Homebuyers Consistently Choose Digital Banking VS. In-Branch Banking

by Bill Dolan, CMB, AMP   

For any financial institution wanting to be successful originating residential mortgages these days, it is critical that a solid digital mortgage marketing program be a key component for you the lender, as well as for the success of your mortgage loan origination team.

Without a sound online marketing strategy that encourages your borrower to start a conversation prior to beginning their homebuying purchase or refi journey, having the most state-of-the art LOS/PPE systems will not really matter. And, if you do have an effective LOS/POS system in place, you would be remiss to overlook a thorough digital marketing plan as the most cost-effective way to funnel business into that system.

To begin with, you need to make sure your brand has a solid positioning statement and consistent messaging that coincides with the competitive advantages indicated by that positioning statement. Your target audience should be informed by both your positioning and your institution’s business goals. You might want to consider breaking your audience into categories and adapting your messaging to be more effective for each. Target audiences might be broken down into categories such as:

• 1st time homebuyers and Millennials

• Vacation homebuyers

• Renters

• Existing borrowers (HELOC, Refi Prospects, etc.)

• Current Sellers (need to live somewhere after the sale)

To capture your audience, you need to prioritize how you will communicate based on where your target’s attention lies and the areas you want to capture the most growth and business in. You might want to think about:

• Ways to build engagement mechanisms that can be introduced throughout the homebuying process. Engagement devices include:

  • Home price tools, blog content on buying/selling, financial product guides, infographics, videos, tips for both homebuyers and first-time homebuyers,

• Ways to connect with your customers.

  • Your digital marketing strategy should allow you to move beyond simple touch points to connect with your homebuyers. Digitalization can permit you to create specific and unique user-centered customer journeys utilizing web content and processes through customer service along with a strong MLO workforce to manage each customer’s relationship. This type of personalized service is a major draw of digital marketing, and it is important that you capitalize on it.

• Ways to ensure your digital marketing offers value.

  • For your institution, digital marketing must be more than advertising. Using customer service channels such as social media and chat along with ease of use, personalization and online application will tie your marketing together and provide a real customer experience. Save your dollars on ads if your customers cannot access your website via their phones or if your customer service team drops the ball in responding to an inquiry in a timely manner on Facebook or some other site.

• Personalization

  • With online banking, your organization is now able to collect more data than ever before. Knowing how to leverage that data and analytics is paramount in creating highly targeted offers for both homebuyers and new customers, allowing you the ability to cross-sell at the point-of-sale as well as through the customer’s lifespan.  

• Automation

  • Automation is a critical element of digital marketing because it will allow you to reduce cost, improve the quality of your output and greatly reduce the number of marketing staff that are currently needed to complete tasks. Digital marketing will deliver the necessary tools to automate tasks like triggering email campaigns when customers perform specified actions and A/B testing to determine which campaigns are working for you and which are not.

• Expanding your efforts

  • The digital marketing strategy must include investment in mobile, social media, applications, websites as well as a variety of content from other mediums. Your homebuyers and customers access content in many different ways and it is up to you to track those consumers across their devices to provide a single uniform experience.

If you want your brand to be successful online and your marketing team may not be quite up to the challenge, consider bringing in a consulting partner that can provide you with both the technical services of deciding to either implement a new POS system or reconfigure an existing one. Our digital marketing consultants will work with you and your team in creating a strong online strategy, work with you to revamp and update your existing web presence, as well as run online campaigns, so that your institution captures every opportunity to connect with customers and homebuyers searching for your products and services.

For more information or to arrange a free consultation, please contact Bill Dolan, Director at (617) 694-2617 or visit our website at www.scapartnering.com.