The Mortgage Survey Questions You Should Be Asking

Financial customer service surveys are essential to keeping track of your bank or credit union’s performance in the eyes of your customers. What do they like about your products and services? What could be improved? Are you exceeding or simply meeting their expectations? These are all important issues to look at across your service offerings, but financial institutions can go a step further by gathering customer feedback through surveys focused on specific services, such as loans and mortgages. 

Loans are one of the biggest revenue streams for banks and credit unions, and a good experience can lead to a loan customer generating more business. While many people shop based on rate, a strong recommendation from a friend can prompt them to select a financial institution that will provide a good experience, even if it doesn’t have the lowest rate. Mortgage surveys offer an opportunity to collect feedback on any stage of the loan process. 

Whether you’re trying to isolate specific pain points in the application stage or learn more about an increase in loan cancellations, carefully targeted survey questions can generate valuable insight into the customer experience. Here’s what an effective mortgage survey should cover. 

What Is a Mortgage Survey?

A mortgage survey helps financial institutions better understand their customer bases, isolate pain points in the existing customer journey, and even understand what might be driving specific customer behaviors and purchase patterns. For example—you might be noticing customers going with a competitor for their next loan, even if that competitor’s price point is higher than your financial institution’s. A mortgage survey can compile customer data that points to the culprit, which might be anything from a frustrating step in the loan application process to an issue with problem resolution.

There are a few different options for surveying your mortgage customers, and the right choice comes down to what you’re hoping to find out. If you want a general overview of your mortgage services, you might encourage customers to fill out a loan application and fulfillment survey, which typically guides customers through each stage of their recent mortgage experience. This type of feedback method can identify any gaps in the skill sets of staff members that handle mortgage customers, as well as improve alignment between the many customer touchpoints that make up the loan experience. 

A post-transaction loan servicing survey can be used to identify important pain points throughout the mortgage process. General customer feedback can also be used here to identify and quickly resolve any outstanding customer issues or to identify top-performing staff members and those who could benefit from some coaching.

Lastly, a mortgage survey can also serve to gather feedback from customers who have been approved for a loan but decline fulfillment. This segment of customers can provide valuable insight into the competitive terrain, such as the nature of your competitors’ offers and the mindset of customers who take their business elsewhere.

Key Questions to Include on a Mortgage Survey

The exact questions you should include on a mortgage survey will vary depending on the purpose of the survey and the customer segment you’re targeting—but there are a few general categories that stand out. Including a solid mix of closed and open-ended questions will also give respondents the maximum amount of freedom to share their opinions. Here are some categories of questions you should include on a mortgage survey. 

General Knowledge and Experience

A clear understanding of where your customers are starting from can prove invaluable when refining the mortgage loan customer experience. Has the customer had a mortgage in the last few years, and what were his or her reasons for taking out the loan? Did he or she have prior knowledge about what the loan process would entail? Were there frustrations or challenges with the process in the past? These types of questions can tell you what your customers know before they inquire about mortgages. Armed with that understanding, your staff members will be better prepared to expect and address any gaps in knowledge. This, in turn, can improve customer perception of your institution’s trustworthiness and professionalism—both important factors in the customer experience. 

Purchase Behavior

These questions deal with understanding why your customer took out a mortgage in the first place—and why he or she came to you. Did your customer shop around first, comparing options from mortgage brokers to national banks? What did customers look for when comparing options? Low interest rates, stellar reviews, low monthly payments, or a completely different factor may prove to be your institution’s selling point, but you might also be able to isolate and improve on other aspects of the mortgage loan process that appeal to your customer base.

Customer Experience

In addition to the general questions that will help you analyze customer behavior and prior knowledge, it’s essential to collect information on the existing customer journey at your financial institution. Some key areas to focus on here are communication, ease versus hassle, timeliness of service, accuracy of documentation, and performance of the loan officer. Did the customer feel informed about the status of their loan application, and was your institution responsive when they had questions? Were there any challenges during the loan application and fulfillment process, such as needing to provide more documentation than originally told, or having to interact with a confusing number of staff members? Did they perceive their mortgage officer as going to bat for them and securing the best deal possible? Were they treated with respect throughout the loan process? 

These types of questions will allow you to fine-tune the mortgage experience for existing and future customers, as well as identify specific learning opportunities for staff members that handle loan customers.

Improve Customer Service With Loan and Mortgage Surveys

Many of the same questions apply to consumer loans, home equity loans, lines of credit, and business loans. But no matter the service you’re interested in proving, you’ll need customer experience experts who can collect and analyze survey responses.

At Avannis, we’re dedicated to providing financial institutions with the customer service survey tools and guidance they need to streamline the customer experience. Whether you’re interested in seeing feedback on the loan application and fulfillment process, loan servicing, or loan cancellation, we’ll help you collect and analyze customer data with targeted surveys. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you improve customer loyalty and satisfaction. And to keep up with the latest developments in financial marketing, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.