Dan Schoenherr is an experienced credit union consultant. He has expertise in strategic planning, process improvement, board governance, and website strategies. He is President/CEO of Schoenherr Consulting and has led several credit unions in their process improvement programs and creating member delight. Most recently he has been helping credit unions with their Net Promoter® Score programs. He may be reached at dan@schoenherrconsulting.com.



Net Promoter® Score, a loyalty measurement, has been adopted by many credit unions. However, many are not "closing the loop." A Net Promoter® Score survey asks the question: "How likely is it that you would recommend (the credit union) to a friend or colleague?" Customers respond on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorized as follows:

• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth
• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic members who are vulnerable to competitive offerings
• Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy members who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.

To calculate the credit union's Net Promoter® Score (NPS), take the percentage of members who are Promoters and subtract the percentage who are Detractors.



Closing the Loop

Most NPS surveys ask a second question: What is the primary reason for the score you just gave us? This is the beginning of the feedback process that allows the credit union to improve the member experience. Digital Mailer's eSurvey system will send an email to a designated credit union employee on any survey received with a Detractor score of 0-6. This allows the credit to contact the member (generally within 48 hours), to understand their concerns in greater detail and resolve any issues.

An internal review of the results should be conducted to identify key drivers of loyalty and establish process improvement plans. The last part of the "loop" is informing members what you did with the information provided.



Email Surveying

About one-third of the credit unions sharing their NPS scores on the CU-Processes website do phone surveys. While this approach provides excellent feedback, it is very expensive. The largest majority are doing mail surveys. This approach offers little chance to immediately "close the loop" with the member, or to delve deeper into the core reasons for the member's dissatisfaction.

Email provides fast surveying (especially if event-driven), and the opportunity to immediately "close the loop" with the member. It also allows you a simple way to survey various segments - a specific branch, the contact center, online users, etc.

If you are considering a Net Promoter® Score program, make sure it includes the steps to "close the loop." Otherwise, you have missed the opportunity to truly improve the member's experience with the credit union.

Labels: Credit Union News, Credit Union Tech, Credit Unions, NetPromoter, NPS, Promoter, Survey, Surveys

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