“What we are discovering from the research is that particularly, the younger you get, the less you understand what it means what a member (is).”

Recently, this quote inside a story written by our Peter Strozniak, caught my eye. And, for me, it was quite shocking – yet, not that surprising.

The quote came from CUNA's president/CEO, Jim Nussle, during a keynote presentation he did at the Southeast Credit Union Conference. Nussle was discussing the results of some new market research done by CUNA focusing on consumers and members.

The most prominent result was the fact that millennials and those people even younger do not understand what the word “member” means and/or it's simply a confusing term to younger consumers.

Well, that seems like a problem for the future of credit unions.

Nussle continued saying to the audience about the study results, “One of the things we've learned already is that we can't just throw words around like 'member' without explaining (it). We've got to explain why that benefit exists and not just assume that work in and of itself is self-explanatory.”

The shocking part of these results wasn't the fact that these results exist, but the fact that it was revealed in such a refreshingly honest way to this audience. I'm not accusing CUNA of being secretive – I'm only saying that I'm a firm believer in blunt conversations because the faster we get to the issue, the better and faster we can come up with a solution.

So, here we are with this knowledge. What now?

Inside these results, we see a clear and direct connection to what we've known for years: Credit unions don't have a clear message to the masses, and especially to the younger generations coming.

Creating a solid value proposition is not easy. In my experience, I'd say it's one of the harder marketing exercises if you want to get it right. But when you get it right and it reflects your mission and values – holy smokes it's awesome when you get there!

Let's take a look at some value propositions from other well-known organizations for reference.

Costco – The more you shop in-store, the more you save. The third-largest retailer is membership-based. And they aren't trying to become an online/Amazon retailer. They want you to come into the warehouse because their research has found an incredible loyalty with members because of their buy-in/annual membership dues.

Spotify – Soundtrack your life. The perfect songs for your workout, your night or your journey to work. Another membership, or subscription-based, business that drives loyalty because of that same Costco buy-in each year. It's almost human nature – we want to at least feel like we're getting a good deal.

Evernote – Remember everything. This app (when people sign up for the paid versions) is an incredible experience to keep your life organized across multiple mobile and desktop filing experiences.

Square – Start selling today. Take care of your business anywhere. This value proposition appeals to the small-business customers who need an easy way to set up shop and allow their customers to easily pay. It's a simple solution to a once-complicated problem.

Mint – That horizon might be closer than you think. We'll help you get there by managing money and budgets better every day. Mint's goal is to connect your accounts so that you'll see spending and savings patterns. And it's free and couldn't be easier to use.

MailChimp – Send better email. That's it. Simple. The value here is the simplicity of designing and blasting out email with a suite of data points to show you how well it works. It's like the Squarespace of email blasts.

Bank of America – To make financial lives better, we must deliver together, act responsibly, realize the power of our people and trust the team. Of course, this requires you to put aside your true feelings about BoA, but their value is being pushed as a “we're all in this together” kind of approach to banking. They went through a restructuring of their value proposition a couple of years ago, and so far, (they say) it's working brilliantly.

But how do you get to that clear and understandable value proposition for credit unions individually and as an industry? Or you do focus only on each individual credit union? Good questions for executives and your board.

In years past, I've worked with what's called a “Value Proposition Canvas” created by a company called Strategyzer. Instead of putting up Post-It Notes all over the office wall to figure out who our consumers are and what we can do to help, you create a consumer value map that breaks things down into our observations about the consumer, as well as what is and isn't in our control. To be sure, you very well might have different types of consumers/members, so you create a separate map for each one. Then you connect those things that you can control into your organization's value map (i.e. those things that you do well and the reason you're in business). It's important to realize that the best value propositions are focused on resolving the pain points that are the highest priority for your consumers.

When Nussle basically says, “We have some explaining to do,” what he's really saying is, “We have to tighten up our message of who we are to a new and potential membership base.”

Are credit unions just for certain people? Do credit unions only serve the under privileged? Do credit unions have mobile banking? These were all questions that came up during the CUNA research. And it looks like we do have a lot of explaining to do.

Michael Ogden is executive editor for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.

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