Risk and benefits of using AI in mortgage marketing

prasit2512 – stock.adobe.com

WhatsApp Group Join Now
Telegram Group Join Now
Instagram Group Join Now

Creative artificial intelligence has a lot of potential. And danger — for the mortgage industry, but despite the challenges, emerging technology is finding its way into company workflows.

The greatest potential for adoption is in the use of marketing.

“Imagine if you Googled a topic, and then clicked through a bunch of links, and then summarized what you found in those links,” said Adam O'Daniel, Guild's chief marketing officer. “Can a machine do that for you in 30 seconds,” said Adam O'Daniel. mortgage

“It's not giving me any data that I probably couldn't find through a Google search. It just saved me time and time to sort it out and compile the data.”

In business circles, AI is showing value as a tool that drives efficiency and even inspires marketing professionals, though Widespread apprehension remains. While mortgage and real estate companies have the same concerns about risks as others, their marketing teams and loan officers are testing the waters to varying degrees and learning to tailor AI to their specific needs.

“It's a starting point for a lot of people, and it's been helpful if you have, for example, creative block,” said Whitney Blessington, Chief Marketing Officer at Churchill Mortgage. “We call it like thinking with someone, although it is not a person.”

Creative AI benefits also result from its ability to perform quick research. “It can help you come up with good topics,” O'Daniel said.

A useful but still developing technology opportunity
Mortgage companies, more than other types of companies, seem open to exploring how artificial intelligence can help their marketing efforts.

While some forms of AI are already used in the underwriting context, particularly for operations Regarding data extraction and processingConcerns about the implementation of Potential non-compliance leaves some lenders wary of implementing the technology. In customer facing capacity. Marketing jobs, though, offer an opportunity to see how AI can improve performance within appropriate niches.

Research released by Arizent in 2024, 64% of mortgage industry professionals said they would be willing to use artificial intelligence for most of their marketing and promotional work in a hypothetical scenario where regulations did not exist. Interest in the mortgage industry far outstrips similar response percentages in six other financial sectors, none of which exceed 50%.

At the same time, 55% of home loan borrowers said they would use it for most tasks related to research and fact-checking.

Its use in advertising, though, still presents some risk of bias. In outreach, according to recent guidelines issued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

But despite the industry's excitement, the “A” in AI doesn't stand for accuracy, and human marketing professionals will need to remain fixtures, mortgage leaders say. Even when used for research purposes, Users have found themselves running into really wrong answers..

“You can't trust it blindly,” Blessington said. “You still have to do your homework.”

“I think the biggest thing is, today it really helps someone streamline their workflow,” he said, comparing it to an intern who might do low-level administrative tasks, such as Writing metadata descriptions or alternative text for images.

“It helps you go from ideation to actual content planning,” O'Daniel said. However, when creative AI “writes” any of its own content, it fails to perform to the standards that the industry might want.

“It may use terms that are more appropriate for a bank than for an independent mortgage lender, and so you'll have to adjust the terms. Some of the more nuanced aspects of the business — these fully provide They don't.”

Current usage scenarios and risks
The use of artificial intelligence, especially creative AI such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, is still in its infancy in the mortgage industry. But with expectations for rapid expansion, that stands to change How can work be done in the future?.

Navigating the waters of AI can seem daunting, but the technology also offers customization that can make it easier to use, according to Ginger Bell, who regularly conducts seminars on artificial intelligence for real estate professionals. do Bell is co-host of the podcast AI Clubhouse and founder of housing industry video platform Edumarketing.com.

A loan officer or lender can customize their generative AI to suit the home's circumstances or guidelines. “You can actually just type in a scenario, and it reads the guidelines,” Bell said, cautioning that verification is still important.

“You can also tell him where he's pulling that information from, and a lot of it is just training him to ask the right questions, to tell him what you want to answer. In terms of what you want and then how you want to see it.”

Bell commonly sees ChatGPT being used to help write emails and social media posts, and some mortgage professionals also use it to write video marketing scripts. Users can develop a gen AI tool by feeding it their previously written transcripts, articles or other works, eventually training it to sound like their own voice, he said.

But monitoring and escalation also need to be top of mind, said Jason Perkins, co-founder and president of Bonzo, a provider of communications engagement software and mortgage customer relationship management systems.

“I see AI-generated content as one frame of your business, not the be-all and end-all,” he said. “Personalization is what drives the conversation.”

Generative AI can also quickly create marketing campaigns through a series of prompts – a set of instructions or parameters given to create messages that can focus on a specific topic or target a borrower segment. can. Indicators can also ensure that necessary disclosures and licensing information are included.

“Many companies need to realize that this is a huge compliance opportunity to make sure your loan officers are providing their information in a compliant manner,” Bell said.

However, while enterprises have the ability to personalize their cues and content through open-source generative AI platforms, many companies are instead turning to enterprise versions that protect proprietary information. are and maintain compliance. Some accounting firms remain closed sources as far as requiring employees to use generative AI for personalization under enterprise editions, according to Bell.

O'Daniel said, “There are a lot of people who use what's available to consumers on ChatGPT and other platforms like that, and sure, it's a great tool, but we don't know how to use those platforms. trying to think about a lot,” O'Daniel said.

“You use a public platform—the data that I upload to the model stays with the model to fuel future learning, which is amazing; but maybe we can create a product guide or “We don't want to share information from another company program that's out of our control,” added the guild's marketing leader.

Bell advises not to “put any non-public information out there because it's open source” when using a public platform. In addition to potential non-compliance, this opens businesses up to cybersecurity risk.

Relying on public artificial intelligence platforms without proper vetting of the content they produce also risks potential copyright infringement, according to Perkins.

“They're just collecting data from the Internet,” he said. “Businesses and companies are going to put fences around their data,” meaning companies need to be aware of how loan officers and staff use AI-generated content in social posts or advertisements.

Future potential and customer confidence
While AI-generated marketing content has primarily appeared in written form, artificial intelligence is catching on in other creative outlets. “Now there are a lot of new technologies that are being built around it,” Bell said.

Advanced generative AI tools Converted images already exist.with emerging businesses that create original images and videos based on a person's likeness and voice from a single recording.

However, while AI-generated imagery represents one of the next advancements for video automation, it also brings with it the potential for abuse by fraudsters and a conundrum for all types of businesses looking for clients. Want to use technology to their advantage without damaging relationships. .

“I think there are a lot of questions around how it affects your brand,” O'Daniel said.

“It can go both ways. There are people who would appreciate more frequent information updates from their lender and their loan officer. So if technology can help us provide more useful information, It can build trust; but if the customer feels they've been misled and that the avatar isn't really their loan officer, then I think we have to be very careful. Will be.”

WhatsApp Group Join Now
Telegram Group Join Now
Instagram Group Join Now

Leave a Comment