Sales

KfW is adapting its communication and sales channels on an ongoing basis in line with the changed information and buying behaviour of its customers and financing partners. It is stepping up digital offerings to enhance, and in some cases replace, traditional sales channels, with the aim of making information on KfW products accessible and available wherever customers come into contact with promotional issues. This is why KfW is strengthening its presence in digital channels and forging ahead with the further professionalisation of its Infocenter. This will ensure that funding will reach customers in the future as well.

Ensuring that promotion reaches people

The KfW Infocenter responded to around one million enquiries by telephone or in writing in 2017. The large number of enquiries bears impressive testimony to the keen interest in KfW’s promotional offering, both in the area of education and with regard to housing and the SME segment. Regular surveys allow customers to provide feedback, showing that customer satisfaction with KfW advice, competency and friendliness is above average.

Direct contact via the KfW Infocenter

kfw.de provides the answers – also optimised for mobile devices since 2017

KfW’s website “kfw.de” is a highly relevant source of information for (potential) domestic promotion customers. The domestic promotion customer pages received almost 9 million visits again in 2017. KfW has set itself the objective of systematically refining its website to meet user needs. The aim is first and foremost to achieve ongoing further improvements in user-friendliness and the user experience – irrespective of the end device being used and of whether users are accessing the site from home or while on the move. This customer focus is confirmed by the marked reduction in the bounce rate on the domestic promotion pages.

Since the website was revamped and optimised for mobile devices, the proportion of customers accessing kfw.de using a smartphone who end up closing the KfW domestic promotional business pages again straight after accessing them and without seeking any further information has fallen by 18%.

The sales contacts reported by our financing partners also show a positive effect; the number of requests for advice has almost doubled since the KfW website “kfw.de” was relaunched in June 2017. KfW is creating sustainable, digital customer experiences and making its promotional offering digitally accessible to forward thinkers.

Digital on-lending platform (BDO) now also available for commercial and infrastructure products

The BDO platform, which was previously used primarily for housing-related products, was gradually expanded in 2017, and can now be used to apply for almost all commercial products and infrastructure products that are on-lent through commercial banks.

Financing partners are also being connected to the BDO platform as part of a step-by-step process. The first group of banking partners are already using BDO as an application channel for commercial products. The plan is that, by the end of 2018, all financing partners will be using the central BDO platform as an application channel for all on-lending products.

In the future, most promotional institutions of the federal states will be offering their own commercial products via the BDO platform. This move will provide customers and financing partners with uniform access to promotional loans from the Federal Government and the federal states.

Grant portal: a new KfW service

Thanks to the grant portal developed by KfW, which was launched in March 2017, all housing-related grant products can be processed digitally. Since the portal was launched, it has been possible to send all customer grant applications and invoices for the projects that have been implemented to KfW electronically, and for KfW to process these digitally to a considerable extent.

The good news for KfW’s customers is that applications are generally approved only seconds after being submitted. This has put an end to the processing period that used to last several days. In 2017, a total of around 246,000 approvals for digital grant applications were sent to customers electronically. This means that the grant portal for KfW’s direct business with its customers is a very successful enhancement complementing the “BDO 2.0” platform, which was introduced in the period leading up to 2015 as a means of both submitting electronic applications and processing on-lending business for housing-related promotional loans.

Intensive collaboration with our partners: knowledge transfer and networking

KfW customer satisfaction very high

KfW once again achieved a high customer satisfaction rating in 2017. The “Kundenmonitor Deutschland”, an independent survey taken by ServiceBarometer AG, polled around 30,000 people, including more than 6,000 KfW customers. KfW ranked well above average for banks and savings banks in customer satisfaction. More encouraging news: customers' explicit intention to recommend KfW to friends, acquaintances or business partners was once again above-average.

Legal notice:
The information contained in this online Annual Report 2017 is based on KfW’s Financial Report 2017, which you can download here. Should this online Annual Report 2017, despite the great care taken in preparation of its content, contain any contradictions or errors compared to the Financial Report, the KfW Financial Report 2017 takes priority.