Coastal Federal Credit Union

The highlights

• Increased response rates
• Decreased the time it took to collect statistically significant samples from one month to three days
• Expanded the sample of the membership surveyed
• Cut down on issue resolution response time
• Improved Net Promoter Score
• Added additional transactional surveys

The challenge

Coastal Federal Credit Union has long believed in the importance of surveying its customers. The credit union relied on customer feedback to resolve issues with dissatisfied customers and influence future company policies. However, before Inquisium, Coastal used in-house technology that drained its IT team’s resources and drastically limited its survey’s sample size. The solution was a web-based survey that was promoted through a banner ad in Coastal’s online banking portal. This meant that only online banking customers were able to access it. Even then, the sample was whittled down further to only the customers who noticed the ad and clicked on the link.

Understandably, response rates were low. It took Coastal an entire month to reach a statistically significant amount of responses. This delayed the credit union’s response to negative customer feedback and made the organization as a whole less attuned to customer preferences.

The solution

Coastal was ready to decrease the involvement of its IT department and get feedback from its wider membership base. By using Inquisium, the team was able to send emails to a more diverse sample of members—not just those who used online banking—and reach a statistically significant sample of responses in just a few days.

Since collecting and analyzing the data became a much quicker and efficient process, Coastal created a new position devoted to managing member loyalty. A process was put in place to respond to all members who rated their experience as a 0-6 on the Net Promoter Scale. By setting up email alerts, the member loyalty advocate was able to address customer issues in less than two days.

Inquisium’s quick and straightforward reporting also made it easier for the marketing team at Coastal to pull the raw data make presentations for their senior management team with member recommendations. As a result, unpopular policies regarding overdraft fees and operating hours were changed much to the delight of members.

Ultimately, Inquisium helped Coastal achieve more statistically sound member data. It resulted in improved customer service, an increased net promoter score, and a clear path to member loyalty for years to come.

“Inquisium gave us a much better picture of what our membership really thinks.”

Leo McEliece, Product Marketing Manager