Build a better mortgage client experience with cloud communications | #customersupport #supporticket

Highlights

1. Communication challenges hamper the mortgage industry’s ability to provide exceptional client experiences.
2. Cloud communications solutions meet the challenge in multiple ways. 
3. Cloud communications solutions can facilitate better collaboration internally and better client communication via multiple channels.
4. Built-in security and high-quality service across all channels enhance the client experience and build trusting, long-standing relationships.

When you think about the phrase “mortgage client experience,” the words that come to mind are most likely “frustrating” and “lengthy.” However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

With the right technology, mortgage communications can be streamlined, leading to a positive, efficient client experience.

The mortgage lenders’ guide to cloud communications

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The challenges facing the mortgage industry

Today, the mortgage industry faces a good problem: demand for mortgages hit record highs in 2020. As of November 2020, the market was on track to top $4 trillion in originations.

Yet, the high volume of mortgage originations created a problem for fulfillment teams and originators. It made it more difficult for them to communicate with borrowers about extending closing timeframes. Moreover, mortgage clients have been frustrated with the process, and they haven’t been referring their lenders to family and friends.

Let’s also not forget the impact of Millennials on the mortgage industry. In 2020, Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) made up 52% of residential property purchases and 42% of all mortgage loans. They comprise the largest home-buying demographic today—ahead of Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers. Yet, they are also the least satisfied with the mortgage process; they gave the second-lowest Net Promoter Score (NPS for short—a mark of customer satisfaction) to the mortgage industry after Gen Zs, the age cohort born after Millennials.

How can the industry improve mortgage communications to build a better mortgage client experience?

The right technology: cloud communications platforms

A cloud communications platform is a set of unified, Internet-based communications tools that include: 

• Video conferencing
• Telephony
• Chat 
• File sharing 
• Screen sharing

One of the reasons a cloud communications platform is the best financial services communications solution is because it centralizes several technologies. You don’t need to invest in several point solutions to connect with clients because you have a variety of options in one place.

Cloud communications platforms improve the mortgage client experience by:

• Making internal collaboration more efficient
• Allowing clients to reach the company through their preferred channel
• Giving them peace of mind with a highly secure process
• Providing a reliably high quality of service to build trust

Cloud communications platforms make internal collaboration more efficient

Within the mortgage industry, inefficient internal communication leads to delays and errors. Paperwork that doesn’t land on the right person’s desk in a timely fashion means approval takes longer, which causes clients to become frustrated.

Cloud communications solutions break down those silos. They can feature an internal directory with presence indicators, so team members can reach out to one other for updates on clients. In addition, they can provide built-in file sharing, making transmitting documents simple and quick.

Collaboration reduces the time it takes to complete work, meaning approvals take less time and clients are more satisfied with the experience.

Cloud communications platforms let clients connect through preferred channels

Millennials are now the biggest demographic buying homes and, unlike their parents or grandparents; they have specific demands about how they communicate with brands (and vice versa).

According to research from the STRATMOR and CFI Groups, Millennials prefer the following channels to receive mortgage updates:

• Phone calls (NPS of 88)
• Push notifications (NPS of 84)
• Text messages (NPS of 82)

There’s a theme researchers parsed out here: these updates are all proactive on the part of the lender. Borrowers receive the updates and can act accordingly. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that one of the least popular update options is one that forces Millennials to log into a website—that received an NPS of 69.

Millennials are also the first generation to extensively use social media. They expect their mortgage lenders to have a social media presence, and to be able to engage with them on those sites. By implementing a cloud communications solution, they can open a chat with you through a social media site, and you can respond through that channel.

Cloud communications platforms give peace of mind with built-in security

For consumers, the idea of taking out a mortgage is daunting. The threat of cyberattacks lurks around every corner. While consumers understand that digital processes are more efficient, they also represent security risks.

How can the mortgage industry allay fears of cyberattacks while still reaping the benefits of digital processes? A secure cloud communications solution features built-in security to protect clients’ confidential information (and ensure compliance with regulations).

Secure cloud communications solutions should include multiple layers of security, 24/7 monitoring, leading-edge encryption between all endpoints, vulnerability scans, intrusion detection, and more.

Cloud communications platforms provide a reliably high quality of service to build trust

Financial transactions must be built on a foundation of trust. When a lender opts for a high-quality cloud communications solution that is always available and reliable, the lender ensures that something as fundamental as communications never gets in the way of a meaningful, long-term client relationship.

When clients know that when they reach out, they will always be able to communicate with their lender via whatever channel they choose, their trust in the lender grows and the mortgage client experience improves.

RingCentral’s cloud communications platform enhances mortgage communications

RingCentral’s cloud communications solution enhances mortgage communications by making them more efficient, flexible, secure, and reliable. To learn more about how cloud communications platforms can help your mortgage company, get a demo.