HONOLULU - A constant pulse check of its members has helpedHawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union become more in tune with theirneeds.

While member surveys are nothing new for the credit union, alittle over a year ago, in a move to deliver more surveys tomembers and simplify the tracking process, HawaiiUSA FCU made theswitch from paper to electronic and hasn't looked back.

"We get about 1,000 new members each month so we survey memberswhen a new account is opened, a loan is approved and when atransaction is completed by our tellers to help us measure servicequality on an ongoing basis," said HawaiiUSA Senior Vice PresidentCommunications Excellence Group Scott Kaulukukui. "The data wereceive is very eye-opening. It not only shows us where we aredoing well, but it lays out opportunities to improve."

The $769 million credit union partners with DigitalMailer, Inc.to provide its eSurvey program, which, Kaulukukui says, has allowedthe credit union to "deliver more surveys without a lot moremoney." In addition to saving printing expenses, staff resourcesand two-way postage costs, the credit union receives a monthlyanalysis of the survey results from DigitalMailer and help withchallenges associated with electronic communications such asavoiding spam blockers and managing e-mail lists.

Kaulukukui says since they already had surveys and member e-mailaddresses on hand the transition from paper to electronic wasfairly simple. Surveys are sent out the first of the month withoutany specific reply by date. The credit union surveys all newaccount holders and samples activities from teller transactions toloans at each of its 10 branches.

"This is not without its challenges. Not only do people changetheir e-mail addresses but with recent phishing scams people havespam blocks and are somewhat leery of the surveys so they do e-mailus back to see if the survey is legitimate," said Kaulukukui."People are more vocal via e-mail than on paper and we know wecan't accommodate every single one of their requests, but we stillprefer to know what they are thinking. Without member feedback, howdo you know you're doing things right?"

The credit union offers members no incentives to participate yetthe average response rate has been 9% to 10% compared to thetypical 3% to 4% response rate for paper surveys.

Results are compiled in a monthly report that is shared withsenior management, branch managers and department directors.

"By receiving member feedback on a regular basis we can respondquickly to comments that call for immediate attention or a member'srequest for a needed product or service," said Kaulukukui. Forexample, when members complained about long lines at the branches,it prompted HawaiiUSA to pilot a single transaction line, which hashelped. In addition, one of the branches offers remote tellerservices and shared branching transactions can be processed there,further alleviating the long lines. When surveys revealed memberswant the brick and mortar branches to be open more hours seven daysa week, Kaulukukui says it provided an opportunity to build moremember awareness of HawaiiUSA's online banking services. Theresult, online service use has increased 36% and continues togrow.

"We get a lot of positive feedback and some complaints, which noone likes to hear but those negative comments are reallyopportunities to expose areas that we can improve upon," saidKaulukukui. "On a daily basis we can keep tabs and track exactlywhat people are asking for. There are even some things we can takeaction on right away like putting a change of address formonline-and members have commented that they like how we respondquickly to their comments and requests for products andservices."

Questions are continually refined and plans are underconsideration to expand the eSurvey program further and incorporatemember satisfaction measures into the credit union's goals.

"Every credit union is individual and unique, but we should allbe interested in hearing what our members have to say so whether itis via a paper or e-mail survey or just asking questions at thefront line it is important to understand what members are feelingor experiencing no matter how you collect it," said Kaulukukui."For us, our eSurveys are helping us live our promise of creatingvalued relationships that's with our members, staff, vendors andcommunity." [email protected]