Conversational AI and ChatGPT are paving the way for a more automated and streamlined future for member service. The technology has proven its benefits across a variety of industries by excelling in basic tasks such as question-answering, summarization, content generation, language translation, and more.
With these promises, however, come natural pitfalls that are often overlooked — incorrect answers, inaccurate understandings, and select AI companies adding to the confusion by creating larger-than-life promises. Despite the noise, the benefits of conversational AI are real and go beyond streamlining member Q&A. Specifically for credit unions, there are unique advantages to incorporating artificial intelligence to revolutionize the most important touchpoint of the finance industry: financial institution to member.
1. Allow Humans To Be More Human
Conversational AI should better the human experience, not eliminate it. AI solutions should be purpose-built to empower humans to overcome the initial roadblock of implementing AI but also create a path to allow human agents to better scale their workload. It is meant to eliminate repetitive question-and-answer clutter at agent call centers and provide opportunities for live agents to have more meaningful conversations.
Citadel Credit Union ($5.6B, Exton, PA) was on a mission to reduce calls to the contact center, better route calls directly to specialty groups such as collections and new member onboarding, reduce costs, and create a more seamless member experience. It embraced and used conversational AI by not only replacing its old bank-by-phone but also leveraging it to assist all members calling the credit union 24/7.
As a result of purpose-built, conversational AI implementation with Posh, Citadel was able to increase its NPS score by six points and reduce third-party contact center costs by more than $663,000 annually.
2. Lead Generation
This leads to the next point — it is proven that better conversations lead to better banking. With the power of conversational AI, credit unions and financial intuitions can identify lead generation opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to due to inundated call centers and disruption of business continuity. Conversational AI will eliminate backlogs and free up live agent time specifically to interact with customers, thus opening up a channel for marketing and sales.
At Hudson Valley Credit Union ($6.7B, Poughkeepsie, NY), conversational AI has given staff the bandwidth to foster better relationship-building with members.
“Agents are [feeling] happy chatbots are taking on interactions that require no skills,” says Steve Goodwine, assistant vice president of the contact center at Hudson Valley. “Our agents now enjoy more engaging conversations with members that go deeper. They’re using their skills and are more engaged, so our agents are more satisfied with the work they’re doing. Happy staff makes happy members.”
3. Revitalize The VIP Experience
Aside from call center mitigation, conversational AI has allowed for changes in the VIP experience. Creating a member-first experience is already ingrained in credit unions. Still, AI touchpoints have facilitated more detailed and insightful experiences with members through context switching and customization that equip credit unions with a better understanding of their members in a way they hadn’t before. It creates a personal touch to what otherwise would be a scripted interaction.
“The experience has been better than anticipated,” Goodwine continues. “The system is incredibly easy to use. Without having to hire additional people, we serve our members faster and at all hours. Our self-service solutions have been more successful as our members now have a guide to take them step-by-step through what they want to do.”
4. Paving The Way For The Future
As with all tech advancements, it should pave the way for the future — not just change the current landscape. AI has provided proven metrics for improvements, such as decreased call wait time, handling an increasing number of calls, improved containment rates, and so much more.
With Posh, we are taking it one step further to continuously develop and expand our breadth of AI. AI should not just improve upon existing capabilities but evolve to anticipate future needs and better improve the experience for both the credit union and member.
Matthew Teoli, vice president of digital channels of Florida Credit Union ($2.0B, Gainesville, FL), highlights the importance of future development.
“The experience has been great,” he says. “We believe our Posh partnership to be a valuable one and have been happy with it. Posh is driving the business and continually innovating. We look forward to enhancing and expanding the service together.”
Consider Innovation with Conversational AI
Conversational AI is more than just the hottest new technology. It is a precursor for expanded business and more meaningful interaction between the credit union and its members. It is important to home in on the advantages and individual benefits an AI provider can offer in the present and for the future. It also greatly benefits the credit union to come equipped with a general understanding of what it expects out of conversational AI and how to ask for key deliverables to avoid generic promises and lackadaisical integrations.
The various soundbites provided by Citadel, Hudson Valley, and Florida Credit Union prove the advantages conversational AI provides specifically for credit unions. As AI technology continues to develop, so will the benefits. Getting ahead of the change now will only help lay the groundwork for maximized success, no matter what the future brings.
