Clear Loans Instant Rate Quote: Faster Quotes, Higher Throughput

Summary

Clear Loans, a leading mortgage originator, needed to showcase cost advantages without tying up their loan officers in one-to-one education. Viabl delivered a modular, web-based quote workflow that blends guided education for new buyers with a fast “one-page” path for experienced users. This workflow reduced manual explanations and increased the number of mortgages a single loan officer could complete in a month.

Key Takeaways

• Workflows > automation: The sales process is human-centered, so we developed a workflow that compliments it, not automates it.

• Reducing Repetition is a competitive advantage: Clear Loans can offer a more competitive rate because their loan officers handle twice the number of loans per month.

• Good workflows require flexibility: Our Instant Rate Quote (IRQ) handles both educated and uneducated user personas.

• Castle Accelerators help workflows: They allow quick iterations and customization of workflows.

Challenge

It’s no secret mortgages can be complex. The average homebuyer requires significant guidance to understand why one lender’s product might be more advantageous than another’s. Consequently, Clear Loan’s staff spent considerable time educating homebuyers one-on-one, diverting valuable resources.

Approach

We started by interviewing the relevant operators and mapped out each distinct process, digging deep into every aspect of the manual workflow we’re automating. We quickly recognized that a key aspect of educating Clear Loan’s homebuyers is flexibility. There are 8 distinct buying personas and the automated workflow needed to be flexible enough to educate different types of homebuyers while highlighting Clear Loan’s cost advantage. 

Rather than lock in a rigid automation upfront, we proposed an adaptive platform that would allow Clear Loans to change and reorder educational modules as new insights about each buying persona emerged.

Solution

We delivered a configurable quote workflow that moves from data capture to optional guided education and then to quote generation. A simple content management layer lets the team add, reorder, and update educational modules as new insights emerge.

Instrumentation tracks how customers use the flow, and a fast “one-page” mode allows experienced users to run numbers immediately. The solution was built with our internal Castle Accelerators to iterate quickly.

Results & Impact

Early data showed a 38% reduction in one-on-one education by staff as more borrowers self-served through the guided path. This freed the client’s staff to handle more clients per team member.

At the top of the sales funnel, the one-page option increased quote completion, while the full path continued to support users who wanted deeper context.

Why It Worked

An operator-first workflow, modular content, and quick, analytics-driven iteration let the client meet buyers where they are while keeping the process simple, measurable, and easy to evolve.

Looking Forward

Reducing education time further reduces the marginal cost of servicing a loan. This increases their margins and makes Clear Loans even more competitive, further driving volume.

By focusing on a highly manual process up front, we’ve paved the way for additional improvements: data handoff to the compliance team to further reduce time spent per customer and context-aware educational chatbots to automatically field additional questions, further reducing education time.

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