and really create an environment where people want to interact and want to learn."
Not only does that strategy jibe with the shift more toward retail and hospitality environments in branching, she said, but it creates a cultural change at the institution stressing that the employee is there to help and interact with the member.
The Cultural Shift
"It's a cultural change and a cultural shift to have the environment more comfortable, an easier flow, and every touch point is educating, whether it's a subliminal message or it's something where you walk up to a touch screen and you can explore the products and services that way," she said.
Some may think coffee bars and wi-fi at the branch are superfluous-it's not like the member is going to hang out at the branch-but Simler-DeGolier noted that those elements help to differentiate a credit union from other providers. "When they visit your branch and come in to do that transaction, you want to capture them, because you want that relationship to be more than just a transaction. ...It's really about relationship building."
Simler-DeGolier also recommended investing in design elements that reinforce the brand and the brand's value proposition. That can be as simple as doing a basic facelift on the branch to a large-scale redesign that shifts the branch away from the old-school teller line and toward opening up more space and dialogue pods for members and MSRs.
"Brand standards and branding guidelines are so important to what we do," said Simler-DeGolier. "Banks were on the forefront of providing us with that, and now credit unions have caught up with that. So now everybody's really paying attention to 'Who are we?' They have a brand set in place, and if they don't, most of them are looking to do so."
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