Just five years ago, the conversation about mortgage lead generation centered around conversion rates, particularly about making ads and calls-to-action more “baited” and clickable. Echoing last week’s post, we know that that’s not enough for today’s digital mortgage consumer. 

Not only is your online mortgage shopper more likely to tune out any gimmicky promises, but also, they now expect a more holistic digital experience. While numerous elements make up your mortgage sales funnel and borrower experience, the one collective aspect unifying it all is the “mortgage touchpoint.” 

Let’s take an in-depth look at how touchpoints work in lending and how you can optimize them to drive mortgage leads.

What Are Mortgage Touchpoints and How Do They Influence lead generation?

Mortgage touchpoints are encounters or interactions your borrower has with your brand and business. These interactions act as a catalyst that nurtures prospects through your sales funnel and borrower journey.

Consider these practical reasons that touchpoints matter to your mortgage business: 

• Touchpoints are where consumers decide whether they want to discover more or continue to interact with your business. How you plan, create, and engage during these moments makes or breaks your borrower acquisition and retention.
• Touchpoints give you insight by measuring and tracking the interactions. Depending on the platform, information like search rankings, most popular content, or engagement drop-off can help you refine your touchpoint strategy.

Touchpoints don’t just happen. They’re strategic. 

Identifying the Ideal Touchpoints

Touchpoints can be broken down into three areas. We’ll focus mainly on the first two in this article:

• Before loan acquisition
• During the application and approval process
• After funding

Here is where we’re going to veer from traditional advice about touchpoints. Instead of thinking of your touchpoints from a company-centric perspective, like what channels you use, we want you to approach it from a borrower-centric perspective.

Consider what questions or pain points they might have. Then think about the channel they might interact with to resolve this issue and the action you must provide on this channel to meet those needs. 

Here are some examples from the borrower-centric perspective:

I wonder how much my monthly payment would be? >>online and mobile mortgage calculators

How trustworthy is this lender? >>online reviews and active social media

I want to chat with someone now. >>instant messaging

I want to find a lender near me. >>website, Google My Business

I don’t want to go to the lender physically. >>mortgage website and digital 1003

I don’t know what I need to submit. >>needs list

I wonder if I submitted the correct document. >>borrower portal with feedback

I uploaded everything. Now what? >>milestone tracker

Even from just this brief list, you can see that the number of potential touchpoints is extensive. Now that you’ve brainstormed your borrower’s questions and hurdles, we can assess which channels they would use to interact. Using the list above, the channels we can use for our touchpoints are: 

• A mortgage website
• Mortgage point-of-sale
• A mobile mortgage app
• Digital 1003
• Review sites (Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business)
• Instant messaging (mobile and desktop)
• Borrower portal
• Social media

Other examples of touchpoints are your blog, email campaigns, paid ads, videos, landing pages, video conferencing, and phone calls. Even a pop-up that offers a free download in exchange for their email is a touchpoint!

Optimizing Your Mortgage Touchpoints

Optimizing your mortgage touchpoints also starts with being borrower-centric. And not just lukewarm “we’ll kick it up a few notches” sort of borrower-centric. 

We mean obsessive, “you’ll never want for another lender” kind of borrower-centric. Yes, we understand this is quite the undertaking, especially when you realize that there could easily be 100+ touchpoints in your sales funnel.

Don’t worry. There is a shortcut to optimizing most of your touchpoints. But for those touchpoints that need a more hands-on approach, this is how to do it:

1. Identify the pain point or goal the borrower is trying to accomplish
2. Empathize with what the borrower may be thinking or feeling at that moment
3. Brainstorm potential solutions to enhance this mortgage touchpoint 
4. Determine which KPI (key performance indicators) would be influenced by making enhancements

Example #1

Let’s say that the pain point is that the borrower doesn’t know what documentation is required of them. This may cause them to feel frustrated, helpless, confused, and unmotivated. A potential solution could be to provide the borrower with a pdf checklist. 

But wait. Remember that what you want to offer is a next-level borrower-centric touchpoint, and a static PDF has zero wow-factor. 

Instead, you decide to enhance this touchpoint with an automated, self-guided Needs List. The real-time checklist can be accessed from any device, with self-help pop-ups and one-click integrations that allow them to verify assets straight from their financial institutions. 

A KPI measurement in this example would be a decrease in live assistance for loan application completion and an increase in completed loan applications. 

Example #2

In this example, your potential borrower discovered your mortgage service after seeing it tagged on a social media post. They’re curious but also unsure about who you are, so they decide to look at your profile. 

A possible solution to this touchpoint is to update your profile information, including links to your website and how to contact you. 

Your social media postings should be relatively active, with images and content that’s simple, friendly, and on point with your branding. Comments should be moderated and have responses to demonstrate engagement. 

Since this borrower is likely to do more social proof research, you’ll want to head over to your Google My Business and Yelp profile. Again, make sure that your information is complete, and customer reviews have been moderated and replied to.

A KPI measurement in this instance could be an increase in web traffic and lead generation from these sources, as well as an increase in followers, engagement, and positive reviews. 

Instantly Optimize Your TouchPoints with LenderHomePage

The right resources make all the difference when trying to leverage mortgage touchpoints for mortgage lead generation. And with fierce competition from both local and national lenders, there’s no room for half-baked strategies.

That’s why we’ve designed all our digital mortgage tools with built-in touchpoints that resolve the majority of borrower pain points right from launch. We’ve also made these touchpoints easily adjustable to match your workflow, branding, and KPI goals.

From auto-generated pre-approval letters to a cloud-based borrower portal, our digital mortgage tools help you deliver on your promise of being the absolute best in the industry. Click here to request a demo.