Many mortgage industry observers believe the HARP 2.0 program will contribute greatly to loan origination volumes in 2012. The question for many originators is where do we find consumers who are eligible for the program under the expanded criteria?
Leads360 is offering a toolkit that will help originators identify and market to these borrowers. Jeff Crouse, senior vice president of marketing, said the program helps originators to mine their database for old leads that ultimately did not fund, as well as look at those loans which funded in specific periods of time.
Once those eligible prospects are identified, Crouse said these are placed into “a sales program in order to reach out to them quickly and accurately.”
Many of these consumers have been looking for refinancing opportunities in the past year, but for some reason they were not eligible for the original Home Affordable Refinance Program or otherwise could not refi, he said. So they are good prospects, but may not be tuned into what the new HARP guidelines are. Leads360's toolkit helps to pull them back into the origination process again.
The company is trying to work with its customers to learn lessons from the original program, so now there is an opportunity to reach out in a better way and put together more coherent programs.
Leads360 looks to help originators in a three-step process. First is by providing data mining of their Leads360 database to identify qualified borrowers. Next is a presale client nurture effort with direct-mail tracking and email nurturing campaigns. Finally there is sales process workflow to aggressively track opportunities through to the close of the mortgage.
Leads360 is a data management firm that keeps originators' leads stored on its technology platform.
“We work with the customer to create a new campaign for HARP 2.0. They actually mine the data from their earlier campaign, move them over into a new campaign that is specifically around the new HARP eligibility (requirements) and then put in place both an email and an outbound telephone calling campaign to those customers that is really quite specific to HARP 2.0,” Crouse said.
Once the HARP customer is in the pipeline, the originator can track and manage that customer differently from traditional refi customers.
Crouse explained this keeps originators from losing track of these clients, especially given the long time lines it is taking to do some HARP refinancings. “So you really have to track them throughout the sales process and know where they came from,” he said.
With the original HARP, originators at times did drop the ball in being able to stay in contact in a systematic way with those seeking refis in this program. “Once you know who is eligible, you need a system in place to go out and keep them top of mind,” Crouse said.
Separately, Leads360, along with QuinStreet, has sponsored a study regarding mortgage leads that come in weekends and how they need to be treated different.
“Weekend leads perform at a conversion level much better, significantly better, than the same lead you get during a weekday,” Crouse said, and there are a number of reasons.
This includes the customer being more focused on searching for information about mortgage loans.
Its research found that weekend leads convert 20% better than weekday leads, even if the originator does nothing more than buy them and work them during the typical workweek.
Furthermore, weekend leads worked with the same intensity as weekday leads perform even better. If a weekend lead is contacted it converts 32% better than a weekday lead, and if the customer gets a quote, the lead performs 51% better.
If the potential borrower is contacted in the first five minutes, this lead converts 100% better than weekday leads.
Crouse said the average response time to a lead is over 60% higher, which shows originators are doing a poor job of managing weekend leads.
The high conversion rate for those originators who get back to the customer quickly possibly might be because they are surprising those clients with high levels of service, he noted.
The research showed there is a tremendous opportunity being left on the table as fewer than 29% of lead purchasers in the study bought more than 10 weekend leads per month and less than 4% had a significant weekend lead buying strategy by purchasing more than 100 weekend leads per month.
What's more, weekend leads aren't getting worked as hard. Originator response times to weekend leads were on an average of 71% slower than the response to weekday leads.
Crouse noted there are fewer of these weekend leads available, especially because people can shop for loans online at any time, whereas many people use the weekends for other activities. “But those that are available are much valuable than those that are there during the week,” he continued.
“Our impression from the way online leads in particular have evolved over the last several years, is that there is a greater and greater expectation that there is someone there. When they put in that lead online, they are really expecting to hear something back before Monday.
“And our experience is that expectation on the part of the consumer is growing. It is consistent with the growth in the online search and online shopping behavior for mortgages and mortgage information. The expectations of responsiveness are continuing to go up,” he warned.
Leads360 recommends that originators staff for weekend leads, but for a shorter window during the day, maybe just three or four hours. Or even give sales staff remote access so they have a couple of hours during the weekend to work these leads and be responsive to the customer.
The company has released an iPhone app that sends leads when they come in to the device so loan officers can respond. This gives the LO a chance to make a quick connection with the borrower, but at the same time advise them they will be able to give the client a full work up when they are back in the office.
“Mobile platforms make it possible to do a small amount of work over the weekend and still deliver a great consumer experience,” Crouse said. Still, the more information the client can be given on the weekend, the better. And the best response is a telephone response.
