This month sees the launch of our smartER digital platform - the first in the industry to allow customers to search the whole of the market in real time to find the best equity release plans based on their personal circumstances.
It’s been our ambition for quite some time to create a digital solution that helps to simplify the many options that are out there for consumers. Our new smartER platform is the only intelligent search engine tool to do this within the equity release sector.
Keep reading below to find out why our smartER platform is set to shake-up the industry…
We’ve spent three years fine-tuning the technology behind what is truly a pioneering digital platform. We wanted to perfect the technology so that it gives consumers not only more control, but also more in-depth information, a better understanding of the plans out there and greater insights to match their requirements.
Although our existing site already offered the most comprehensive, free to use range of calculators on the market, as well as allowing consumers to search current plans from across the whole of the market, there wasn’t a solution that brought both of these tools together and enhanced the experience through personalisation.
Until now, consumers haven’t been able to research their later life lending options based on their personal circumstances. The smartER platform asks users to complete a short questionnaire about their own situation before creating a shortlist of suitable plans.
Using the data entered in the questionnaire, these are then narrowed down and tailored to the consumer’s specific personal circumstances, available in real-time, providing rates, as well as the additional features and benefits of the plans. Perhaps most importantly, the platform also identifies exactly how much can be borrowed, which can be subsequently stored if the user chooses to create an account, enabling them to revisit the results and amend if required at their leisure.
The smartER platform will empower our customers before they speak to one of our advisers by giving them confidence and reassurance about equity release.
We know that our customers are hungry for knowledge and want to research their options in their own time. Until now they’ve been unable to do this, and we know that can be a frustration as equity release is a big step for many people and they want to make sure they have plenty of time to research their options independently before speaking to an adviser.
Our new platform isn’t designed to replace the advice process, but rather to enhance it for both consumers and advisers alike. A significant number of customers were asking how they could better understand the plans that could meet their needs – before they had spoken to an adviser - so they could start that conversation with confidence and empowerment.
Customers can now do just that using our new platform. Customer information used to generate the smartER results is subsequently shared with their adviser. This ensures that on their first conversation - between the customer and adviser - the adviser already has a detailed understanding of what the customer is looking to achieve.
The over-50s are embracing digital technology more than ever. We’ve seen a significant rise in digital confidence among our users, with a 67% YOY shift to mobile devices. As digital innovators, we are always looking for new ways to support these changing needs and demands of our customers.
There’s a misconception that older consumers don’t use digital functionality, but the opposite is true, and we’ve seen our clients become increasingly comfortable with the digital world and managing their finances online.
We’re working closely with new fintech company Equitec , whose aim is to knit the later life market together with improved digital solutions by working with lenders and brokers.
By using the latest search engine technology they’ve helped us develop a sophisticated mortgage sourcing platform - equivalent to the mortgage industry’s popular online digital sourcing solutions.
The next logical extension of smartER is to develop it as the leading-edge sourcing system for professional advisers and beyond this we will be bringing to market technology that further supports our advisers and continues to drive the growth of The Equity Release Supermarket Group.
Try our smartER platform today to get your personalised results and find out how equity release could help you to achieve your financial goals.
You can also find out more about equity release by getting in touch with the Equity Release Supermarket team on freephone 0800 802 1051 or email [email protected].
