Jonathan Cartlidge, from Furness Building Society, shared a refreshingly honest account of transformation in progress.
While many organisations at Enlighten were showcasing mature CRM strategies, Furness offered a different perspective, one of a business at the beginning of its data journey, but with a clear sense of purpose.
Founded in 1865 to support shipbuilders in Barrow, the society needed to return to its roots. That meant rethinking everything from brand identity and physical spaces to digital services and member communications.
Defining the brand
The brand had become not just dated, but lost its original focus, with all sorts of executions that did nothing to help the cause.
The Furness brand was dated and inconsistently executed
Furness set out to re-establish the brand as something that would resonate with Members. The new branding would be based on the natural beauty of the instantly recognizable surrounding areas.
The branding also revitalised the branches, making an environment for colleagues to work where they were both comfortable and proud, and allowed Members to interact and not simply transact.
The new brand brought Furness back to relevance for its members
Understanding the members
While the brand was important, the real challenge lay in understanding the data. Despite being a member-owned organisation, Furness didn’t truly know its members. Data was fragmented, insight was limited, and communications were largely untargeted.
The turning point came with a Refocus project from R-cubed, which revealed just how far behind the organisation was compared to peers. There was much to be done in terms of customer understanding, analysis and martech. Most importantly, it highlighted the absolute need for a Single Customer View.
The comprehensive audit provided Furness with the ammunition they needed to build a business case to secure the funding and commitment to move forward with putting the infrastructure in place.
Furness are only at the beginning of their journey, but now have a clear plan of next steps – starting with a full ‘Meet Your Members’ analysis, before going on to scope and build the SCV – laying the foundations for personalised, data-driven journeys.
If you’re at the start of your CRM journey and want to know how to get to the next stage, just get in touch. We can help you assess where you stand in terms of Martech, data and customer understanding and help you plan your path to success, with our free Refocus assessment.
