Voice Of the Customer Analysis (VOC) - Mortgage Company

This client was experiencing an unacceptably high rate of abandoned business, creating uncompensated underwriting expenses, as well as fees associated with credit checks, appraisals, and inspections. ICP was engaged to conduct a quantitative analysis of customer (applicant) satisfaction drivers, as input to process and procedural change.

Data Gathering

With the collaboration of the VP of Operations and VP of Sales, ICP Associates designed a brief yet focused VOC data gathering instrument. This instrument served as the foundation for conversations with applicants. Using statistical sampling methods, ICP created a statistically valid sample from a number of critical customer segments to enable a useful stratification of data. We applied the instrument in more than 150 conversations with applicants who had begun but never completed the process. The 150 conversations we conducted represented a response rate of almost 90 percent. This is extremely high, given that the typical surveys produces, on average, a response rate in the 20 - 30 percent range.

Analysis & Insights

Compiled over a relatively short six-week period, ICP synthesized the data to provide significant learnings and insights to the client. Our final presentation clearly identified, by segment, loan level, and product type, the lost dollars due to abandonment. More significantly, our analysis spelled out the key drivers of dissatisfaction, i.e. the reasons for abandonment, and what the client needed to change in the process to increase the rate of closed business. The insights provided by our VOC analysis were staggering for our client because it was always assumed that applicants abandoned the process because they found lower rates elsewhere. Our analysis turned this assumption upside down, as a majority of study respondents closed business with competitors at a higher interest rate than that offered by our client. Process breakdowns, which caused delays, rework, and annoyances were ultimately the key drivers of abandonment.