It goes without saying that happy borrowers are profitable borrowers. In a tough market, though, customer satisfaction might not always feel like top priority. The value of customer satisfaction is hard to measure, and many a customer satisfaction initiative has failed because it was built upon a flawed understanding of customer profitability. But with hair-thin margins and a host of market challenges ahead, lackluster customer satisfaction — and an inaccurate understanding of customer profitability — can have costly consequences.

Global consulting firm Mckinsey surveyed 27,000 American consumers across 14 industries and found that improving the customer journey can not only increase customer satisfaction by 20%, but can lift revenue by up to 15% while lowering the cost of serving customers by as much as 20%. On the flip side, a totally dissatisfied customer decreases revenue at a rate equal to 1.8x what a totally satisfied customer contributes to your business.

The good news is that customer satisfaction improvements can be a very effective way to shore up your bottom line with only a modest investment. Furthermore, employees tend to be more open to change during a market downturn, so it’s actually the perfect time to both boost your revenue and poise your company for continued growth as the market improves.

Improving the borrower experience isn’t easy, but the payoff is significant. Customer experience improvements build customer loyalty, make employees happier, achieve revenue gains of 5 to 10%, and reduce cost by 15 to 25% within two or three years.

In this lending climate, borrower experience is your inside track to edge out your competition. Read on for best practices for developing a successful borrower experience improvement strategy that will delight borrowers, boost profits, and solidify your competitive edge.