As businesses get ready for the upcoming changes to the Consumer Duty, equity, we thought it would be helpful to offer an article that explains what these changes will entail for customers and the release industry.
“Consumer Duty” is currently the buzzword in the financial services industry, and everyone is talking about it. These two phrases will have an effect on everything that organizations that provide financial services do, and by putting the consumer first, this will improve marketing tactics to an incredible degree. These regulatory shifts constitute an entirely new point of view on how to provide fair treatment to customers, and they are the most significant shake-up in FCA regulation that has occurred in recent years. Beginning on July 31st, it won’t be enough to merely have a positive outcome.
You’ll also need to give careful thought to how the customer was dealt with throughout the entirety of the process of obtaining financial assistance. From this point forward, the inquiry “Are we doing the right thing?” will have to be posed at every stage, beginning with the initial encounter with a financial services offering and continuing all the way to a sale, assuming one is ultimately completed.
Will things like “Instant quote calculators” become obsolete in the near future?
With the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) goal to eliminate “sludge design” from customer journeys, the rapid quote calculator might be one of the possibly large and unanticipated victims of the consumer responsibility. The FCA has already stated in their plan of action for 2022 that they will be focusing on lead generation journeys in greater detail. In addition, the question “Is this fair for the customer, regardless of whether the outcome was favourable to them?” will be asked of online calculators that are just designed to capture data equity.
It is possible to claim that the enquiry and advise stage will run much more smoothly. If the consumer does not feel as though. They are being deceived into giving their contact information over. And that there will be fewer front-end objections when a broker contacts them.
The new laws will, in essence, require lead buyers to provide documentation of how. They have completed their due diligence and the reasons why. They have permitted particular lead generators and landing pages to provide them enquiries.
Are the hotkeys from the purchased data being highlighted here?
The Financial Conduct Authority’s attention will be directed toward. The path that leads to the desired result, regardless of whether or not the customer buys. A product that may be to their advantage at the destination of their journey. This raises a very important question: is it acceptable to treat the customer in an honest manner. If you call them on the phone to gather data and discuss multiple products? This, like many other aspects of the consumer duty regulations. Will be open to interpretation; nonetheless, the debate will centre on a very basic question. Should a tick box on an online prize draw actually be the area where leads are created for equity release?
Problems with the equity release industry’s reputation
It is common knowledge that Equity Release has been plagued by its fair share of historical reputational problems; yet. These preconceptions still need to be dispelled when communicating with prospective clients. Consumer duty will try to do this by posing the following question to the lead buyer. Have you examined the customer journey, and what did you do to ensure it was fair?”
Because reputational problems almost always go away after a consumer has been given guidance. We need to examine the customer journey up to the point where the customer receives help. The difficulty lies with all of the potential clients. Who are so convinced that Equity Release is a scam that they won’t even make an inquiry about it because of the advertising. If we are able to eliminate customer journeys that are misleading or sluggish in design. We will begin to change minds at the very first point of contact. This will result in a change for the better in the market. Both for customers and for brokers, and this will be the primary challenge in the years to come.
How will the generation that takes the lead change?
The majority of companies that generate leads are currently exerting. A lot of effort to get ready for the new consumer duty standards, and Contact State’s partners want to demonstrate that. They are being proactive in their approach to lead buying. Moving forward, the first thing that they are going to expect lead buyers to ask is going to be. How have you considered consumer duty?”
Lead generation will become more open and customer-friendly. If everyone in the market collaborates and takes seriously their responsibilities to customers if they are consumers. The last thing that the market. For Equity Release needs is for it to follow in the footsteps of the industry for funeral planning. Moving forward, the lead buyer will be responsible for the regulatory monitoring. As well as the onus of ensuring that the customer journey is safe, compliant, and consumer friendly. This indicates that when purchasing leads. It will be more crucial than ever to keep track of where the customer made their initial inquiry and obtain evidence that. They give you permission to contact them. Contact State is able to assist in proving the origin of data by means of data transfer certification. Which can provide you the confidence to contact. Your potential clients, knowing that they have been handled fairly.
The article titled “Consumer obligation and what this means for equity release” was initially posted on the website of Contact State and can be accessed here.