There is an interesting YouTube video that was widely shared some time ago. In it, a toddler is playing with an iPad, touching the screen icons and enjoying the interaction that happens as a result. In the next scene, the toddler is playing with a print magazine. Again, she is touching the pictures, but nothing happens. The toddler seems frustrated that the magazine is "broken."
The video exemplifies an important shift in behaviors and expectations that has occurred as a result of technological advances in general and mobile computing devices like the iPad in particular. The shift is this: People today expect immediate interaction with information presented to them.
This shift has wide-ranging implications for member engagement and experience. And in a document-centric industry, it cannot be ignored. Gone are the days when credit union members will be satisfied to receive a lifeless PDF account statement. Reading a statement and related documents (loan documents, tax notices, etc.) isn't typically associated with entertainment. Adding the ability to click on colorful charts or graphs of the member's choosing, or watching videos right on their interactive communications introduces the type of immediate engagement consumers are beginning to demand from the businesses with which they interact. This interactivity has received the name "gamification" for its game-like attributes. It takes what otherwise might be viewed by the member as a necessary, onerous task of having to look at their statement, and enables them to "play" with their statement instead, something members want to do.
Gamification Builds Relationships
Introducing elements of gamification into your documents may be the single most effective way to improve your members' relationship with and loyalty to your organization. A 2011 study by JWT Intelligence found that 63% of respondents said making everyday activities more like a game would make them more fun and rewarding. Offering communications that are dynamic is an innovative way to take something that may seem like a chore (reviewing account terms, transactions, amounts due, etc.) and transform it into an engaging experience that has added value and improves the member experience.
Dynamic communications have the potential to enhance the member experience in several important ways, including:
- Deep interactive capabilities — Members can view their banking documents with attractive graphs and charts that can be clicked on to provide detail that is more specific, even drilling down to a granular level and varying the views with a few clicks. This interactivity improves member education and understanding and reduces the need for customer service calls for questions or clarifications.
- A higher level of personalization — Today, it is the member who decides what information they want to see and how they want to see it. Now a member can have the ability to customize their statement so that the information most important to them, such as payment due dates, is prominently displayed.
- Accessibility online or offline — Responding to our "on the go" world, members can interact with their dynamic banking communications anytime, anywhere it is most convenient for them.
- Multichannel delivery options — Maximizing HTML technology, dynamic communications can be viewed on any PC, tablet, smartphone and/or other mobile device.
In addition to these important end-user benefits, dynamic communications give the organization a number of new capabilities as well, including:
New Capabilities
- Tracking of the clicks and views to provide valuable insight into a member's interests and needs.
- The ability to use this data to present relevant, personalized offers and messages to members — including videos — to closely target new products and services and build stronger relationships.
- Interaction with individuals through personalized surveys and live chats, all of which can be incorporated into the dynamic communications.
The time has come to bury those lifeless PDFs and resurrect them as modern communications. The marketplace is proving that credit unions getting the most member stickiness are the ones that are incorporating some level of interaction into their member experiences. Engaging credit union members through dynamic communications will deepen relationships with them, enhance their experience with every interaction, increase loyalty and certainly differentiate your organization from the competition.=
Steve Francis is president and general manager of GMC Software Technology, North America. For more information please visit
