Speaking at TMM’s recent Better Business conference, Pepper Money’s Joanne Thrift told the audience that customers have more information and choice than ever before and they are more demanding about the type of experiences they expect.

That means there is a whole industry building up around customer experience and, to aid their own growth, mortgage advisers need to start thinking about what value they can add to their customers’ experience.

Thrift, who is Pepper’s chief customer experience officer, says customer experience is not customer service and advisers need to think about the type of customer they want to help.

“Advisers need to think about who their customer is. They need to consider their particular thoughts, experiences, feelings and needs. Those variables can lead to very different customer experiences.

“It is also necessary for advisers to think about how they can tailor or customise their service. They need to think about ease of use, and value for money is also important.”

From the point of view of the customer, it is all about their satisfaction in the outcome and how they felt about it, as well as having an adviser they can trust and engage with at all levels of the process. That means advisers need to think about how to effectively manage a customer experience, Thrift says.

“And that is what customer experience is all about: if you take a deeper look at a customer’s thoughts and feelings, then you can provide them with a different, and better, experience.”

There are a number of strategies advisers can employ to smooth the mortgage-getting journey for their customers and ensure they provide a better experience. Critically, advisers need to make a connection with their customers, Thrift says.

“They need to show they care, remove embarrassment, encourage openness, and demonstrate the value they will add. It is about building relationships.”

Advisers should also do their best to make the process easy for their customers. They can do this by providing a clear outline of what is going to happen when and how, by including the customer in every step of the process, and by giving a detailed document list.

Thrift says advisers also need to reassure their customers by being transparent, staying in regular contact with them, managing the other professionals and key stakeholders involved, and by adding extra value to the whole experience.

“To quote Maya Angelou: ‘People will forget what you say, they will forget what you do, but they will never forget how you made them feel. That’s something for advisers to remember when it comes to customer experience.”