Ever researched a restaurant on your smartphone only to be thwarted by text which refuses to comply with the limits of your screen and so you give up?
Well, unless your broker website is mobile-optimised, it is likely your clients and potential customers give up too.
Mobileforze commercial manager Stephen Lawson told
Australian Broker a whopping 80% of mortgage broker websites are not mobile-optimised yet, meaning the consumer is driven away in frustration.
Lawson, who used to be national sales manager at Australian Financial and BDM at
AFG, understands how important it is for brokers to stay in touch with clients.
“When I got out of the [mortgage] industry I realised there was a void. Either we’re too scared to take on new technology, or someone big hasn’t taken it on for us to follow suit. People are contacting clients a lot more now because of the increased competition, so there’s a need for viable contact… You can now interact with clients any time of day as they’re always on their mobile or tablet.”
Research shows 90% of smartphone owners use them to search the internet, making up half of all searches globally, with tablets and computers making up the other half.
Mobileforze, a wholesaler which provides mobile-optimised websites and tracks data for mobile search engine optimisation, was founded 14 months ago and began servicing the mortgage market in Melbourne three months ago.
The company uses cloud-based technology to provide step-by-step administration, marketing and presentation resources, and gives help building mobile-optimised sites.
“Over the past 14 months, our company has worked diligently to provide the broker a mobile web site that allows them to capture and analyse reports on data from people that click onto the website. Our technology is set that once you 'google' the broker’s company [on a phone] and pushed for their website, it automatically directs you the mobile website,” Lawson said.
The company records and interprets analytics to show brokers where their customers are coming from – and can capture data for each staff member, meaning a manager can see how many leads each broker is getting from the mobile website and make sure they are followed up.
Lawson believes it is either a lack of understanding or “pure ignorance” which is holding brokers back from optimising their websites for smartphones.
“Knowing what the consumer is thinking and doing is very difficult unless you are in constant contact with them. So unless you’re in contact with them through their smartphone or tablet, you’re going to be behind the eight-ball. If you’re not where your consumer is, you’ll never get the consumer.”
And that consumer is increasingly fussy, Lawson said.
“They want information and they want it now, and they want it simply. It’s the way of the future, we’re demanding it. And if we don’t get it, we click off and go somewhere else.”
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