Customer expectations in the mortgage industry are higher than ever. Today’s savvy consumers are no longer chained to one device or limited to a single channel. They frequently switch between voice, email, chat, and social, and expect lenders to seamlessly meet their needs across channels and touch points. The cost of failing to meet customer expectations can be high – 54% will switch to a new brand or company1 for better customer service.
Forward-looking companies understand this. They make it easy for consumers to accomplish what they are looking for by integrating their communications both internally and externally, using an omnichannel approach. They also use data to understand customer emotions and preferences to personalize experiences, leading to superior customer satisfaction. But enabling omnichannel engagement does not mean implementing every possible channel. It is about using a judicious mix of channels to improve the customer experience while reducing the cost-to-serve. How can you achieve this?
Omnichannel is the way to go
To being with, develop a customer service strategy that delivers a transparent and highly engaging customer experience, making customers feel in control. An omnichannel contact center is a critical component of such a strategy. It helps unify various service channels, reduces customer effort, and deflects customers to the most appropriate and cost-effective channels. The result, optimized cross-channel customer service outcomes such as increased first contact resolution, reduced cost-to-serve and exceptional customer satisfaction.
Here’s how it works
A modern contact center helps mortgage companies bring diverse channels – self-service, voice, web and SMS chat, and social media support – together on a single platform. The self-service option, for instance, is a great way to provide answers to commonly asked questions or resolve routine issues autonomously. 30% of customers look for answers online, before they call. Self-service empowers such customers to find answers on their own, before they seek real time help such as webchat, voice or SMS chat. Once a customer turns to chat or voice, the chat component of the solution leverages analytics to understand not only the context but also customer’s emotions and preferences to drive the next-best action.
On the other hand, should your customers choose to engage with you on social media (one-third of customers prefer using social media customer care services to telephone or email2), the social media monitoring and management component takes over. The solution tracks metrics such as average and first response times, and helps agents proactively add value to customer conversations through analytical insights. It can also automatically update conversation status, and prioritize posts based on customer influence score, ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction and effective online reputation management.
At a time when 85% of organizations expect their customer contacts to become more complex3, an omni-channel contact center is the key to superior customer satisfaction and business outcomes. It helps mortgage companies proactively listen, respond, analyze and act – to not only resolve issues but also identify sales leads and cross-selling and upselling opportunities. While your company may not enable every channel, it’s important to integrate the channels you choose to deploy, helping customers transition from one channel to another without missing a beat.
1 Northridge Group, State of Customer Experience 2017
2 Social Media Today, Social Media Customer Service Statistics & Trends Infographic
3 Deloitte, Global Contact Center Survey
