Company Name
hypotheek.winkel
Industry
Financial Services
Location
Belgium
“Pexip Engage works closely with their customers to improve their product, and they intensively worked with us to remove all barriers. They always go the extra mile. For this, I consider them as one of our true business partners.” - David Geerts CEO of hypotheek.winkel
Hypotheek.winkel offers guidance throughout the process of acquiring a property and mediation in mortgage credits and related insurances. Founded in 2001, they're the largest independent mortgage broker in Flanders.
Hypotheek.winkel has always been a customer-facing business. In times when so many purchases are made online, buying a house remains one of those decisions where meeting face-to-face is inevitable. From getting a notary to finalise the sale to moving into the new property, there's a vast range of processes a young person probably isn't aware of, and that's where hypotheek.winkel's advisors jump in to help.
In early 2017, the company opened its 100th office in the Flemish region of Belgium, marking a milestone in a strong and healthy growth curve. They are aiming to double that number by 2023.
''We're a very physical business, and we put branches as close to our customers as possible,'' David Geerts, the company's CEO says. But before they can even meet their customers, experts at hypotheek.winkel need a way to connect with them. Previously, this was done via an elaborate online form which was difficult to fill in and caused many prospective leads to giving up in the process.
''User data has shown us we were losing a lot of hot leads and possible clients because of that form,'' Mr Geerts says. ''It was too long, forced customers to give away much of their personal information which people never like. For that reason, many failed to complete it.''
To make matters worse, users who've managed to hit the submit button still had to be contacted for an appointment. "Following up on online forms was very time-consuming for our branch staff,'' he explains.
''Customers weren't always available during business hours. As a result, we found ourselves playing this cat-and-mouse game where branch owners were trying to get ahold of the prospects. Powerless, they often ended their pursuit by leaving a message after the beep. Of course, a lot of those were never responded to.'' The online form was an elephant in the room everybody at hypotheek.winkel could see. The gap between digital and physical made them lose a lot of business
When hypotheek.winkel's website was getting a redesign, one of the developers suggested a switch to Pexip Engage as a more efficient way of digital onboarding. "We organized a joint meeting with our advisory board, which consists of 10 branch users that advise us on their needs and how they want to adopt new solutions."
''Even though some branches still used paper agendas, they quickly understood the value of having an automated scheduling platform. And Pexip Engage was relentless in assisting us to make the transition to a digital, efficient appointment scheduling platform as smooth as possible," Mr Geerts adds.
"The first branches to use Pexip Engage were the ones in the advisory council. After seeing immediate results, we rolled out the platform to the entire network. During that time, the office-holders could always ask questions, to which our Pexip Engage customer success manager would immediately respond with advice.''