In a recent Filene survey among credit union professionals, respondents shared three of the biggest threats facing the industry including, "attracting younger members," "losing relevancy," and "competition with big banks and Fintechs." This fear of future growth and sustainability for credit unions is what inspired the focus of Filene's newest research center which launched on July 1st, 2024.
The continued aging of the average credit union member has been a challenge in the industry for decades, and now less than 20% of Americans under the age of 40 use a credit union. For credit union's that are focused on profitable future growth, they need to prioritize strategies that will help them to enhance their relevancy among younger consumers. The goal of the Center for The Next Generation of Member Growth is to identify strategies, including internal and external practices, to attract, engage and retain the next generation of credit union members.
The Next Generation of Member Growth
Led by Filene Fellow Kim Lear, a highly respected generational sociologist, in collaboration with an advisory council of credit union leaders, the Center’s work aims to:
- Identify emerging capabilities in both physical and digital channels to reach and convert Millennials and Gen Zers into members.
- Identify how products and services will need to evolve and what investments are necessary to meet the financial needs and build trust with the most diverse, multi-ethnic consumer base in history.
- Investigate what promising growth opportunities exist that can simultaneously protect credit unions against fintech incumbents while driving revenue and membership growth.
- Explore key infrastructure requirements to enable personalization of offers and optimization of the member experience to drive higher relevancy and conversion.
- Test marketing strategies and tactics to identify which approaches strengthen brand identity, reinforce value proposition, build loyalty and establish clear points of market differentiation.
"Member growth is critical for our industry, especially for our smaller credit unions who often report loss of membership. Our team is thrilled to be on this ride with the amazing Filene team, and with Research Fellow Kim Lear, to develop strategies and tactics to support our credit unions in Michigan and around the country."
Michigan Credit Union League
Generous support for the Center of The Next Generation of Member Growth is provided by Affinity Federal Credit Union, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Christian Financial Credit Union, Cornerstone Credit Union League, Financial Plus Credit Union, Fiserv, Kitsap Credit Union, Maps Credit Union, Michigan Credit Union League, SRM (Strategic Resource Management) and Teachers Federal Credit Union.
Cornerstone League is committed to helping credit unions grow, so we want to invest in this partnership with Filene Research Institute and the Michigan Credit Union League. We feel that it’s important for us to give back to the movement by funding this important research.
Cornerstone League
Where to Start...
Now that the Center for The Next Generation of Member Growth has officially launched, Fellow Kim Lear in collaboration with an advisory council of credit union leaders can begin this exciting 3-year journey to explore the needs, motivations, and behaviors of younger generations to help shape insight around three key areas: products, member experience and marketing. These valuable insights will focus on answering the following key questions:
- What is the right set of products to meet the needs of younger generations and have them feel that a credit union is the right financial institution for them? And equally as important, what are the right names for those products to reflect how younger people are using financial services today?
- How do we create compelling, frictionless member experiences that will drive adoption and loyalty? What are the most important points in the member lifecycle to get right with younger generations?
- What are the right places, voices, and messages to reach younger generations? How do you leverage social media and create an impactful influencer strategy?
What's Next for Filene
Earlier this month, at Spark! 2024, Filene made an exciting new announcement of the topic for their next Center of Excellence, set to launch in early 2025. Jessica Gamache, Filene's Head of Research announced to the attendees that the next topic of focus is Design for Digital! This new research center isn't just about upgrading your technology stack, it is about retooling credit unions for digital success. This means creating a culture of nimbleness and flexibility that can continue to evolve with consumers' changing expectations.
When organizations are designed for digital, their data, technology, leadership and processes all work in concert to identify and deliver innovative member solutions.
The key focus areas that this new research center will explore includes:
- Helping credit union leaders to increase their awareness of the path and destination as they embark on their digital transformation journey
- Understanding how heavily an organization balances member experiences vs. operational efficiency defines the four common paths to transformation and can also give insight into the potential pitfalls of the chosen path
- Stalled, and even failed, transformations are common across industries and leaders need to be realistic from the outset of the multi-year journey they are embarking on to maintain momentum, especially during the slower periods
- Explosions, or disruptive changes during transformation journeys are critical to achieving a successful transformation.
This popular topic had many attendees buzzing, including UFCU's CEO Michael Crowl, taking to LinkedIn to share his excitement and support.
Next Steps
As you can imagine this is a highly anticipated research center for many credit unions struggling with evolving and enhancing their digital strategies. In fact, this exciting new center has already attracted sponsors like: Affinity FCU, Digital FCU, Maps Credit Union, Teachers FCU, Together Credit Union and UFCU. If your credit union would like to join us on this Design for Digital journey, click here to fill out a quick interest form to get started.
