The Perception Gap Is Wider Than You Think, And It’s Costing You Members.
Credit unions have built their identity around a distinct value proposition: people over profit, trust over transaction, and community over corporation. But a new national study from Gallup of nearly 2,000 banked U.S. adults surfaces a harder question: Does that differentiation live in your members’ minds — or mostly in yours?
Only 17.8% of consumers see banks and credit unions as truly different, with a wider perceived gap between traditional and online-only banks than they do between banks and credit unions. We’ve spent decades talking about what makes us different, however the people we’re trying to reach aren’t hearing it.
That finding alone should reshape how you approach planning season.
During this free webinar, Gallup and Callahan & Associates will walk through the data and explore what it means for member acquisition, positioning, and the strategic decisions leaders are making right now. This is not a presentation of survey statistics, but rather a direct challenge to several assumptions that quietly drive strategy, marketing, and product investment.
What We Examined
The data will challenge your assumptions about who your members are, why they stay, and what it will take to reach the ones you’re not yet winning.
#01: Where perception gaps reflect a messaging problem and where they signal something that messaging alone will not fix.
#02: How younger consumers choose a primary financial institution, and why 42.5% of Gen Z has never been a credit union member.
#03: Why members who cite “convenience” as their reason for staying are your most at-risk segment.
#04: Which high-stakes moments convert members into advocates, and which ones quietly erode trust.
#05: What leaders can do with these findings before the next planning cycle begins.
Download the slide deck here.
So What’s Next?
What you heard in this session has clear implications for how your credit union approaches growth, from acquisition strategy to where you place your next investments.
Through the Member Engagement & Financial Wellbeing Consortium, Callahan and Gallup help credit unions measure what matters, act with confidence, and build stronger member relationships that fuel growth.
If you are ready to turn these insights into action and bring new perspective to your planning process, a conversation with Callahan can help your team make decisions that are grounded, focused, and built to last.
