While mortgage tech has helped streamline many aspects of origination, there’s a massive disconnect that nearly all tech stacks are neglecting, and it’s causing you to bleed thousands in potential revenue.

Allow us to explain. 

Most mortgage technology is focused on the compliance side of the transaction —that’s where components like automation and integrations take front and center, and for good reason. Modernizing lending is long overdue, and strides made in recent years to advance mortgage tech and regulations have been an insurmountable win. 

Mortgage Tools that WOW

But can you recall the last time compliant-focused software like your LOS helped initiate a loan?

Do you know which facets of your LOS encourage the borrower to keep up the momentum and complete the application?

As you might have guessed, no aspect of an LOS or other compliant-focused tech helps sell loans.

In fact, digitizing the intake process has actually made it more challenging for the consumer!

Here’s why –

Your prospects don’t care about compliance. All they want is to get approved for a loan they can afford in the most straightforward and enjoyable way possible. 

Obviously, compliance 100% matters to your business, but when it comes to your clients, relying on compliance-focused mortgage tech rather than customer-centric will make you lose every time. 

An LOS is an enabler but is not a complete intake solution. 

A recent study demonstrates this idea clearly. When consumers were asked what factor most positively influenced their interaction with a business, only 32% specifically mentioned technology (PwC, 2018).

In contrast, nearly 50% pointed directly to experience as the most important and influential factor. That’s not to say that technology doesn’t matter, but rather it points to how crucial the experience with the technology is –because THAT’S what they value the most. Experience, not functionality.

Furthermore, this study revealed that you have few chances to get it right. 59% of consumers said they would walk away from a business after several bad experiences, while 17% said they would leave after just one bad experience!

And in an industry where your services are needed once every seven to ten years, losing them now could mean losing them forever!

Can you afford to lose over half of your prospective borrowers?? 

Of course not! No one can afford to lose clients. But that’s precisely what happens when you entrust your revenue to an application focused more on compliance rather than conversions.

Your All-In-One Customer-Facing Tech Stack

Customer-Centric Mortgage Tech is EVERYTHING To Your Business

When it comes to converting website visitors into borrowers, customer-centric technology and how it’s implemented in the borrower’s journey play a crucial role. But what exactly makes tech “customer-centric,” and why is it so crucial for selling more loans? 

Simply put, customer-centric mortgage technology places the customer at the center of the intake operation. It engages and involves the customer at multiple touchpoints to unburden them from the mechanics of origination while empowering and motivating them to complete the necessary tasks. 

It also fosters a positive experience throughout the journey –from first discovering your brand to considering your service to starting an application to finally completing it –and maps out a path that significantly increases conversion rates and grows your business by creating loyal clientele.

Are you forcing a process on your clients or making it easy for them to send you a loan?

Nearly 50% of consumers will abandon their mortgage application, and friction from a compliance-focused application is likely the reason. Check out the main culprits of high application abandon rates:

• Consumer is confused by the process and is unable to find assistance
• Consumer is overwhelmed by the requirements
• Consumer doesn’t understand the terms or requirements
• Poor user experience from inferior application design and/or technical problems

Burdening your clients with a compliance-focused app because “it gets the job done” completely ignores your client’s needs. And without a client, is there even a loan? 

If your LOS is compliance-focused, what helps your loan officers sell more loans?

Competing solely on rates or products will only take you so far. The rest lies in your unique value proposition and the borrower journey you create with your customer-centric tech. This is the battleground for communicating your competitive advantage and how your loan officers will sell loans!

How does your client-facing technology match up with the big-box lenders?

If you’re using a traditional compliance-focused intake, you’re essentially holding the door open for your prospect to walk out and choose a big-box lender. 

Never forget that being a pioneer isn’t the only reason that Rocket Mortgage surpassed mega lenders like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan. It was also their keen awareness that the customer’s online experience was how they would win over the consumer.

The same rings true for you. Even more so!

Not only has Rocket Mortgage climbed to the top of the heap to the tune of $340 billion in originated loans a year, but they’ve also revolutionized consumers’ expectations of how online lending should be.

And the boom of online shopping only reinforces this expectation! Anything less than a positive and intuitive online borrower journey is trash. 

Now more than ever, a positive borrower experience with customer-centric tech is mandatory for a successful mortgage business. 

LenderHomePage has the technology and resources to help you quickly shift your business to a customer-centric model that engages prospects from the first touch, enhances their interactions with your company, encourages high conversion rates, and wins them over to become advocates for your services. 

Explore our website and learn more about how we help you captivate prospects and maintain motivation until the loan and loyalty are yours.

Get that WOW Experience NOW

User experience isn’t just an element that would be good to have. In modern lending, user experience (UX) is a matter of your business’ survival. And while many have incorporated mortgage software into their acquisition and processing, a large portion has yet to embrace the fullness of UX potential. Why? 

Some may be in the dark about what user experience is. Others may be unaware of what a superb user experience actually looks like. 

Still, others place false hope in that “good enough is good enough.”

But is “good enough” even enough to get by in today’s environment? We don’t have to search hard for examples where mediocre UX was the culprit of business failure. Do MySpace, Blockbuster, and YellowCab ring a bell? 

These three failed businesses have something in common –they each had a competitor obsessed with innovative service and exceptional UX design. Now consider three businesses that owe their formidable success to UX design: Google, Amazon, and Walmart. 

The bottom line is that companies without a compelling UX have lower customer satisfaction, less repeat business, and, ultimately, lower revenue. 

And if you’re still not convinced that UX matters to your clients, consider this:  if you don’t provide a customer-centric UX, your competitors will. 

Ready to learn what it takes to have a first-rate user experience that keeps clients loyal? Read on. 

Personalized and Borrower-centric

Because you’re immersed in the industry, you can sometimes forget how intimidating getting a loan is for the consumer. The process can be confusing and stressful, and without a helping hand, getting a loan is overwhelming and unnerving. 

In the past, face-to-face interaction helped to put the borrower at ease. But with the convenience that is the digital revolution, it seems that personalization took a back seat. While no one can argue that a digital mortgage is massively advantageous in nearly every aspect, the digital factor can sometimes make the experience somewhat robotic, cold, and dull.

Definitely not the sort of experience that keeps customers loyal.

However, that’s not the case when you implement a UX strategy. Firstly, make sure that there are multiple avenues for communication. Whether email, chat, video call, or instant messaging, offer a variety of options for your borrower to get in touch with you.

Secondly, make sure that those communication avenues are centrally located. 

You may be wondering if giving borrowers options will make it difficult for you to juggle multiple conversations. That won’t be the case when you use digital mortgage software with superior UX design where communications are organized by loan file, making it easy to keep track. 

This small but pivotal UX feature also frees up time so that the LO can engage more with clients, strengthening the relationship and increasing their loyalty to your business. 

Emphasize Your Brand and Differentiator 

One of the most overlooked reasons that clients won’t convert into lifelong customers is that they simply forgot who you are and what made you different. Wait –that point could be presented more clearly.

If the client forgot about you or they simply didn’t understand what made you different, it’s likely because the user experience failed to impress that upon them. There are many online mortgage businesses, and just like any other digital business, it’s essential that you set yourself apart from others. UX is how to do it. 

Everything from your navigation to consumer-friendly web copy to seamless integrated 3rd-party applications to a consistent logo and color scheme matters when it comes to UX design. Individually, it may seem that small elements like a customized loan checklist are menial, but collectively, branded elements and consistent messaging make your businesses memorable, impressive, and worthy of repeat business. 

Over-Deliver

It was a mystery for some time as to why Costco and Sam’s Club gas was so much cheaper than major gas stations. But the secret is out and it’s worth mimicking. The reason these two major stores are okay with making very little profit on gas is that those customers eventually make up for it when they shop at the warehouse.

Essentially, they over-deliver on their promise of overall value, and, in turn, the business is rewarded with customers that are willing to pay for membership and spend more at the store.

Chances are that you, as a professional, are already overdelivering in how you help your borrowers. When you love what you do, it’s easy to give more. But does is that the case with your mortgage software, too? Does it over-deliver? Does your mortgage mobile app have that wow factor?

Does your mortgage POS have an element of delight?  

Or does it just gather information and silo it into a portal where it waits for you to organize it into the proper format for the loan file?

Elements like self-paying credit checks, one-click connection with their financial institution, and auto-generated pre-approval letters over-deliver on your promise to make the loan process faster, more efficient, and enjoyable for the borrower. 

Consider the Employee Experience Too

Despite technology touching every aspect of processing a mortgage, the business of lending is still a human-based experience. That said, you want your mortgage team to always reflect positivity when representing your business. Whether the client is reengaging with the realtor who referred you, the appraiser, or one of your loan officers, you want nothing but optimism and confidence expressed about working with your business.

While leadership style and company culture certainly play an essential role in that, so does the technology you use to manage your business. Mortgage tech that is cumbersome, inefficient, error-prone, or lackluster is a formula for distress. 

High employee turnover, infrequent referrals, and zero repeat customers are sure to follow.

However, when you empower your mortgage team and referral partners with mortgage technology that’s intuitive, automated, configurable, and exceedingly efficient UX design, you’ll create an unrivaled ambitious, and enthusiastic network –-one that keeps borrowers coming back to you.

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We gave you a lot to think about already, but here’s one more thing. Now that you know what’s required of UX design in mortgage technology, is your current software capable of delivering? Is that “good enough” tool truly good enough for your business and creating lifelong borrowers?

If not, let’s talk. Contact us today to schedule a conversation with a LenderHomePage Account Executive. 

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