WHAT'S THE TRUE MARK OF SUCCESS?
Marc from Mr Lender talks about the image often portrayed of the short-term lending industry, but cuts through the tales to look at the actual views of the customer.
It’s fair to say that the short-term (or ‘payday’) lending industry doesn’t have the best image in the eyes of the media, and when the media sets the tone for a topic or puts certain messages out there, it’s natural that this feeling is going to spread to the general public. But without knowing or finding out the real facts, your opinion will usually be skewed because of what you’ve seen or heard from others.
Having worked for in the financial services industry for around 20 years, all for regulated businesses and with some looking after hundreds of thousands of customers, I’ve become accustomed to the culture of making sure your business provides the best possible service to those customers. Of course any business that’s run will have a bottom line and profit targets, but it’s how you run your business and whether you do things the right way in achieving your goals… that’s key.
So when I joined Mr Lender, one of the UK’s leading short-term credit providers, I knew what kind of firm I was moving to. I’d done my research into how the business is run and despite every short-term lender seemingly being tarred with the same brush, I’m pleased to say it’s not all doom and gloom. Yes, within the industry there had been cases of certain companies acting unethically, but there were a number that did things properly and with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) having become regulator, things were certainly looking up.
The ‘payday’ lending sector has not been out of the news recently but looking through the scare tactic stories, it’s mainly because of action taken by the FCA to bring firms in line with the rules they set – but ultimately that’s a good news story in the longer term when it comes to the consumer. It’ll mean lower interest rates (we led the way with that, by the way) and a lot more transparency in how lending businesses operate.
What’s most important?
But putting the media and public opinion to one side for a moment, there’s a group of people whose views are equally, if not more so important. Those people are our customers. If your customers are happy, that’s the true mark of success because you won’t be able to survive if your proposition and service levels are shoddy.
What we always seek to do is get feedback from our customers and ask them to review the service they’ve received from Mr Lender. This is a great way to measure how well you’re performing because it enables you to give sharp focus to your procedures and look to improve in everything you do.
What do our customers say?It’s great to report that the feedback we’re getting from our customers is fantastic. We use an independent online review website, Reviews.co.uk, to record all customer feedback. As of today (19 December 2014) the key stats show:
- Our average rating is 4.76 stars out of a possible 5
- 97% of customers rate our service 4 stars or above
Those scores are taken from reviews given by over 1,100 customers so far. So when you think that the perception of the general public when it comes to payday loans is less than favourable, when you speak to our customers about the value and service they’ve received, you can see it’s a completely different story.
What I would say is that we’re never satisfied and never rest on our laurels, so even with such high ratings as mentioned above we look at all feedback. If there’s anything our customers aren’t happy with, we’ll do our best to speak to them about the issues and look to further enhance our procedures so that we can improve moving forward.
Why are our customers so full of praise?
A common theme in comments we receive from customers is that they didn’t expect to speak to anybody during the application process, what with the initial application being online. Many other lenders deal with the entire process online, void of human interaction.
Bucking the trend to further ensure we do things the right way, we actually speak to our customers. This is to ensure the loan is suitable for them, and if they can afford to repay the loan. So when you hear of people being provided with loans they can’t afford to pay back, that’s not how we operate – quite the opposite in fact. We get a lot of feedback from customers saying that they really welcomed speaking with our staff and being taken through the process. Overall this ensures we’re even more responsible as a lender and of course makes sure that we provide our customers with the very best service we can.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the service you provide for your customers. As Steve Jobs once said, “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” He also said “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” and that’s also true of us at Mr Lender, but it’s a whole other topic. I’ll come back to that one at some point…
About Marc at Mr Lender (the author of this blog entry)
Marc is responsible for Marketing at Mr Lender.
An experienced marketing professional, he has worked for more than 20 years in the financial services industry... the majority of those in senior positions.
With extensive expertise in branding and multi-channel marketing, Marc has a passion for creativity, innovation and above all user experience - ensuring clear communication and engaging content, targeting consumers and businesses alike.
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