Newsflash: Credit unions losing favor with young consumers!

This press releases from MyCUSurvey.com caught my eye this week. 

MyCUsurvey.com National Member Research Reveals Credit Unions Have Less Appeal for Young

The latest survey revealed a direct correlation between the age of credit union members and customer satisfaction. According to the findings, there is a 30 point difference in satisfaction ratings between older members (over age 65), and younger members (under age 30); older members are just more satisfied with their credit unions.

Great, so in addition to the fact that credit unions are having extreme difficulty attracting new young members, we now know that they are doing a poor job at satisfying those young members that they do have. So, what to do about it? The founder of the study, Dr. Jack Bieda, offers this advice:

“The convenience of web and mobile banking and other trends are undermining credit union member satisfaction. It’s clear that credit unions need to find a way to attract younger members and get members to visit their branches for a more personalized banking experience in order to cement the member relationship.”

I agree that credit unions need to find a way to attract younger members, but thinking that getting them to visit a branch will do the trick is exactly the opposite of what young people want. What they want is "the convenience of the web and mobile" that most credit unions simply don't have!

This advice is like telling the record stores of a decade ago that the best way to combat digital downloads is to get young people into their stores. Or advising the newspaper industry that the best way to combat Craiglist is to find a way to sell more classified print ads.

How about advising credit unions to become better at web and mobile banking?

Tim