The housing market continues to soar thanks to factors like rising demand from millennial homebuyers and ongoing borrower-friendly mortgage rates.
But with low rates and increased housing demand, it’s a challenge for mortgage lenders to differentiate themselves. The answer is to take advantage of technology to better connect with borrowers, effectively engage them and meet their need for streamlined end-to-end digital experiences.
Engagement takes a higher priority
Despite — or perhaps because of — the healthy profit and steady business that mortgages bring banks and lenders, customer experience has traditionally been a low priority. The general opinion was customer experience had little impact on results and revenue. Understandably, this led to a very low brand loyalty. According to mortgage advisory firm STRATMOR Group, only 19% of borrowers go back to the same lender or choose a lender based on existing relationships.
But times, they are a changing.
Improving customer engagement and experience via technology has become a top priority for many lenders. Especially with nonbank mortgage lenders taking a growing share of the market, and studies showing borrowers’ choice of lender is rarely based on rate – even for existing customers.
Smart lenders are focusing on features and CX, rather than simply battling for the lowest rates. Still, while some large organizations have increased technology investment to enhance mortgage services, most lag and operate in an analog pen-and-paper reality that now feels centuries old.
Cutting confusion with personalized communications
As borrowers move online, they expect financial services organizations to provide them with digital experiences comparable to those they experience from the likes of Amazon, Apple, or Uber. Today’s consumers expect personalized experiences and a smooth, streamlined online customer journey.
Traditional, written communications around mortgages are ineffective and, importantly, confusing. The sheer length of the documents and complexity around mortgage topics — new rate options, down payment requirements, repayments after forbearance, complicated terms — cause borrowers’ eyes to glaze over and support departments to be overwhelmed with questions.
Personalized interactive videos (IPV), like IndiVideo by BlueRush, changes all that. Borrowers are given the specific information they need in an easy-to-understand and attention-grabbing way that drives them to action.
Benefits of personalized interactive video
The proof of the impact personalized video has on customer engagement and acquisition can be seen in the impressive results leading lenders have experienced with it.
For example, a Mortgage Affordability IndiVideo sent by one of Canada’s major banks resulted in an increase of 30% of viewer click-throughs on the call to action, a 40% lift in conversions, and 70% more visitors watching more than a minute of video.
Similarly, an IndiVideo-based Mortgage Payment Calculator developed for one of the biggest banks in Colombia and central America, more effectively engaged its customers. They were impressed with the increase of 80% of viewers watching more than ¾ of the video, and resulting in an impressive 13% conversion rate on its “Apply for Mortgage” call to action.
The power of IPV doesn’t end when you hit send
An important aspect of IPV for financial services organizations is that once sent to customers, they can watch and rewatch whenever and as often as they want. While this helps improve their financial acumen and understanding, it means that they have access to the information they need at their fingertips. BlueRush tracks when a specific IndiVideo is rewatched to provide powerful first-party customer data. For example, by knowing exactly what each borrower is looking into and when, you can connect back with them to provide more information and relevant offers.
IPV is also a perfect way to continuously keep borrowers informed of regulatory or market changes. Simply update existing videos with new messaging and send borrowers an email letting them know to check their video for more details. It’s easy and provides the relevance and personalized service consumers have come to expect in their digital experiences.
High-touch and on-target engagement
The mortgage industry has moved online and there’s no putting that genie back in the bottle. Personalized video is about making that move in a way that takes advantage of automation to reduce cost but doesn’t sacrifice the level of attention and exceptional experience today’s consumer expects.
IndiVideo gives customers what they expect and does so cost-effectively. You can streamline communications by delivering dynamic, personalized content and increase page conversions by as much as 40% — all while seeing an ROI as high as 50X from it.
Today’s mortgage providers must invest in ways to enhance the digital customer experience and engage new mortgage customers, or they’ll simply lose them to the savvy lenders who do. And personalized video is one of the best ways to do that.
Want to see how IndiVideo can improve customer engagement and increase your mortgage acquisitions? Request a demo today.