Cambridge Building Society's Call Time Halved After Implementing Legalesign eSignature

Founded in 1850, The Cambridge Building Society (The Cambridge) provides mortgages and savings accounts to their members across England and Wales. They operate 13 physical stores alongside the telephone call centre. Although steeped in history this independent mutual society prides itself on still being relevant in today’s evolving world and not being afraid to do things differently.

The Challenge

With customers leading busy lives, telephone call centres provide an essential channel for providing services. When opening a new savings account over the phone, customers would be sent their contractual information via post. This led to longer lead times to complete the account opening process, and in some instances, members didn’t proceed with the account opening as contracts needed to be signed and returned via post. To solve this challenge the team at The Cambridge decided to read out the terms and conditions (T&Cs) over the phone. This resulted in reducing drop offs and delays in getting contracts signed. However, it also introduced a new challenge. Reading out the T&C’s increased call time. This, coupled with high demand for a new innovative savings account meant operators couldn’t handle as many calls as before, and call wait times increased.

The Solution

The mortgage team at The Cambridge had already implemented eSignatures with Legalesign for renewing fixed term mortgages. They had seen the retention rate increase after the introduction of eSignatures. The savings team saw the success from the mortgage team and wanted to see if it could be replicated.

The Legalesign team took the time to understand the workflows The Cambridge were trying to improve and suggested a way forward. The Cambridge savings team put together a series of emails and contract documents which were then stored within the Legalesign Web App.

When a customer calls to open a new savings account and is ready to proceed with the contract, the call handler submits the appropriate documents on the Legalesign Web App and instantly sends them to be eSigned. The Legalesign system sends the customer a branded email with a secure one-time link to access the new account contract. This all happens while the customer is still on the call. After reading and agreeing to the contract, the customer fills in their details and then signs the contract with a legally binding electronic signature.

The Results

Since implementing Legalesign electronic signatures for new savings accounts, The Cambridge Building Society have seen significant improvements in their workflows.

Now, when a customer calls to open a new savings account, the time they spend on the phone has been reduced by half.

For The Cambridge, this means:

• More calls can be completed within the working day – increasing the number of customers they can help.

• Customer waiting time has been reduced - Happier customers and fewer dropped calls.

• In addition, signed contracts are now easier to store, manage and retrieve.

Although implementing electronic signatures was a big change for The Cambridge, they have had no push back from customers. The feedback has all been positive and customers really like that they can sign electronically, as it reduces their paperwork and speeds up the application process. The Cambridge is now looking to other parts of their business to see how eSignatures can be utilised.