Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Jeff D. | Delivered February 27, 2020

Home Loan - Customer Acquisition Cost

Goals

To help price a new product that aids lenders and loan officers market to home buyers by researching how much lenders/loan officers spend to acquire a new client (home buyer) in the U.S. 

Early Findings

A 2017 report stated 87.9% of loan officers said referrals are one of their top marketing tools. 47.4% of loan officers don't spend any of their budget on referrals, but 41.9% said if they had the budget they would put it towards referrals. According to this same study, purchased leads are the top item loan officers spend $500+ on every month. This was not specific to U.S. loan officers, but was included because of pertinent information. 
According to Statistica, for the years of 2018-2020 the U.S. mortgage spenders/loan officer industry spent $99.81 million, $139.13 million, and $180.8 million (projected) respectively on advertising for those years. 
In 2018, banks increased their spending on marketing by 13% to $13 billion in 2018. 
 Quicken Loans spent $57.3 million dollars between May 1 and May 31 in 2018 on TV ads. US Bank and Wells Fargo only spent $90,000 and $20,000 respectively on "mortgage-related commercials." 
Even during the housing recession in 2007-2008, mortgage companies still spent $409 million on ads in the third quarter of 2007. 
Key trends in the mortgage/lending industry for marketing include the use of collected data, use of social media, and online/content marketing.
Credit unions spend between $8 and $16 per member on advertising. Financial Brand projected that credit unions spend $550 million annually on advertising. 