NAFCU Journal November December 2021

32 THE NAFCU JOURNAL November–December 2021 INSIDE NAFCU SERVICES T here is no doubt that the global pandemic continues to have far-reaching impacts. One of the COVID after-effects for credit unions is the opportunity to repo- sition their brands to reflect the changes that occurred within the institutions as well as within our member communities. As I think about the loyalty industry, I see four guiding principles that are going to continue to define and drive loyalty programs forward for years to come: 1. Data – Clean, accessible data has been a talking point for many years, but its importance has grown as credit unions measure the impact of their loyalty promotions. 2. Customer experience – Cus- tomer experience is a key to success! Members are looking for integrated, real-time engagement. 3. Network effect – Technology now allows for credit unions to adopt specific components of a loyalty program without making a full platform switch, which reduces the impact to credit union operations. 4. Constant change – Credit union teams learned how to handle continuous change throughout the past two years and are now pre- pared to deal with change as “the new normal” as members demand faster, more integrated and more frictionless experiences. Loyalty programs are recognized as a credible way to engage members and to create long-term relationships. To this end, credit unions spend significant dollars each year to fund this member benefit, but 39% of loyalty card hold- ers don’t know their rewards balances. Another interesting fact is that 29% of members see their reward balance as a way to stretch their budget and 64% think the reward balance is as valuable as cash. Both of these statistics point out the need for credit unions to make it easy to view and track rewards balances and to evaluate the “spending power” of the rewards. Members who recognize the value of the loyalty benefit and find it easy to access are less likely to switch financial institutions in search of more valuable benefits. WHAT MAKES A LOYALTY PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL? Recognize members’ specific needs; promote ongoing engagement By Mladen Vladic, Head of Loyalty Services, FIS