Examining STRATMOR's Q1 MortgageSAT 2022 consumer survey findings, communication remains a top issue for mortgage originators in the eyes of borrowers. For context, STRATMOR surveys over 250,000 borrowers every year who recently closed loans and asks detailed questions about various aspects of the process. The headline from the chart below is that 1 out of 5 borrowers stated communication was an issue during their transaction. The impact of that correlated to a -65 Net Promotor Score. To be clear, this does not mean the NPS fell by 65 points: the score was -65.
As a recap, here are the three key profiles that factor into a company's Net Promoter Score:
Here is how the math works:
So, what is a good NPS score? Anything above 0 is considered “Good” while a score of 30-70 is considered “Great” and 70 to 100 is scored as “Excellent.”
For some perspective, Customer Guru published NPS scores for 100 well-known brands. Here is a sampling below:
This leads us back to the -65 Net Promoter Score for borrowers who cite communication as an issue. For more insight, we called up Michael Seminari, the Director of Customer Experience at STRATMOR who studies the data continuously. Seminari said, “Year in and year out, communication jumps off the page as the issue consumers most commonly have and it causes significant damage to a lender’s online reputation. Even with all the fancy digital tools that automatically send email updates and prompt phone calls based on milestones status, borrowers still often feel “out of the loop” as it relates to their loan. Of all the challenges we see lenders face at STRATMOR, increasing customer visibility and personalizing communication are two of the easier ones to solve, but it does take focused effort from leadership, technical admins and borrower-facing staff.”
For our piece of the process related to title, we’ve spent years thinking about how we can help alleviate communication issues and we’ve spoken to clients to get their viewpoint. Each lender has a different approach, so our challenge has been to thoughtfully integrate into their culture and process. To that end, we have invested in both technology and people to address it.
First, we built a proprietary portal for our clients so they can see exactly what we see in terms of title order status. Neither a loan officer nor member of the ops team should ever have to pick up a phone or send an email to get an update on any order. Much like tracking a package with FedEx, we believe information should be easy to access and understand 24/7/365 so that’s what we deployed.
Second, we have spent money hiring people. We've all been there. Sometimes it's convenient to go to the grocery store, pick up 2-3 items and use the self-checkout. However, it's mildly infuriating to see 15 checkout stands, no checkers, and a confused mass of customers trying to figure out the right PLU code for their organics. Where other title companies see people as an expense to minimize which really manifests itself as a cost to customers in terms of their experience and time, we see our people as a competitive advantage. Every Silk Title Co client has single point of contact and behind them we have a team of individuals who each are subject matter experts in their area of the process.
Whether lenders want to use the self-service portal or quickly be in touch with an expert at Silk, we want to offer the options to have real-time information so they can communicate accurately to their borrowers and team.
If you feel your current title provider isn't helping you put your best foot forward with your clients on the communication front, please email hello@silktitleco.com. We'd love to talk.