Unlocking NerdWallet’s Student Loan Literacy Strategy

Welcome to part three of this month’s edition of our Brand Breakdown series, a deep dive into markets, consumers, and brands through the lens of owned asset optimization (OAO), a new approach to building consumer connections.

In our previous two editions, we discovered more students are enrolling in college, and we split audiences into three segments based on search data: researchers, applicants, and payers.

Today, we’ll learn how NerdWallet leverages its owned assets to connect with consumers across those segments.

Investing in possibilities

Student loans aren’t just about borrowing money; they’re about investing in possibilities. That’s why SoFi’s mission is to help people realize their ambitions, and Earnest promises “access and affordability for all.”

These brands understand the desire to attend college is fueled by dreams and goals that have been forged over a decade of life experiences.

However, it takes more than a great mission statement to build authentic connections with potential borrowers. Brands must be expert guides that intimately understand their needs and confidently shepherd them through life’s most important financial decisions.

Brands that are present along the winding customer journey will earn awareness, trust, and customer loyalty.

NerdWallet builds student loan literacy with a library of content

NerdWallet doesn’t just have a few blog posts about student loans. The website serves up a buffet of content, including news articles, blog posts, lender reviews, videos, podcasts, FAQs, tools, and guides. This content answers every question borrowers have about paying for college.

The editors at NerdWallet are serious about connecting with borrowers to help them make informed decisions. In fact, it’s part of the company’s purpose — “to provide clarity for all of life's financial decisions.”

Beyond content, NerdWallet invests in credibility to build trust with its readers. Throughout the site, editors showcase their integrity through oversight, transparency, and expertise.

Helping borrowers understand student loan options

Early in the lending journey, borrowers search for information about the types of loans available to pay for college. These searches include topics like federal vs. private, subsidized vs. unsubsidized, loans for parents with bad credit, and student loans that don’t require a cosigner.

NerdWallet understands borrowers have many needs — and even more questions — so the site covers each of these subjects in depth.

Rather than only publishing long-form articles to answer questions, NerdWallet creates content experiences to match user intent, including simple tables, interactive tools, and comparisons.

In addition to using many different formats, NerdWallet also links out to related content, ensuring visitors discover everything they need without returning to Google to ask more questions.

NerdWallet helps borrowers pay less interest

Borrowers want to know more than which lender has the lowest rate. They want to know how rising interest rates affect student loans, which types of loans have better rates, and how much interest they’ll pay over time.

NerdWallet published eight pieces of content about various student loan interest topics, which generated more than 100,000 annual visits and captured 10.7% of search market share in this category.

What’s more, NerdWallet understands that interest rates depend on many different variables, so it leverages partnerships to help borrowers compare rates based on their specific situation with an interactive tool.

The site also offers borrowers a calculator to see how much money they’ll save if they make interest-only payments on loans. Then, it gives them more instructions on how to make these payments.

NerdWallet guides borrowers through refinancing decisions

There are many reasons borrowers might want to refinance their student loans. Perhaps interest rates drop significantly, or they’re earning more and want to shorten the duration of their loans, or maybe they want to consolidate multiple loans into one payment.

NerdWallet currently has 19 unique pieces of content about student loan consolidation and refinancing. In the past 12 months, the site earned more than 280,000 annual visits and captured 25% of the available search market share in this category. Through its content, the site explains whether you should refinance or consolidate, how the process works, and how to qualify.

NerdWallet also uses tables to help readers understand topics:

NerdWallet built a calculator so readers can easily see how much they might be able to save by refinancing:

The developers also built interactive tools to help readers find the perfect refinancing lender to fit their unique situations:

Delivering exceptional value by understanding consumers’ needs

NerdWallet doesn’t just publish articles about student loans to win traffic and generate advertising revenue. The company truly understands each potential point in the customer journey, knows which questions drive action, and answers complex questions as simply as possible.

This is the bar — the gold standard. If lending brands like SoFi and Earnest want to connect with audiences, they must follow this playbook and invest in a reception marketing strategy that informs and empowers borrowers at every stage of the journey.

Want to read the full story? Catch up on our blog, Brand Breakdown: Lender Strategies for [Tackling] the $1.7 Trillion Student Loan Industry

I’ll see you in the next edition of our Brand Breakdown series!

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