The Dos and Don'ts of Post_Fraud Communications
There is always an emotional response when we learn of fraud. Members, employees, management and your board will likely feel the emotional trauma when fraud occurs, and it is up to you as a credit union leader to determine how you can help your members protect themselves, help regain their trust and make them feel safe doing business with you again.
How the fraud occurred and who was at fault are less important to maintaining your members’ trust than how you communicate with them. To earn and keep your members’ trust, your credit union must commit to a communication strategy that encourages conversations with your members long before fraud ever occurs.
Lay the Foundation
Actively communicate with your members and commit to a communication strategy that is both push (you providing content to your members) and pull (members providing content to you) in nature.
Map out a communication calendar and establish a dedicated channel for your members where you push information that is relevant and educational. Voice this communication from either your president/CEO or your credit union’s executive team. Avoid promoting your products and services when using this channel. Instead, put forth content that helps members and provides a way for them to give you feedback. Ask questions and give an avenue for members to express concerns. Ensure that there are multiple ways for you to pull content from your members. Establish an email address such as wewanttoknow@yourcu.org, publish it everywhere and have your executives personally monitor and follow up on all member messages. Use your social media channels to encourage members to engage and provide a tool, such as regular online surveys, to let your members’ voices be heard.
Lay the foundation with communication and your members will trust that you are listening and committed to helping make things right if something goes wrong.
Set the Tone
Open, honest and transparent communications are critical. These are the three words that should be used to describe your credit union’s communication strategy.
Whether you are communicating about an event happening in your community, a systems conversion or an occurrence of fraud, you must be forthright and open. Using the phrase “no comment” or waiting too long to communicate could make members question your integrity and may give the impression that you don’t care about their well-being. Tell your members what you know when you know it. Tell them what they can expect from you for updates, outcomes and possible solutions. Most importantly, tell them how they can get in touch with you and encourage them to do so. When you do this in every communication with your members, it establishes your credibility and provides clear expectations in your members’ minds.
When members trust that you empathize and truly feel your commitment to helping, they are more likely to stick with you and forgive you for any mistakes that you may have made. Set the tone to be forthright and empathetic in your communication.
Stay Engaged
To reap the benefits of laying a foundation for interactive communication with your members and being forthright and empathetic in your communications, you need to follow up regularly.
Make sure that you respond to every member issue and concern, but go one step further and follow up again once the concern has been addressed to ensure your member’s issue was resolved to their satisfaction. In the case of fraud, a good tactic is to follow up with your members consistently throughout the next year to ensure they are recovering and ask if there are any other ways you can help.
Staying engaged, doing what you said you would do, and doing it when you said you would do it conveys to your members that you value them and their relationship with your credit union.
In Summary
Establishing a communications strategy for your credit union cannot wait until fraud occurs. No one wants to be the victim of fraud and no credit union wants to have to communicate that fraud has occurred to its members. Planning ahead will make this easier on your members, employees and board. Put as much effort into communications with your members as you would into preventing fraud. Commit to laying the foundation, setting the tone and staying engaged to earn and maintain your members’ trust.