Over 80% of borrowers now use online research as their primary method to find lenders, showing how the shift to an online-first world has transformed the customer journey. In this competitive environment, having a strong online presence is more important than ever for companies looking to capture and retain customers.
First Continental, a pillar in the mortgage industry, faced a growing challenge: capturing potential borrowers who were increasingly reliant on this digital landscape. But with Experience.com, they turned their entire game around!
Read on to find out how!
Interviewee
Randy Daniels is the Director of Marketing at First Continental, with an experience of over 30 years in mortgage marketing.
Challenges Faced
First Continental Mortgage, Ltd. is a full-service mortgage banking company committed to developing and nurturing relationships with realtors, home builders and our customers. Their core values of flexibility, responsibility, integrity, and teamwork are reflected in their actions and in how they maintain all of their relationships.
However, despite their commitment to these values, they faced a growing challenge: capturing potential borrowers who were increasingly reliant on the digital landscape. Their traditional methods were falling short in an increasingly digital world, impacting their ability to attract and engage borrowers effectively.
As Randy explains,”The challenge we had was that, because most of our business came through our referral partner, First Continental had never positioned its internet, its marketing to be an inbound source for customers. Our customer was whoever the sales counselor had referred to us.” This lack of online presence made it difficult for potential customers to find and learn about the company.
“People are creatures of habit,” he further observes. “And the habit we’ve developed all of us collectively is as soon as somebody makes a recommendation for anything for us, we Google it. You go to Google, you search on the reviews and you see what people are saying about this company, about this individual.”
“And we had zero presence on our Google, on our Google business pages,” he admits. “We’d done thousands of loans and we maybe had three or four disgruntled employees or customers that had left remarks, and that was it. We had no avenue, no mechanism really to drive people into saying all the great things that our loan officers were doing about us.”
This lack of online visibility placed First Continental at a disadvantage against competitors.
Recognizing the need for a more effective approach, First Continental partnered with Experience.com to overhaul their strategy.
Experience with Experience.com
“Over the last few years, we’ve gone from a 1.7 star rating to a 4.8 star rating for the exact same company. The key difference is that we now have a channel for customers to provide their feedback, and this has led to a dramatic turnaround,” Randy explains.
With Experience.com’s automated platform, First Continental began leveraging post-close surveys to enhance their online reputation and customer engagement. By sharing these surveys directly on Google and social media, they effectively boosted their visibility and interaction with clients.
Thus, First Continental turned around that same habit of people Googling before a purchase, into an advantage! “You know, habits don’t change. As soon as they [customers] get recommended to their loan officer, the first thing they still do is Google them.”
“But now we have a presence and they can look at the reviews and go, ‘Oh, this is an almost five-star company. Yeah, they must be okay. Let’s see what some people say.’ They click on the reviews. They think – ‘It looks like they offer great communication, a great, streamlined process.’ They look at the positive things that customers are saying, and it’s working.”
In Randy’s own words, “Our business is 100% about capturing leads. Over the last few years that we’ve had our relationship with Experience.com, the increase in our Google presence and ratings has shown people that we’re a reliable company. This positive visibility has helped us retain customers and maintain our capture rate.’
But was it difficult to get used to Experience.com?
Definitely not, as per Randy’s comment! Randy admits he’s not the most tech-savvy person, but Experience.com’s user-friendly interface allows him to easily access the information he needs.
“I hate tech. I get lost in there. I’m a slow learner. But the Experience.com platform is easy enough for me to get in there to find the information that I need. The reports are organized. I can download the reports and find the information that I need to share with my company. I’m seeing the customer comments every day. I’m seeing the negative comments, should one come across. It gets escalated to me, and we communicate with the customer to help resolve the conflict. So I’m experiencing the platform daily, if not hourly!”
And how does First Continental deal with negative reviews?
By responding and resolving!
Randy believes rightly that quick responses to negative replies, and acknowledgement of the problem strengthens partnerships and establishes trust.
“One of the cool things about experience is you can see the response. So you can say, here’s the customer’s review. Here’s the loan officer response for the resolution of the problem.
And when somebody that’s clicking through and they’re looking at reviews and they see that, ‘Here’s a problem’. ‘Oh, look, the loan officer answered it.’ ‘Look, they answered it the same day – that’s pretty impressive.’ The way you respond to any type of negative feedback is more important than the negative feedback itself. That’s an opportunity to show that you know how to handle it, that everything’s okay, that you are trusted advisors, and it works!”
In Conclusion:
In his parting words, Randy mentions, “I think the best thing to say about Experience.com is I really love the value, the benefit they provide. The people at experience are always nudging us to use it to its full capability.”
Experience.com has helped First Continental to not just boost its online reputation and maintain market capture, but also to build trust with a new generation of potential borrowers!
First Continental has had over 2000 completed surveys in the last 6 months alone, and over 7500 reviews!
First Continental’s story is more than a case study; it’s a testament to the power of adaptation in a competitive industry. By embracing new technologies and leveraging the positive experiences of their customers with Experience.com, First Continental continues to thrive.
