If you Google "mobile marketing" you get almost 400 million results. It's quite the buzzword. But what is mobile marketing? And why should lenders be paying attention?
Mobile marketing is simply the top-down strategy of putting the right information, in the right place — currently a smartphone or tablet — at the right time. When you consider that the process of house hunting puts people outside of their home, beyond the reach of their computer, you begin to understand why mobile is a critical strategy for any consumer financial real estate transaction.
The National Association of Realtors calls it the "digital house hunt." Their 2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports that one third of homebuyers:
used a mobile or tablet website or apps in the home search process;
used mobile or tablet search engines during the home search, and
found their home through a mobile app.
If that doesn't grab your attention, this should: an April 2014 Google Consumer Survey showed that 25% of mortgage-related searches occurred on a mobile device. It's a year, and a lot more devices, later, so odds are good that percentage has grown.
Responsive Design
Those searches are most frequently to a website, which means your mobile strategy should start there. A recent ComScore report indicated that this year, the number of mobile-only adult internet users exceeded the number of desktop-only internet users. Tablets and smartphones are well on their way to becoming a primary access point to the internet.
With the user trends pointing to mobile, the way to be relevant to today's borrowers is to have a website that is mobile-ready. It must deliver content and functionality whether it is viewed on a desktop or a smartphone. It's called responsive design and it means the site can identify what kind of screen the user on, and re-arrange the content appropriately. The content stays the same, while the site design scales to fit the device being used.
Google metrics show that 79% of consumers are more likely to leave a non-mobile friendly site and move on to one that is. In fact, responsive design is so critical that Google completely re-wrote its search algorithms to prioritize websites who have it. The day it went into effect, this past April, was called Mobilegeddon. Essentially, if you want to get found by borrowers and by Google, you need a responsive site because Google now ranks results based on their ability/readiness to deliver content to mobile devices.
Advertising
Naturally, when a house hunter finds a home the first question they ask is "can I afford it?" Google metrics indicate that 50% of mobile-based mortgage searches are for "mortgage calculator." Brokers should anticipate this, have a properly designed and tagged calculator on their site. But each company should establish and own their local business listings on the key search and referral sites and encourage testimonials on those listings. Those sites, Google, Yahoo, Yelp, etc., are all mobile-ready and have apps that create mobile-ready content about your business.
Lenders can also consider mobile advertising as part of a mobile strategy, deploying a display ads on the mobile apps offered by real estate and consumer finance sites. It is a more localized and targeted way to drive mobile content while they are shopping for a home. The beauty of digital ads is that they can usually be placed specifically on real estate sites and apps, tailored to any local market, sometimes down to specific neighborhoods and properties. Ad units can link directly to a mortgage calculator, loan officer bio or the application page of a website. New click-to-call features supported by some sites will facilitate an immediate and direct connection to a loan officer.
Apps
The most frequent assumption, when someone mentions mobile, is apps. Not surprising when you consider that last year app usage surpassed desktop usage. Consequently, an app can be a very powerful mobile tool for a lender. A good mobile app can improve borrower satisfaction, deliver improved service to referral sources, help integrate the new compliance requirements into the loan manufacturing process and permit loan officers to manage more volume.
In addition to providing simple transparency on the day-to-day requirements of an in-progress loan, an app can also streamline that process with an eye towards compliance. Documents provided through a well-designed app are specifically programmed to not be stored on that device, including images that borrowers use with the camera function on their smartphone to convert a paper document into and electronic file. Apps also may include a TRID log that collects auditable information like date and time stamps on operational activities completed on the file.
Borrowers, lenders and Realtors connected through an app know where the loan process is at all times and push notifications from the app enable everyone to stay on task, complementing the TRID disclosure process. The push reminders and instant access to loan status by all parties means that loan officers spend less time babysitting loans in progress, and more time focused on high-touch service and finding more borrowers. This helps loan officers manage more volume and deliver the process transparency that helps lead to improved customer satisfaction.
Now more than ever, it is important to recognize that mobile is where and how borrowers get information and complete transactions. Fannie Mae research released last year showed a strong indication that borrowers would like to conduct more of their mortgage transaction online, with growing percentages aspiring to do to so via a smartphone and tablet. The Pew Research Center reports that a full two-thirds of American adults own a smartphone, and nearly half own a tablet device.
Bottom line? Mobile is mainstream, and a critical consideration for lenders who should move quickly to develop and adopt a mobile strategy in order to offer a portable, online access point for mortgage information and origination processes at all times.
