Four key conversation intelligence use cases in the mortgage industry

By Chris Stanley, Business Analyst, CallMiner

The mortgage industry is experiencing a seismic shift. For the past few years, record-low interest rates combined with a forced move to remote work in the pandemic created a demand for mortgages that the industry has never seen before. But what goes up, must come down. As interest rates continue to rise, home-buying demand is declining, and the mortgage industry must navigate a new competitive reality.

However, despite interest rates rising, home prices have not yet started to significantly decline. This means with higher rates and steady (already high) home prices, it’s becoming more expensive to buy a home. As a result, customers aren’t buying homes at the same rate that they were before, and for those who are still buying, many have had to reevaluate their budget expectations. In turn, mortgage lenders need to do more to provide the best services and experiences possible to attract buyers and take advantage of the fewer opportunities that are coming through.

This includes helping consumers consider re-financing opportunities. With the cost of consumable products and other revolving debts, like credit cards, at an all-time high, more consumers are facing a shrinking monthly cash flow and considering their options. For consumers who purchased before the pandemic, or even decades ago, record-high home prices mean many have more equity in their homes than ever. Re-financing can allow them to take advantage of that equity to pay off other debts and ultimately lower their overall monthly expenses.

So, the question for mortgage lenders becomes – how do you do this effectively? For example, how do you know which consumers are right for re-financing options? Or for the consumers who are still considering buying new homes, how do you reduce the effort it takes for them to get a mortgage and further, how do you ensure that they’re taking on a mortgage that fits into their budget and that they’ll actually be able to pay?

More mortgage lending organizations are realizing the power of the conversations they’re having with their customers and prospects – from voice and chat to email, social and more – and are using insights and intelligence to drive better experiences and business results. In CallMiner’s continued work with mortgage lenders and financial institutions, we’ve identified four key use cases for conversation intelligence technology:

1. Improving the sales process: At the end of the day, the mortgage business is a sales business. Consumers have plenty of options when it comes to mortgage lenders, so it’s on those lenders to convince consumers to go with them. With the right tools, supervisors can better understand how their team is delivering and executing on sales pitches. In real time, this means being able to intervene while a call or presentation is still in progress. For post-interaction, this means being able to more effectively coach employees on how to execute conversations better in the future, such as resolving issues with not doing enough discovery with prospective customers.
2. Understanding and reducing customer effort: Mortgage lenders can’t significantly differentiate on interest rates, which means they must differentiate on quality of service, experience and offerings. And as anyone who has purchased a home knows, the mortgage process is not simple. With conversation intelligence solutions, mortgage lenders can understand where they’re falling short or where consumers are getting stuck in the process and make improvements. For example, consumers want to know immediately whether they even qualify for a loan. If that step is buried in the process, consumers are more likely to pick another lender. Reducing customer effort is a critical way to ensure consumers select your organization for a mortgage over the competition.
3. Optimizing marketing campaigns: Especially for first-time home buyers with no existing mortgage lender relationship, many are influenced by the ads they see on TV, hear on the radio or see online and in print. By understanding which marketing campaign prompted them to reach out to you, as well as how they felt about that ad – was the messaging confusing? Did it include an offer that didn’t make sense? – marketing teams can not only optimize ad spend, but they can refine the marketing message in those ads to better meet consumer expectations.
4. Reducing compliance risks: The mortgage industry is highly regulated, both at the federal and state level. This means that certain disclosures must be communicated to consumers. And when that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t just erode consumer trust, it can result in serious fines. The right technology can help mortgage lenders understand how and when the right (or wrong) disclosures are being said across 100% of consumer communications. Particularly in the cases where required disclosures aren’t being said, mortgage lenders can find those interactions and mitigate the issue before audits. They can also better coach and train employees who are regularly missing the required statements. Meeting compliance regulations and reducing risk benefits your bottom line, which is always important, but even more so as the industry changes.

Are you a mortgage lender looking to optimize your business as the housing marketing continues to change? Reach out to the CallMiner team to learn how we can help.