Varolii helped Citi reduce average response time to web leads from 38 minutes to 3 minutes. When prospects visit the Citi website to shop for a new mortgage or refinance, a profile is created in Salesforce.com and Varolii makes a call into the contact center alerting an available agent to the lead and giving them 45 seconds to review the information and connect back to the prospect.

1. Case Study
Mortgage Origination
Making the case for speed
Statistics show that following up on web
leads within five minutes of initial inquiry
improves contact rates by 500 percent in
comparison to just 10 minutes.
“Borrowers are interested in your product
and services. If you can reach them and
tell them what you can offer, it absolutely
leads to additional sales and revenue,” says
Marcus Bontrager, Senior VP and Director
of Customer Service for Citi Mortgage.
The ‘wow’ factor
Citi’s web lead process wasn’t optimized
to its full potential. Average follow-up time
was 38 minutes from when the web lead
came in to when a Citi Mortgage agent
dialed out to the customer. “We were
just converting at such a slow and low
percentage,” acknowledges Bontrager.
Speed Sells: Accelerating the Mortgage Sales Cycle
How a top mortgage lender used “fast and first” customer interaction
technology to turn shoppers into buyers
When selling mortgages, speed matters. The first lender to reach a lead typically closes
the deal. In fact, 78 percent of buyers close with the first company that contacts them.
Citi Mortgage used this “fast and first” approach to create a lead response strategy that
accelerated interaction with potential buyers, resulting in a surge in lead-to-sales conversion.
“Our goal in any interaction is to ‘wow’ our
clients. Whether customers are responding
to a digital campaign or visiting our web-
site, we want to interact with them within
minutes.”
Accelerating the process
Citi had worked successfully with Varolii
for three years to automate customer
interactions within other areas of their
business including customer service,
collections and loss mitigation. When Citi
approached Varolii about automating
the web lead process for originations,
they proposed a solution that integrates
Citi’s Salesforce.com lead management
application with the bank’s existing call
center technology.
Now, when customers visit the Citi website
to shop for a new mortgage or refinance,
“
„
Our conversion rate off
this first attempt has been
phenomenal. Now, we’re
wowing our customers on
a daily basis, thousands of
times a month.
- Marcus Bontrager, SVP
Director, Customer Service
Citi Mortgage
Challenge
Generate more closed loans by
shortening the response time to web
leads and responding to potential
customers first.
Solution
Automate the web lead follow
up process and connect potential
buyers with available agents faster.
Results
• Reached 80% of prospects
within minutes of completing
the online application
• Reduced average response time
from 38 minutes to 3 minutes
• Doubled the conversion rate off
first time attempts
• Higher agent utilization saved
labor costs
Customer
Citi Mortgage
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0 2,000 9,000
TIMEINMINUTES
CONTACTS REACHED FROM INITIAL CALL
WEB LEAD FOLLOW UP - INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE
Source: Insidesales.com

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Mortgage Origination Case Study
a lead profile is created in the company’s
CRM system; in Citi’s case, Salesforce.com.
At the same time, the customer receives a
confirmation email and Salesforce sends a
lead record to Varolii.
Varolii makes a call into the contact center
alerting an available agent to the lead,
gives the agent 45 seconds to review the
information, makes a call to the customer
and connects the customer to the agent.
“It was incredibly simple to set this up with
Varolii and required zero IT resources or
expense,” says Bontrager.
Real-time means real results
Varolii provided Citi Mortgage with real-time
monitoring and campaign controls so the
company could manage how and when the
app was running. Custom reporting made it
easy to assess key performance measures.
In Citi’s case, real-time report data showed
the majority of leads were being contacted
within zero to three minutes, with an
“The conversion rate off of first
attempts has doubled.”
– Outbound Team Manager,
Citi Mortgage
“Agent productivity is way up
since we moved to Varolii.”
– Sales Manager, Citi Mortgage
“Wow, you guys are fast. I
submitted something online
for another bank last week and
they still haven’t called me.”
– Citi Mortgage Customer
average time of three minutes—a vast
improvement over the previous 38 minutes
and square within that five-minute window
for maximum ROI.
“Since we’ve implemented Varolii, we’ve
improved our ability to reach customers
faster and now we’re often the first one
to connect with them,” acknowledges
Bontrager. “The faster you can make that
initial contact, the more likely you are to
turn a shopper Into a buyer.”
Making first impressions count
With a near-immediate response, agents
are more likely to reach customers when
they are at a computer and near a phone,
so the first attempt is usually the best
attempt. Previously, agents were having to
make three to four attempts, on average,
to reach the customer.
“Our conversion rate off this first attempt
has been phenomenal,” admits Bontrager.
“Now, we’re wowing our customers on a
daily basis, thousands of times a month.”
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About Varolii
Varolii is a market leader in customer interaction management for large enterprises looking to better engage their customers
and employees and achieve better outcomes. Our applications enable highly personalized, cross channel communications
through voice, email, SMS and mobile devices. www.varolii.com
Contact Us
800.206.2979 or
info@Varolii.com
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