In many ways mortgages are the perfect product for the Internet: big-ticket items in which informed buyers can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars by extensively researching options prior to purchase. And because you can’t see a mortgage, or kick its tires, or enjoy a shopping experience looking for one, users will buy online. (More precisely: Users will make purchase decisions from information gathered online. Actual applications may or may not be submitted online.)

As you pencil out your content areas, keep navigation in the back of your mind. Navigation is important across your entire Web, but nowhere more so than in the mortgage area. Mortgage prospects searching your Web may be weary, approaching “information overload” as they tool about the Web researching their home purchase. Help out these poor souls by creating easy-to-understand site maps and intuitive pathways through your content. You may want to create different paths that recognize the hot buttons of the different mortgage segments.

We like Bank of Montreal’s approach (below): a virtual door into its mortgage Web for each of its key segments <www.bmo.com/mortgage>

Each segment has its own “door” to Bank of Montreal’s mortgage Web. Or choose “show me EVERYTHING!”

Bank of America also divides its mortgage Web into four segments: Home Buying, Refinancing, Home Improvements, or Your Home Business.

Following are fourteen content areas to consider when building your mortgage website:
1. COMPREHENSIVE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS: Include detailed tables showing before and after-tax comparisons of monthly payments for each option (show monthly payments for entire term of mortgage).

2. YOUR MORTGAGE LENDING QUALIFICATIONS: Include a synopsis of your sales volume, history, and other attributes of your organization. Also include links to third party evaluations, such as Better Business Bureaus, Mortgage Banking Association, analyst reports, bank evaluation services, etc.

Users of Stanford FCU’s Web find a “library” of mortgage information <www.sfcu.org/mortgage/library/>.

3. EXTENSIVE EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL: Provide detailed information, financial calculators, and/or links to other real estate experts. Your goal is to be a sound source of loans, but also a knowledgeable advisor on mortgage selection, rate buy-downs, down payment amounts, and other aspects of the mortgage process. For example, Stanford Federal Credit Union’s Mortgage Mart’s library (above) features “volumes” on: Lending Overview, Definitions, Federal Regulations, Interest Rates, Wizards, and Loan Application.

FinanCenter’s Homes area features side-by-side pull-down menus of “calculators” and “advice and information” at <www.financenter.com/newhomes.htm>.

4. UP-TO-THE-MINUTE RATES: More than anything else you need to provide easy-to-find and up-to-date rate information. Even if you don’t primarily compete on rate, ignoring rates completely is a red-flag that you are not looking after the best interests of the buyer. Integrate current rates with your financial calculators so that users can easily calculate monthly payments for various loan programs.

5. INTUITIVE FINANCIAL CALCULATORS: You can do yourself and your customers a big favor by posting EASY-TO-USE calculators. You don’t want them so complicated that they create tech-support calls, but they shouldn’t be so simple that they provide an incomplete, or worse, a misleading analysis. Finally, run the calculators by a competent finance guru to make sure there are no hidden logic flaws in the analysis.

For example: a major U.S. bank once posted a flawed “loan vs. buy” auto financing calculator. Almost any combination of personal savings, savings rates, and loan rates, returned the same (usually incorrect) results indicating that the user would save money by getting a standard car loan in lieu of tapping their savings to purchase the vehicle. The calculator failed to equalize the cash flows of the two options. For a detailed explanation of a similar problem that has cropped up in some unscrupulous mortgage marketing, read A Mortgage to Watch Out For by Web marketing pioneer Arnold Kling at <www.loanshop.com/info/!watchou.htm>.

One last piece of advice: Provide thorough explanations of calculator output combined with clear advice on the next steps (e.g., press the “buy” button to apply for a loan now).

“Must-have” mortgage calculators:

• payment number cruncher (payment size vs. mortgage size vs. rate vs. loan term); see Bank of Montreal and Microsoft CarPoint
• rent vs. buy (simple and advanced versions)
• refinancing optimizer (simple and advance versions)

“Nice to have” calculators:

• maximum affordable house
• rate buy-down
• adjustable vs. fixed rate
• 15-year vs. 30-year
• tax savings
• down payment estimator
• estimated loan cost worksheet
• mortgage insurance analyzer
• loan comparison report generator
• home equity loan worksheets

6. ENABLE BUYER SELF-SELECTION: There is no such thing as an “average” mortgage buyer. The sales process is completely different depending on whether the prospect is a first-time buyer with little credit history, or someone buying their fourth home with a big relocation budget from a Fortune 500 company. Don’t try to push everyone through the same process on your Web. Bank of Montreal’s “four doors” approach (previous page) works well. Even more effective in turning “shoppers” into “buyers” is CountryWide’s self selection worksheet which eases buyers into the loan application one step at a time.

7. CATCHY LEAD GENERATION DEVICE: Provide something of genuine value that will entice mortgage prospects to identify themselves so you can hand their name, phone number and e-mail address to your sales staff. It could be a coupon for savings on closing costs, an e-mail rate update service, a low-cost credit report, or a free market analysis of your home’s value.

8. INTERACTIVE SALES-ORIENTED MORTGAGE APPLICATION: There is nothing wrong with taking your regular mortgage application and loading it onto the Web. It’s a good first step. But if you stop there, you’re leaving money on the table. The Web will absolutely change the way applications are gathered. The one-size-fits-all application is a dinosaur (did we really say that?). In its place will be a sophisticated interactive interview session where users are prompted for information and guided towards the best loan product based on previous answers.

Interactive applications will challenge existing precepts regarding loan disclosures and compliance with fair-lending regulations, but that’s a topic for another issue. Suffice it to say we expect a whole cottage industry will develop to assist financial institutions in developing interactive applications.

9. PRE-SALES CUSTOMER SERVICE: Users should be able to count on your Web to deliver easy-to-find and easy-to-understand answers to most questions about your loan products and the loan process itself. Besides clearly written copy, you need logical layouts, extensive cross-references between topics, a good site map, and, if you have the resources, a GOOD search engine.

Besides a good Web site, you need to provide high-quality and speedy e-mail and 800-number customer support. Put a “contact us” button on every page that leads to an 800 number, e-mail address, and Web form to submit questions. All but the most complicated questions should be answered within hours (minutes would be better). Mortgage shoppers are often in a hurry. Don’t let them slip away for lack of a fully supported e-mail support staff.

10. REALTOR SERVICES: If you rely on Realtor referrals, consider establishing a password-protected area on your Web with specific information for your referral network. Even if you don’t market directly to Realtors, you can bet they will be visiting your Web, so you might want to set aside a section of the Web highlighting any unique loan programs you offer, and that deals directly with the issues and concerns of the real estate community.

11. POST-SALES CUSTOMER SERVICE:The previous ten items focused on information targeted to new loan customers. But even more important long-term is to provide valuable services to existing mortgage customers. Create a special “VIP entrance” for customers so they can quickly get the information they need.

12. REFINANCE SERVICES: Depending on what the long-bond is doing, this could be one of the busiest areas on your Web, or one of the least used. But you should be ready for the next interest rate dip. You want to be prominently mentioned when prospective homeowners type “refinance” and “yourtown” on Internet search engines. Don’t risk losing them to whatever mortgage broker happens to be buying “mortgage” that month (i.e., has purchased the advertising rights to display their banner whenever someone searches on mortgage or a similar concept).

13. ACCOUNT ACCESS: Eventually you’ll want to allow current customers to log onto your Web to determine whether mortgage payments have posted, verify interest paid for tax calculations, monitor escrow disbursements and balances, and see how much principal is remaining on the loan. A complete transaction history for the life-of-the-loan would be useful.

14. HOME EQUITY LENDING SERVICES: Given the high profitability of home equity lending, this could be one of the most important portions of your Web. Encourage mortgage customers to check with you first whenever they need additional borrowing capacity.