Businesses spend thousands of dollars and countless hours developing mobile apps. It may seem foolish to invest that amount of time and money on something as trivial as an app, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Mobile apps are powerful marketing tools –especially for tapping into the buying power of Millennials!

Millennials encompass 20 to 30-year-old adults, and this tech-savvy group is the emerging power consumer. Their spending potential makes them a prime target for businesses and marketers. And should be a prime target for your mortgage business too!

However, in the battle of mobile apps and the apps ability to attract Millennials, only those with the perfect combination of design and utility will produce leads and sales.

Before you hire a developer to create a mobile app for generating leads from Generation Y, review these design and utility essentials.

**Want to reach Millennials without the investment of developing your own mobile app? Consider co-branding our award winning Loanzify app!

Design Essentials

First impressions are important, but with mobile apps, it means life or sudden death! Within a few seconds, a user will decide whether to keep the app or send it to the virtual graveyard. And once you lose a prospect due to a poorly designed app, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever get them back.

Make sure your mortgage app has these design essentials:

• Intuitive Design – The design and navigation should be so easy that it feels like second nature to use it.
• Share Button – Make it simple for the user to share on social media or to share the app with others.
• Layered Experience – Allow users to delve deeper into the app to discover new features my making it multi-layered.
• Fast Loading Time – Aim to have a loading time of fewer than 5 seconds. Anything more than that and your app is likely to walk the green mile.
• No Ads -Although there are many great apps that monetize with ads, the goal of your app to generate leads for your lending business, not sell ad space.
• Attractive – Color, font, and even the amount of whitespace around the text account for the attractiveness of an app.

Utility Essentials

Every successful app has some utility for the user. The utility can be informational like a news app, goal-oriented like a calorie-counter, or even just for entertainment like a game. There are many ways that an app can have utility, but the best way to serve your Millennial prospects to think about what features they need from a mortgage-focused mobile app.

Consider the following:

• Adds Value -The higher the value, more likely to become an essential part daily life. Features such as smart refi calculators, purchasing scenarios, and loan checklists are high-value features for homebuying-hopefuls.
• Streamlines Tasks – Capabilities such as sending documents securely through an app make the loan application process easier and more likely that the user will want to do business with you.
• Support – A direct messaging feature is your call to action. When a prospect gets hooked on the idea of buying or refinancing, they can make contact with you immediately through the app.
• Make it Personal -Mobile apps that are emotionally appealing also provide utility. For example, Loanzify lets users save their “home affordability calculations” which serves as a reminder that their dream of homeownership is possible –and as close as reaching out to a mortgage professional via the app!

Take your business to the next level with a progressive and lead generating mortgage mobile app.

**Want to start reaching Millennials today? Co-brand Loanzify, our mortgage mobile app!