How NZ Home Loans Gained a 7x Increase in Referrals
One of the most effective ways to learn about improving customer experience is to get a nosy insight into other successful experience brands. How do they do it? That’s what we hope you’ll discover as we discuss challenges, learnings and celebrate the awesome work of our own customers.
AskNicely customer, New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL) has been helping Kiwis towards financial freedom since 1996. They have over 75 locations across the country, and coach thousands of clients through some of the most important financial decisions of their lives.
But NZHL aren’t just any old home loan and insurance provider. They’re a company that pride themselves, and are known for providing out of this world customer experiences. The kind of experiences that make you want to go back and get another mortgage. Well, almost.
However, competing on customer service in a commodity industry that relies on referrals is difficult, and requires a competitive edge.
NZHL couldn’t afford to assume that their frontline Loan Consultants were nailing it everytime. They needed a tool to help them measure and improve customer experiences across their locations. They needed a way to make sure that every single interaction with their customers delivered on their brand promise, and that their most loyal customers referred to their friends.
NZHL needed certainty that their customers would be such raving fans that they just couldn’t help but bring it up with their friends at dinner or at the school pick up.
The question was, how?
How could they ensure their frontline teams were living that service promise every day, in every location, in every interaction, and with every customer?
NZHL knew that consistent service delivery was key. But as the business scaled in operational growth, inconsistent service delivery became a problem.
The solution? Coaching the frontline.
Using AskNicely, NZHL started using location specific customer feedback to fuel regular coaching conversations. Since implementing the tool:
• Location managers make weekly reviews of feedback and branch performance, and are responsible for closing the loop on their NPS responses.
• Their frontline Loan Consultants have personal scorecards for customer experience and get personalized coaching based on their actual customer feedback.
• Their frontline team has a benchmark for what delivering out of this world customer experiences looks like, and are receiving the support, feedback and care they need to do their jobs well.
• They've also automated a referral workflow for their current client base. Any referrals are routed back to location managers for immediate follow-up which has drastically increased their close rate. Essentially, they’ve created a super charged referral pipeline!
“Consistently delivering on our brand promise is crucial. AskNicely gave us the power to understand where the gaps were, then made it super easy to coach for those gaps. From there, automating followup on referrals from our happy customers is icing on the cake.” — Chris Wong, Head of Customer, NZHL.
Thanks to their location specific coaching, NZHL have seen a 13 Point improvement in NPS from their bottom tier locations. They have also seen a marked increase in the number of referrals captured from their bottom and middle tier locations, and automating the follow up on referrals has resulted in an 80 (yes, eight-zero!) percent close rate.
The combination of happier customers, and an automated referral pipeline has seen a massive 7x increase in referrals for the entire year, which counts for $530k in revenue.
What can we take away from all of this?
Your frontline team, when given the right tools, CAN deliver on your service promise every time. When you make an effort to consciously motivate, empower and coach your team using technology, everybody wins. Your team feels supported in the work they're doing, your customers have such incredible experiences that they just have to tell their friends, and in turn your revenue grows.
Want to win on customer experience and see results like NZHL?
We’ve got you covered. Our Guide to Winning on Customer Experience will teach how you modernize your customer experience program and connect your frontline to your bottom line.
