MIMA23: Making your website your digital shop front

Following the 2023 Mortgage Industry Marketing Awards, Barcadia Media’s Andy Shields got together with three of this year’s winners – Gemma Reid of MPowered, Leah Brunskill of MFS and Savannah Dewhurst of Coreco – for the first in a series of mortgage marketing panel discussions, chaired by awards sponsor and industry marketing expert, Jeff Knight. 

In our second installment, we take a look at what our experts had to say about web presence – and how advisers’ websites were key to converting referrals to new business. 

Websites indicate credibility – and trust 

Our experts’ first point was that in a digital age, having a web presence is key to creating trust – which is borne out by figures showing that 31% of millennials (aged 23 – 38, which neatly includes the average first time buyer age of 33) don’t trust businesses without a website. 

Leah Brunskill, MFS, began: “Websites are important. When you see something on social media, you go and have a look on Google to see if it’s legitimate – so having the website there shows someone, ‘Okay, they’re a real company’.” 

For a website to create that sense of legitimacy, she said, it needed to be updated – noting that brokers did not need to update their site every time rates changed, but that regular content was important. 

“They’re not looking for exact information [such as rates] straight away,” she added. 

Coreco’s Savannah Dewhirst agreed, adding that monthly blogs about the market were a great way to have regular content without the need to try and update at the rate of product changes. 

Consider the user experience 

But what do consumers need to see on the homepage of your website? 

Our experts said making your contact information visible was the number one priority. 

MPowered’s Gemma Reid said: “My top tip would be to make sure your contact information is really easy to find – I definitely recommend putting it ‘above the fold’ on the webpage. So that [it’s visible] before someone has to scroll down to find it.” 

She added that considering usability was important too, ensuring your homepage works and is readable on both desktop and mobile devices. 

Dewhirst added that, as a brokerage, the majority of web traffic comes via mobile devices – and that advisers should bear this in mind. 

“[Potential customers shouldn’t be trying to find the contact button on your website, especially when looking on a mobile device. It should be really clear, just a straightforward button to be able to contact via a call or through to email.” 

Knight added that user experience was key to successful referrals – noting that a difficult web experience might put potential referred customers off at the last minute. 

Brunskill said: “Having a journey on your website is how you can entice people in […] that’s everything, from – if you’re clicking on a blog, making it easy to get off that page again. If you have PDFs available, getting off those PDFs and back onto the website can be really difficult. So it’s about the journey and making sure that everything is easy, it’s as simple as that. And every page should have a call to action – you should be able to contact the business, so that as soon as that person decides, yes, they’re going to get in touch, it’s easy to do so.” 

Design is key 

For advisers concerned that their design might not be up to scratch, our experts suggested looking to other businesses – not necessarily those in the mortgage industry. 

“Have a look at other brands – brand you look up to or that you think are doing a really great job”, Reid suggested. 

“They might have huge marketing budgets, huge design budgets, they’re doing testing. So they’ve kind of done the heavy lifting for you!” 
 
Our marketing experts’ advice for your website: 

Websites create trust for consumers – they’re important! 
Make sure your site is useable for desktop and mobile visitors 
Make contact information visible as soon as a user lands on the site  
Have a contact button (or ‘call to action’) on every page 
Check out other brands you like for design inspiration 

To see the full discussion, check it out on the Mortgage Industry Marketing Awards website.