Concerned customers pick up the phone – and even more so when rising interest rates cast people’s ability to afford their mortgages into question.
Following research by Trussle which revealed that two in five homeowners are worried about making their mortgage payments due to the increasing cost of living, it’s easy to see why broker and lender phone lines should expect a significant surge in calls.
This isn’t just a temporary spike in demand – it will be sustained, which means quick or temporary fixes to customer communications channels won’t be robust enough.
As interest rates and utility bills increase, so too will call volumes. Brokers and lenders must be adequately resourced and ready to meet demand for the long term.
Here, I share some valuable advice for brokers and lenders:
Don’t keep people waiting. When anxieties are high, patience is often low which means keeping customers waiting is a guaranteed way to set customer contact on a troubled path. We know of several brokers who still have recorded phone line messages which state there will call handling delays due to the pandemic.
This isn’t good enough anymore and it’s simply an excuse for poor service. If resource isn’t available in-house, call on outsourced partners. Struggling in-house will only compound customers’ struggles and impede call resolution.
Ensure empathy. Many financial service businesses still don’t prioritise empathy in their customer care. Rigid scripts, curt rather than efficient call handlers and lack of emotional intelligence all impact the customer expedience. Revisit how your team is handling calls, look at the language they use and identify if extra training is required. It may also be useful to have other resources to hand – such as details for the Citizens Advice and mental health support charities. The more care you show customers, the better the likely outcome.
Check auto-attendants are still relevant. When set up and managed correctly auto-attendants are an effective way of helping callers reach the right person quickly.
However, it’s important to make sure the options consider the needs of a growing number of distressed callers.
Establish if extra options could steer and signpost people more easily. This might be adding another option to push worried customers to a specialist team, setting up a separate number to handle a spike in re-mortgaging enquiries or using a helpline to deal with callers with complex needs.
Capitalise on caller insights. Call transcripts can help to improve further customer care, but they’re often an underutilised asset.
While brokers and lenders will already have strategies for dealing with struggling clients – they often overlook just how much value the content of those calls can have to their wider customer communications.
Brokers and lenders should review those transcripts regularly and look for opportunities for extra communication, such as updating FAQs on your website or determining the content of an e-mail marketing campaign.
24/7 live chat. Since the pandemic customer’s expectations have increased. They want to be able to reach out to their service providers at all times of day and night.
They’re also increasingly willing to try and ‘self-serve’ by looking online for information.
Brokers and lenders can really build on this by offering live chat. It’s a way to allow web users to have their specific questions answered in real time, by a live chat handler.
This means they feel heard and that detailed messages can be taken and passed on for follow up the following day. It also means it’s possible to triage enquiries quickly and keep volume away from already busy phone lines.
The easier you make it for struggling customers to get in touch, the more likely you are to find a timely solution and avoid customers falling into arrears.
Efficient call handling also helps brokers, other intermediaries, and lenders to fulfil their obligations to treat customers fairly, all while protecting their hard-earned reputations too.
Uncertain times make people reach out for help and reassurance via every communications channel possible. Brokers and lenders need to be ready to act, and fast.
Louise Wilson is head of the finance sector at Moneypenny
