Businesses always need to maintain great customer experience (CX), particularly in times of economic uncertainty.
With interest rates expected to rise to 4% in February, prospective and current homeowners will face increased levels of anxiety around their borrowing costs. In light of this news, they are likely to turn to mortgage advisors for guidance.Â
Buying and selling property is already a potentially stressful experience, and with current levels of uncertainty around interest rates, borrowers will likely need more handholding than they normally would. Answering questions clearly and guiding customers through the entirety of the borrowing journey will help provide a sense of security and confidence in the advice you’re providing.
While interest rates remain fluid, mortgage advisors will continue to face situations where their clients may need extra support. Maintaining a focus on positive, proactive solutions, as well as effective communication, should allow advisors to retain client loyalty and gain more referrals.
Cutting the jargon
Taking out a mortgage is a complicated process, which involves technical terminology and jargon that can feel daunting to customers. This makes good communication, through easy-to-understand steps, ever more important to prevent problems from escalating.
This is especially important during turbulent times, when borrowers will be looking for extra guidance on products to reassure them that they will be affordable throughout the mortgage term, especially with higher interest rates looming.
Communicating holistically
Interest rate rises, together with rising inflation, make borrowers nervous. Further to this, mortgage advisors may end up t being the bearers of bad news, when mortgages become more difficult to secure, which may lead to difficult conversations with customers.
According to Feefo’s report, properly communicating and explaining any issues or roadblocks will significantly reduce any negative feelings towards advisors. So, make sure you communicate throughout the entire process, keep customers up to date with any changes as they happen and forewarn them of any issues that could arise in future.
Listening to feedback
Mortgage advisors depend on word-of-mouth recommendation and loyal clients, who will return again and again. While boosting productivity and cutting costs will be front of mind for many, embracing a client first culture will make a concrete difference when it comes to client attraction and retention. To do this, you must listen to customer feedback.
This feedback allows your business to understand what issues customers might have, as well as recognising where your business is working well. Successfully addressing feedback works in parallel with increasing customer loyalty, as the customer will feel listened to and heard.
However, it’s important to analyse customer feedback and sentiment as a whole, rather than through a single procedure or questionnaire, in order to get a full picture. This will allow you to dig deep into any issues and respond more effectively, which increases loyalty and recommendations for your services in future.
Proactively responding to issues
High levels of economic uncertainty mean borrowers will look to professional advisors to support them through any mortgage difficulties they may face.
It’s important to remember that advisors and their customers will continue to face challenges, especially in such a complex industry, but this isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, correctly responding to any issues that arise and looking for a positive resolution will often improve a customers’ perception of you.
Maintain a professional tone when communicating any difficulties and look for positive aspects of the situation, which you can emphasise. While you may not be able to solve the issue of rising interest rates, explaining the situation and offering achievable solutions that suit the customers will go a long way in maintaining a positive customer perception of you and your business.
Kim Burgess is chief customer officer at Feefo
