“The new online mortgage application process significantly improved Bank Cler’s ability to distribute mortgages digitally. Compared to our previous channel, our reports show increasing volumes and a higher conversion rate.”
- Yannick Grandjean, Digital Banking Manager at Bank Cler
Recently, the mortgage market is witnessing a growing trend towards digitization, with lenders in banking and non-banking segments focusing on the benefits of a digitized mortgage process.
Here’s how Oper helped one of Switzerland’s leading banks, Bank Cler, enhance its digital mortgage journey and realize key benefits both for the bank and for the end customer, such as:
· Additional quality leads with a high conversion rate
· Increased trust and mitigated borrower’s anxiety, leading to a shorter time-to-yes
· Streamlined internal processes, leading to reduced operational costs
Bank Cler started its journey with Oper in 2021 as an innovation project with the goal of improving the digital mortgage journey of expats living in Switzerland. Due to its success, the initiative has been further extended to fit the bank’s evolving needs.
As a bank that constantly works towards bringing the best service to its clients, Bank Cler wanted a solution that would help it engage borrowers at an early stage, optimize processes, attract more leads digitally, increase lead conversion rates, and create an efficient process for following up on leads from different digital channels.
To reach these goals, Cler rolled out an online digital mortgage journey, including a mortgage simulator, leveraging Oper’s Journey Builder solution, which was seamlessly integrated with the bank’s already existing infrastructure and tools. By enhancing Bank Cler’s current workflow, Oper’s solution facilitated more efficient processes for intermediaries and advisors and improved customer satisfaction.
Oper’s Journey Builder enables borrowers to engage with the bank at an early stage in their buying journey and find out possible mortgage options without any commitments. This removes the anxiety of engaging in a binding offer from the start. The digital mortgage solution offers two paths to borrowers. They can choose to provide their basic financial information and be presented with an accurate affordability limit and with the maximum property price they can afford. Alternatively, they can provide details for their desired property and be advised on its affordability and financing options. The Oper mortgage solution provides a transparent and easily understandable cost breakdown of the monthly or yearly payments, further reassuring the prospective borrower. The borrowers can then go ahead and start their pre-approval journey directly from the same page.
With the information from the digital mortgage simulator, the borrower can now quickly start a pre-approval process with a simple click in the Journey Builder. After sharing the required information in the tool, borrowers can choose to contact Bank Cler directly. That way, they not only optimize and automate their digital mortgage journey but also could reach out to a real person and discuss their specific situation. On the other hand, advisors can prepare better for these meetings because they have all the relevant information in the Journey Builder prior to the call.
Oper’s digital mortgage solution for Bank Cler went live in August 2022 in 3 languages: German, French, and Italian. It received positive feedback from advisors and clients in terms of client experience, as well as from the bank’s management in terms of volume and lead quality.
More efficient processes sped up the time it takes to receive a quote and, as a result, increased the likelihood of a deal. Self-service, standardization, and centralization optimized the time of customer consultants, reducing the back and forth by email, documents or information gathering process.
A more efficient process helped intermediaries and customer advisors focus on other important activities. It helped customers eliminate the anxiety of the traditional mortgage process while providing them with a better understanding of the subject. The smooth and intuitive user experience of the tool increased customers’ trust and facilitated the use of Oper’s Mortgage Advisor and Journey Builder. Finally, the solution’s ability to integrate with Bank Cler’s other digital products, such as Zak, made it an ideal tool for cross- and upselling.
Bank Cler wanted to boost the volume of quality leads digitally, increase lead conversation, optimize its internal processes, and deliver exceptional customer experience while being able to cross-sell on different digital platforms. Oper’s mortgage solution delivered precisely that by digitizing and optimizing not only the pre-approval stage but also allowing potential borrowers to get an estimation in a matter of minutes and help them start a smooth digital mortgage process.
As the need for personalization, fast application processing, and reliable customer support continues to grow, digital mortgage solutions like Oper’s Journey Builder will become critical for driving digital transformation within the mortgage industry.
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