TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1307605
16 | M R EP O RT FEATURE stand a consumer is actively look- ing and delivering engagements at the right time. We now know that the typical mortgage shopper starts research- ing 171 days before funding a loan and visits four different compari- son websites before submitting their first inquiry. With this knowledge, marketers can have an impact on customer acquisi- tion and retention, and identifying new growth paths. It's this type of customer journey mapping that has become a hot topic over the last couple of years. Now add in the use of behav- ioral data, which leads the pack by identifying exactly which cus- tomers in a lender's database are actively visiting mortgage shop- ping sites. Behavioral includes things like page views, email sign-ups, sites visited, device used (desktop or mobile), IP, location, time and amount of activity. This type of data is typically created and stored in the form of an "event," meaning an action that was taken with "properties," or metadata, to describe the event. These behavioral shopping sig- nals are the earliest signals available indicating a customer has started their mortgage journey, much ear- lier than credit triggers, listing their house for sale, or completing a lead form. Since 88% of consumers will complete their transaction with the first or second lender they speak with, it is a game changer to know when the consumer started their journey and begin actively market- ing to them. For you baseball fans, having these shopping signals is akin to knowing the kind of pitch about to be thrown. The results are staggeringly better when you know than when you don't (just ask Houston Astros fans about that!). Having a centralized and real- time accessible database, such as a CDP (customer data platform), which holds all of the valuable information you have on your customers is invaluable. There are only a finite amount of resources available to handle customer inquiries in a timely fashion. Whether it's inbound calls waiting in the queue or making outbound calls to online requests, lenders have to be able to identify which consumers are most likely to turn into a converted loan and handle those engagements accordingly. As an example, below are two consumers waiting in the sales queue. Which one should go to your loan officer immediately? Consumer A: Is in-the-money, has lots of equity, increasing credit card debt, you receive a signal that they've visited mortgage shopping sites recently, and has refinanced with you in the past Consumer B: Is a first-time homebuyer, seasoned one month, you just acquired the MSR, and you haven't received their first payment yet, and they just had a failed login attempt to their newly set-up online portal. Of course, consumer A goes to the loan officer and your phone system should be told to re-route consumer B to customer service in order to free up the loan officers' time for serious sales inquiries. Had you sent consumer B to the loan officer first, the loan officer may get frustrated with having to handle a customer ser- vice call and consumer A would be frustrated with an extended wait time. Neither is good for increasing production. Prioritizing consumers in all aspects of the process is important, from initial sales engagement, through to funding. Employ 1:1 Personalized Marketing I f you have the technology in place and understand your consumers, you're able to execute campaigns marketing to consum- ers as if you know them and un- derstand their goals. If you know your customer is in the market for a refinance for debt consolida- tion, seeing ads and emails talking about a home purchase loan will not resonate well. What does resonate is receiving a well-timed message about how a solution is available to accomplish their goals and the ability to take the next step in the process with as little effort as possible. Lenders are delivering targeted engagements to consumers who just started shopping for a new mortgage with a call-to-action that takes the consumer to a page that is perfectly relevant to what they need. When a consumer takes the next step to apply, many of the required fields are already pre-populated with the con- sumer's information. It produces a seamless transition appreciated by consumers. On the flip side, it can be frustrating to receive a great personalized email that says, "Hi, Jane, we'd love to explore how a refinance of your property at 123 Main Street can benefit"—and when Jane clicks the link to apply is faced with a form that asks for her name and address. Why ask Jane for information you already know? McKinsey & Company found that "...personalization, fully imple- mented, can unlock significant near-term value for businesses— such as 10 to 20% more efficient marketing and greater cost savings and a 10 to 30% uplift in revenue and retention." Personalized marketing is a symphony that, when done in harmony, comes together beautifully and keeps the consumer highly engaged. End Game: Better Experiences and a Captured Flag A recent Total Economic Impact study conducted by Forrester found that in-market monitor- ing and behavioral insights can significantly impact ROI, increase engagement, and improve reten- tion. So, don't forget to invest in the right technology, gain a better understanding of your customer, and employ personalized market- ing. This recipe will create better experiences for the customers and you'll increase recapture rates. . MIKE ESHELMAN is the Head of Consumer Finance at Jornaya, a data-as-a- service platform that delivers consumer-journey insights to publishers, marketers, analytics, and compliance professionals with the highest-resolution view of the consumer buying journey. With over 14 years' experience in consumer finance, Eshelman has extensive knowledge in lead generation, lead management, and leveraging data sets to deliver desired results in the mortgage and personal loans industries. Personalized marketing is a symphony that, when done in harmony, comes together beautifully and keeps the consumer highly engaged.