In today’s ever-online world, consumers are not hurting for choice when it comes to where they do business. That is why it is no longer enough for competitive lending institutions to simply attract borrowers and credit union members. They need to prioritize keeping them, too.
Successful lenders should look to optimize their loan origination process from the ground up in order to better engage and retain their customers. The good news is, this is not as tall a task as it might seem at first glance, and there are several key areas where lenders can focus their efforts for the biggest ROI.
CRM and Mortgage Marketing
A robust customer relationship management (CRM) solution is one of the most effective tools in a lender’s arsenal to attract qualified leads. Relevant, branded content meets customers where they are in their individual loan journeys and helps lenders stand out in their minds when they consider their options in a crowded field.
The best CRM solutions also come with the backing of an automated mortgage marketing engine. It is one thing to have tailored marketing content ready for borrowers – it is a completely different ball game to manually distribute that content at just the right moment for maximum effect.
Best of all, some CRMs also get marketing material in front of real estate agents, helping create a strong network of co-branded content that reinforces the value lenders bring customers. By combining award-winning, omnichannel messaging and an automated marketing engine to handle time-consuming outreach, lenders can find new ways to engage and retain customers.
Automation and efficiency on both sides of the loan
As with automating outreach, lenders and credit unions often find that the more automation they introduce into their loan origination process, the better they are able to maintain important relationships with their members and borrowers.
Automation starts with the loan origination system (LOS). A competitive, automation-focused LOS is beneficial not only for customers, but for employees as well. With time-saving tools like an online point of sale, document management and indexing, a pricing engine, fee service and more, an automated LOS frees up loan officers to put the focus back on the borrowers and members.
For example, a virtual assistant powered by AI can all but eliminate time-intensive “stare and compare” documentation tasks. In the same amount of time it takes a loan officer to classify and index the documents needed for one loan, the AI assistant could have completed 10 times that amount of work, if not more, all without human intervention. That means loan officers are free to do the work that moves loans along quickly. It is like adding staff without adding to payroll.
That employee efficiency then trickles down to customers. When intensive data entry tasks are delegated to a highly accurate AI system, customers are far less likely to need a phone call with a loan officer to correct wrong data, and if documents are missing or incomplete the borrower can simply upload the information through a secure, mobile-friendly portal. No need for a trip to the bank or credit union.
When lenders have the tools needed to move the customer quickly and more accurately through the loan application and loan origination process, that can lead to higher borrower satisfaction and to repeat business when it comes time for customers to borrow again in the future.
The right types of loans in one place
In a volatile market, not all loans are originated equally. Competitive lenders need to be able to handle the exact types of loans their customers are looking for.
Today, home equity is one of the hottest fields in lending. Home equity loans and lines of credit (HELOCs) are popular right now because they let homeowners tap into record levels of equity without having to give up historically low rates on their first-lien mortgages.
At a time when two-thirds of homeowners hold mortgages at or below 2.5 percentage points under current market rates, borrowing $50,000 with a HELOC at 7% makes much more sense than giving up a 3% rate to refinance the entire loan at 6.5%.
To optimize origination for the highest possible customer retention, lenders will want to consider an LOS that can handle both first mortgages and home equity. That way, once the customer is in a lender’s ecosystem, they can meet even more needs for one of the most popular loan types in the current market.
Contact Black Knight today, and let us show you how we can help you optimize your loan origination processes to engage qualified customers and earn their repeat business.