4 Customer Engagement Metrics to Measure for Happier Borrowers
Chelsea Mize
A solid customer experience is built upon a foundation of education, transparency, and communication. Borrowers want to feel like their loan officer is always two steps ahead in terms of prompt, transparent communication.
We’ve written about how to communicate more effectively with borrowers, but we wanted to dive a bit deeper into the subject to explore how to measure the success of your communication efforts with borrowers.
As with any business tactic, your communication strategy with borrowers is only as good as your ability to measure the success of that strategy.
You need to have baseline metrics in place to measure the efficacy of your communication with borrowers so when you push the envelope and take your communication skills to the next level, you’ll have accurate data to help you chart your progress. That way, you know what’s working and what is not so you can optimize your communication strategy based on your results.
But what metrics are most important? It’s easy to get too wrapped up in tracking every metric possible and lose sight of your end goal. Focus on a few crucial ones that provide you insight without taking up too much of your time.
Here are some important customer engagement metrics to consider tracking:
Open Rate
If you’re emailing current and/or potential customers regularly—from marketing emails to loan status updates, it’s incredibly useful to track what percentage of your emails are opened. Are there certain types of emails you send that typically have lower open rates? Which of your emails have the highest open rates? By understanding which of your emails get opened most frequently, you can reverse engineer your emails for better open rates by replicating tactics used in your top-performing emails.
For reference, as of 2018, the average email open rate for marketing emails is 24.88%. While your emails to your current clients likely have a higher open rate than ~25%, it’s worth tracking open rates for emails to prospects and current customers separately as emails to prospects will typically have lower open rates.
For more on understanding open rate metrics and improving your email performance, check out this detailed guide to email marketing.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
When you send an email to a prospect or borrower, more often than not, the email will ask the recipient to click on a link. Whether you’re asking them to send you a document, fill out an application, or respond to a question, you’re likely prompting them to click on a hyperlink.
Click-through rate measures how frequently the recipient actually clicked on what you wanted them to. Measure click-through rates over time and aim to drive your CTR up by adjusting your email subject lines, email copy, and design to be more appealing.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of people who a) clicked through your email and b) successfully completed whatever action you prompted them to take (fill out a landing page form, successfully sharing a document, etc).
What percentage of those who clicked through your email took the action you desired? A low conversion rate suggests that your expectations were not properly conveyed, or that you’re asking something of them that they are unable to complete. To improve low conversion rates, consider reaching out with a different method of communication to see if you can get more users to convert.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is an index ranging from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of customers to recommend your services to others. Your NPS score can be used as a proxy for gauging a customer’s overall satisfaction with your service, as well as an indicator of your customer’s loyalty to you.
For a more comprehensive overview of NPS scores and how to drive your scores up, check out customer feedback service Meddallia’s guide to understanding and optimizing NPS.
Conclusion
Here at Maxwell, we believe that humans are a crucial element of the mortgage experience. They can communicate and engage with clients in a way that a machine cannot, particularly through a complex and emotional transaction like this one.
A bad borrower experience is hard to come back from. A recent survey found that 68% of consumers would react to a bad experience by telling family and friends about it and posting about it on their social networks. With the prevalence of social media today, a borrower broadcasting on their timeline about a bad experience can quickly tarnish your reputation.
Double down on transparency, build your business around proactive communication, and regularly measure metrics that help you understand how well you are communicating with your customers.
As the originator, you hold in your hands the power to transform the experience. And the data shows that by focusing on implementing communication best practices with borrowers, you’re not only creating a better experience for your borrowers but also setting yourself apart from other mortgage lenders.
Want more communication tips to help you better connect with your borrowers? Check out our eBook, “The Mortgage Communication Playbook.”
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