Posted by Christopher Stevenson
I just returned from a great Filene i3 meeting in Dallas. (For the uninitiated, you can learn more about i3 and its projects here.) In addition to the fantastic product and service ideas being knocked around at the meeting (more on those in later posts), there was a good deal of discussion about the role of education in product development.
Financial education is part and parcel of the culture of credit unions and we are so in tune with helping our members improve their financial lives that we sometimes allow it to cloud our perceptions of what our members want or need. For instance, when starting up small business services, some credit unions focus their attention on providing classes for the small business owner, assuming that once owners are educated, they'll place their trust (and money) with the CU. Unfortunately, this approach assumes that small business owners want to be educated and that they understand their own shortcomings. It's a big assumption.
According to Stefanie Norvaisas of Design Concepts, Inc., there may be a better way. Instead of looking for ways to educate your members, pay attention to what people really do and build your products and services around their behaviors. Think about the Weight Watchers point system; it's built around the understanding that we all cheat on our diets. Instead of punishing cheating, they built it in. "OK, You've opted for french silk pie for breakfast. That's six points. You have four points left for the day." (I'm writing this post all hopped up on candy corn; how many points is that?)
Matrimoney, an i3 project, was designed with the understanding that people are getting married later in life and may already have established homes, which eliminates the need for traditional bridal registries. The program creates a registry program at the credit union so friends and family can deposit financial gifts right into the couple's account. It's a great model for building products and services around the behaviors of the members.
This approach makes sense. Instead of trying to make the consumer fit our mold, we should design our products to fit the consumer. It's so simple, why don't we all do it?
