Credit Unions Confront Challenge of Aging Membership on Final Day of 2024 World Credit Union Conference

Juli Lews and Jim Lake

If there is one overriding, existential concern credit unions share no matter their size, complexity or geographic location—it is how to build a younger base of membership to ensure their future relevance.

Attendees of a Wednesday 2024 World Credit Union Conference breakout session on “Engaging Younger Members for Growth” learned how to appeal to younger demographics, while not forgetting about their current members.

The statistics presented by Juli Lewis, Vice President of Community Engagement at USF FCU (USA) and Jim Lake, Vice President and Managing Partner of Michael Walters Advertising, were daunting.

“Only 4% of Gen Z are credit union members. We think we’re doing better with millennials, but only 5% of millennials are credit union members,” said Lake. “We all know that we do great things, but we’re not good at telling the story.”

The silver lining, according to Lewis, is that if credit unions do a better job of talking about why they are different from banks or fintechs, they have the right message to attract younger consumers.

“Young people want to belong in the community, they want to be part of something good. They want sustainability, to be part of environmental causes. They love DEI initiatives,” said Lake. “So, consumers now, they’re not only value driven, they not only want a good deal, but they’re values driven.”

Lake said focusing on emotional stories about members that hit on social themes like that are key, as is successfully promoting them.

“Opportunities abound when we talk about financial wellness, community wellness, etc., outperform product ads by 2.5 times, 2.5 times the return on interest,” said Lake. “And there is a massive difference between a testimonial—‘oh I went to the branch and got my paperwork done in three minutes,’—those are important, but then there’s storytelling.”

Dhawan stresses importance of “concrete empathy”
Why is empathy at such a low point in today’s workplace?

According to award-winning keynote speaker and author Erica Dhawan, a lot of the reasons can be attributed to fewer face-to-face interactions, an ever-accelerating pace of change and an increasing number of matrixed teams working remotely.

“Research shows that we tend to argue more, passive aggressive behaviors or assumptions that someone's being rude can shoot up. And last but not least, in a digital environment, we can walk away faster from relationships. Ghosting, is not just a romantic issue, it's a business issue,” Dhawan told attendees of her keynote address during the final general session of the 2024 World Credit Union Conference.

She also relayed practical ways for credit union professionals to activate “concrete empathy” to create cultures of psychological safety, employee engagement, well-being and innovation. Dhawan told attendees there are simple things to consider and adjust to improve the empathy practiced at your organization.
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“We have to be proactive in different ways. Concrete empathy is not assuming, it's asking for feedback, checking in more regularly, making sure that we're maniacally clear in our communication in all formats and also asking people for their preferences, so that we're customizing it to different types," said Dhawan.

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