Membership Drive vs. Membership Bribe

iPods, George Foreman Grills, Cash, chance to win a car. I'm seeing it all. And it makes me sad and worried. Why are we resorting to bribing our members to join?

It’s simple. Because they’ve stopped referring us. But let’s be honest. Who is the person willing to move their checking account (and a sticky one at that) for an iPod? Someone who really wants an iPod. Is that bad? I don’t know. Consider this. If they DO come in (as a result of that offer) is your new account experience going to create word-of-mouth or is the gift masking the process.

We are in the business of managing moments of truth.

A moment of truth: Your product is service. It’s manufactured WITH the member present. You only get one chance at a first impression. That first impression is the opening of a new membership.

It costs, on average, five times more to get a new member than it does to serve an existing member (and that stat does not include the grill of MP3 player). That first impression needs attention.

If you haven’t reviewed your “experience” lately I have a quick and efficient way of doing so. The Net Promoter Score (NPS). Your challenge. For the next month, send a two question survey to each new member AFTER they’ve opened the account (like a week after). Here are the two questions:

1. On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend (insert CU name) to a friend, family member or co-worker?

2. Why did you answer the way you did?

Some people see that and say “Well, the member doesn’t have enough experience with us to answer correctly.” What I really hear is - “We don’t create a good first impression.”
I think that’s why we are giving away grills......