5 minutes
While branches are expensive to operate, they provide golden opportunities to connect with members. To optimize the investment in branches, we must extract every ounce of opportunity to deliver the brand experience and increase member awareness of products and services. Experience engineering encompasses many aspects of branch planning and design, including location and adjacencies, security (incorporating the FBI’s SafeCatch principles), staff training and constant reinforcement, technology integration, and messaging and merchandising.
Messaging and merchandising should be included in early planning alongside other elements of branch design. Weak or ineffective messaging and merchandising diminish the investment in this infrastructure. The cost is developing and integrating effective messaging is relatively low with a potentially high return. Failure to include merchandising as part of experience engineering may result in a subprime final product and/or potentially expensive last-minute changes during construction.
Some credit unions focus their branch messaging to present a strong brand experience, as in the example of BECU showcasing photos of real members and Northwest locations to make a visceral connection.
Other credit unions have told me they do not need to do merchandising because members already know what they offer. But when we do surveys, we find that members do not know their credit union offers small business banking, investments, or even mortgages. A well-conceived messaging and merchandising program can increase both brand connection and product and service use by 10 percent to 40 percent, which provides a quick ROI.
To get a deeper understanding about successful messaging and merchandising, I spoke recently with Ben Stangland, principal and VP/operations for CUES Supplier member Weber Marketing Group.
Seibert: Why promote message within the branch environment?
Stangland: Because it provides a powerful platform for creating member awareness, if done properly. It presents an opportunity to have a discussion with members and to keep key products and services top of mind for both members and staff. It becomes part of the brand experience and provides a low-cost way to deliver unique brand messages that change and keep the experience vibrant.
Five kinds of messaging are typically used in the branch: (1) brand messaging to connect with members’ emotions, values and interests reinforcing brand attributes for members and staff; (2) product and services messaging to ensure that members and staff are aware of key offerings, which also helps initiate conversations; (3) promotion of current events and time-sensitive offers such as special mortgage or seasonal rates; (4) community involvement illustrating how the credit union is an active participant in the target market tapestry of life; and (5) value statement that defines the brand’s foundation.
Seibert: Are different types of messages more effective in different areas in the branch?
Stangland: Yes, when messages are targeted to a specific audience/member segment with a specific message, such as community events, advisory services, and promotional/cross-selling opportunities. Targeting messages to specific lifestyle segments can be especially powerful. By utilizing targeted lifestyle segments data, credit unions can better understand who they serve and where. Then merchandising message locations should be mapped out during prototype development rather than as an afterthought so that the branch works for you, and not in a passive sense. Ask and answer questions like: What do we want our members to do when they enter? What do we want them to feel when they enter the vault?
Seibert: What is the balance between digital and paper-based merchandising?
Stangland: This depends on the type of branch and the member segments you are targeting. A mix of both can help connect with a variety of members in impactful ways that cause them to take action. And different media can be used to different effects. For digital merchandising, one technique is to storyboard based on overall goals and plan slower moving content so members can better engage with the message. For traditional static-based merchandising, the use of three-dimensional layering and different materials creates an eye-catching visual.
Seibert: What makes for effective digital messages?
Stangland: Keeping the message simple and on brand with interesting graphics, design and motion can make digital messages more effective.
Seibert: How long should a digital loop be before it starts over?
Stangland: Instead of thinking of length before the loop ends, first look at effective content and message order. When in a waiting area or queue, your loop can be longer vs. an advisory area where member wait time is not as long.
Seibert: How do staff benefit from in-branch messaging? How can they use messaging to help facilitate their jobs?
Stangland: Having marketing messages around reminds employees to engage members on other products that might not be on top of mind and helps initiate dialogue with members.
Seibert: Should there be a permanent area for community-based messaging?
Stangland: Again, it depends on the type of branch. In a community branch this kind of messaging emphasizes the credit union’s community connections. But in a 400-square-foot stand-alone office, a community area might be distracting.
Seibert: How much effort should be devoted to the brand? After all, the person is already in the branch.
Stangland: Brand should be an important part of the whole branch design to ensure integration of messaging along with other design elements. When the branch, or even the branch network, does not reflect the brand, the result is a disconnect in the total member experience, which should bring together all the delivery channels.
This brief conversation captures just a few elements of perfecting and maximizing the benefits of merchandising, and I want to thank Ben for contributing to this overview. Whether working on their own or with a merchandising partner, credit unions should aim to connect the dots between brand development, messaging, marketing, delivery and ROI.
Paul Seibert, CMC, is principal/financial and retail design for CUES Supplier member, EHS, a NELSON Company, Seattle.
