PROVO, Utah -
"We invite members' feedback from our home page, the 'Contact Us' page and when they log-out of homebanking," said Brad Norton, VP, marketing and business development at the $530-million CU.
"We bring the 'Feedback' link to the forefront of our website with large graphics that tell members we are listening and want to hear about their experience," he added.
After about five years of using the Allegiance Active Listening System, UCCU now receives an average of 150 feedback items per month. The web-based feedback management tool is provided by Salt Lake City-based Allegiance, Inc.
Member Loyalty Ebbs And Flows
Member loyalty has ebbed and flowed recently, according to the Allegiance Loyalty Trend Index, from a high of 8.5 out of 10 in January 2006 to a low of 5 in July 2006, Norton said.
The real-time loyalty survey revealed that UCCU's home-banking upgrade in July was a sore point for some, he said. Members have since adjusted to the upgrade, and the ongoing loyalty index has increased to 7 out of 10.
In the end, "we know our members' feelings on a real-time, regular basis," said Norton. "And we can often respond to them faster than by telephone."
Norton takes those feelings to staff and board meetings. "Allegiance has really done a good job offering powerful reporting capabilities. We can discuss what is a popular topic among members and hone in on what's important to them."
Act, Listen And Learn
Allegiance helps the 93,000-member CU fulfill its marketing goal to "act, listen and learn" from members in 2007, explained Norton. "We invite our members to communicate with us more and solicit their feedback on specific topics."
To complete the feedback form, members categorize their feedback as a compliment, concern, question or suggestion and can elect to remain anonymous. They can direct the message to a particular branch or department and select one of 17 message subjects, including "other." Finally, the member chooses whether to take the optional loyalty survey.
The Comments Report feature displays the initial feedback from the member, which can be accepted via the website. Alternatively, call center or branch employees can enter feedback they receive via the telephone, letter or lobby.
Call center representatives are the front line for the feedback system. "They can answer 95% of the feedback," said Norton. "Or, they can use the 'delegate' feature to forward the feedback to an expert."
Subsequent communications between UCCU and the member are then date and time stamped and tacked on to the original message.
"That way, I can oversee the communications and the tone of the messaging," said Norton.
The Allegiance management console allows UCCU to view feedback according to whether it is open, closed, or in progress. "And you can finely filter all the data in real-time, for example, if you want to see all the website suggestions in the past three weeks," added Jason Tripp, vice president of corporate sales at Allegiance.
"These are not old reports," Tripp said.
Norton looks forward to the day when Allegiance can link member feedback to an account number, while keeping the member anonymous, and integrate the feedback with UCCU's member relationship systems. "That's a tough one," he said.
Compliments submitted by members are frequently sent to employees "to give everyone a shot in the arm," continued Norton. "Employees love to hear the positive things our members have to say. We also use the compliments in marketing testimonials."
FOR MORE RESOURCES
Read more about how to gather and use member feedback at cujournal.com and searching the following bolded terms in the archive:
All IT Wants, for a story on data gathering devices
Keep Security Simple, for a story on why Technology CU worked with members on authentication
For info on this story:
* Utah Community CU, www.uccu.com
* Allegiance, www.allegiance.com
