Mobile App Use by Millennials is Up, Up, Up!

"Requiring a customer to 'bookmark' your web-site on their mobile phone search engine is not a mobile experience."

Last week, I discussed how mortgage bankers are slowly embracing the mobile medium for communicating with prospects and customers, (the fastest growing B2C medium, by the way, particularly among millennials). As with other technologies our industry has been slow to adopt. But with millennial home purchases on the rise (and expected to drive the housing industry for the foreseeable future) it's obvious that mortgage banks need this technology to compete in today's market.

The stats on millennial home purchases are very clear. Millennials are buying homes in droves and account for 38% of purchases in 2018. Just last week on Fox Business News there were at least two segments on the meteoric rise of millennial home purchases.

So the way in which we communicate with millennials is important to the survival of our industry (and acknowledging their communication preferences, even more so).

We know from market research that millennials seek the over-all “experience.” We see it in their favorite social media apps, their barista apps, their health club apps. They capture moments by the experience and then depend on apps to help them to consistently, predictably and reliably repeat the outcome. Those of you with millennials of your own are likely nodding your head they truly do seek and measure the results by the experience.

And millennial communication habits and hardware preferences are well-documented by market research confirming that their hand-held mobile devices are far more important to them than lap tops, desk tops or even tablets. We know millennials are less responsive to email communications and they avoid speaking on the phone until they reach a level of confidence and trust (or when absolutely, unavoidably necessary!).

The graph below represents millennial cohorts that continue to be the fastest segment of app use. Contrary to erroneous and conflicting published information, millennials continue to add mobile apps in a big way. 

We have seen several very large mortgage banking companies invest time and capital developing their own mobile apps, designed to improve the communication and work-flow for their LOs, realtors and ultimately their buyers/borrowers by using "real-time alerts". I will expand on the importance of real time alerts, app content and the all-important app logo in next week's post.

Last year one of the most substantive and compelling categories of mobile app growth were in the category of personal finance and banking. YoY growth and use was over 47%. This is compelling because these types of apps bring experience and utility conjuring up a personal experience for the user.

LoanFuel is the market leader in white-labeled mobile app development for the mortgage banking industry. For the past six years LoanFuel has been providing independent mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, and community banks of all sizes a cost effective mobile solution. And this month LoanFuel is launching its servicing app that will make your customer inextricably “stickier”.

Mortgage origination costs continue to rise, and margins continue to shrink. Your defense to provision, promote and preserve the acquisition cost of “your customer” is the clear and present challenge. What will truly differentiate your organization will be uniquely measured by the quality of technology, service and experience that you offer. A LoanFuel mobile app solution will tactically change your communication landscape offering a much-preferred user experience, (particularly for millennials).

Let’s have a mobile app discussion today. Ask LoanFuel to show you how to implement a reliable, cost effective mobile app strategy for your LOs. Envision your branding, your content, your mobile alerts updating status and communicating your messages, even (long after) the loan has been long closed. Watch your company mobile app be implemented within 30-days into a simple but elegant solution, that will enhance your LOs presence with realtors and your borrowers experience.

So remember, "requiring a customer to 'bookmark' your website on their mobile phone search engine is not a mobile experience."

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