Consumer Duty Customer Feedback
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The Consumer Duty came into force on 31 July 2023, setting a higher standard of consumer protection in financial services.
The key factors under the Consumer Duty, as outlined by the FCA, revolve around several core themes designed to elevate the level of care firms must show to their customers. A free webinar is located here. https://webinars.fca.org.uk/consumer-duty-the-next-steps/join
These factors include:
The Consumer Principle: This is the foundation of the Consumer Duty, which requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. It emphasizes the importance of firms putting customers' needs and interests at the forefront of their business.
Cross-cutting Rules: These rules further define the expectations from firms under the Consumer Principle, focusing on three main areas:
- Firms must act in good faith towards customers.
- Firms must avoid causing foreseeable harm to customers.
- Firms must enable and support customers to pursue their financial objectives.
The FCA has detailed four specific outcomes that firms should strive to achieve to comply with the Consumer Duty:
Credit Union Risks with Compliance
It's important for firms under the FCA's jurisdiction to continuously monitor their compliance with these factors, as the FCA has the authority to enforce the Consumer Duty through various means, including fines and other regulatory actions, to protect consumers' interests.
Obtaining feedback from customers is a crucial part of this process, as it helps credit unions understand their customers' needs, experiences, and the areas where they may need to improve. Here are some steps and ideas for credit unions to effectively obtain feedback from their customers:
Steps to Obtain Feedback
Define Objectives: Clearly define what you want to learn from the feedback. This could relate to specific products, the overall service experience, or understanding the challenges customers face.
- Choose the Right Channels: Identify the most effective channels for reaching your customers.
- Communicate the Purpose: Let your customers know why their feedback is important and how it will be used to improve their experience. This can increase engagement and the quality of feedback received.
- Make it Easy to Provide Feedback: Remove barriers to giving feedback by making the process as simple and straightforward as possible.
- Act on the Feedback: Use the feedback to make informed decisions about how to improve products and services. Communicate back to customers what changes have been made because of their input.
Examples of Ideas to Obtain Feedback
Customer Surveys: Deploy surveys via email, have a link on the bottom of all emails.
- Online banking platforms, or mobile apps. Surveys can be focused on specific interactions, such as after using a particular service.
- Digital Feedback Tools: Implement digital feedback tools on your website or in your app, such as face book messenger that ask for feedback after customer service interactions.
- WhatsApp can also be used to obtain customer feedback.
One way of including all customers is experts by experience through:
- Customer Advisory Boards: Create a customer advisory board made up of a diverse group of your customers. This board can meet regularly to discuss issues, offer feedback, and provide suggestions directly to the credit union's leadership.
Keep it simple:
Transaction Follow-ups: Send follow-up messages or emails after transactions asking for feedback on the specific service or interaction.
By implementing a combination of these strategies, credit unions can gather a wide range of feedback, from broad sentiments about the customer experience to specific insights about products or services. The key is to actively listen, respond, and adapt based on the feedback.
Choose the Right Technology
- Survey Platform: Use an existing survey platform that can be customized to your needs (e.g., SurveyMonkey – Please see YouTube Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Vfhevy7g0 Google Forms Please see YouTube Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFGiNCBHUEE , Typeform) https://www.typeform.com/
- Incentives: Consider offering incentives for completing the survey, such as entry into a prize draw, to increase participation rates.
Please see appendixes 1. For an example of survey questions, developed through survey money.
Development and Testing
- Develop a range of approaches the tool according to the chosen technology path.
- Testing: Conduct thorough testing with a small group of users such as staff to identify and fix any issues. Ensure the survey approach is understandable, works well on all intended devices, and that data collection is accurate and secure.
Implementation and Distribution
- Once tested, launch your feedback tools. Make it easily accessible to your customers through multiple channels, such as email, SMS, your website, and social media, as previously discussed.
- Clearly communicate the purpose of the survey and how the feedback will be used to improve their experience with the credit union.
- Ongoing Engagement: Keep the process of collecting and acting on feedback ongoing to continually improve services and customer satisfaction.
This manual should be seen as a living document, subject to updates and revisions as Consumer Duty regulations evolve and as new best practices in feedback collection emerge. It's designed to be a practical, hands-on guide that helps credit unions not only comply with regulatory expectations but also excel in serving their members through a deep understanding of their needs and preferences.