To understand how our customers realize ROI and what the key drivers are for lenders, Blend engaged MarketWise Advisors to conduct a survey. In this webinar, Blend’s Head of Marketing, Justin Schuster, discusses the results with Jordan Brown, CEO of MarketWise Advisors.
One of the key findings of the survey was that respondents were able to achieve a per-loan average of 6.5x ROI. The total potential ROI was 10.3x for a customer using Blend Mortgage, which Jordan Brown of MarketWise Advisors noted as a “best-in-class” result.
This ROI is a result of Blend’s focus on reimagining the mortgage process in a way that creates a better experience for consumers and more efficiency for lenders. Blend builds integrations that allow lenders to use data from trusted sources instead of asking consumers to upload documents. Our platform leverages automation to bring many tasks forward so consumers can start addressing conditions as soon as they complete an application. The result of all of these factors is, on average, a reduction of 11.86 hours per loan and a reduction in loan cycle time of 7.3 days.
The discussion in the webinar was strong and resulted in quite a few follow up questions from the audience about the study. Below, we take time to answer a few of those questions.
What was the most surprising discovery of this study?
According to Jordan Brown of MarketWise, the most surprising element of the study was the realization that Blend delivers more value than expected, impacting participants’ revenue and creating time savings that go beyond the initial assumptions of the study.
“Blend is more than a POS in the classical sense. Blend extended its capabilities to include conditions clearing upfront, automated process kickoff, [integrations for] asset and credit data such that it blurs the front office/back office equation in a positive way by moving functions up. I view this as quite positive for both consumers as well as lenders in that it speeds up the process flow and transactional cost.”
This is exactly how Blend sees our place in the market as well and why we adopted the term Digital Lending Platform. Blend’s features transcend the traditional definition of a point-of-sale system, and the value can be seen in the results of this survey.
How did you ensure the survey results were accurate?
When analyzing the data, MarketWise intentionally used conservative assumptions to generate final results that accurately reflect participants’ experiences with Blend. One example of this process is using a six-year average for-profit per loan instead of taking advantage of the larger margins lenders saw in 2020. MarketWise also only studied a subset of widely adopted Blend Mortgage features, excluding newer features like Upfront Fee Collection or Blend Close, to increase the representative nature of the results.
Blend felt it was the right time to do an ROI study because, in many ways, 2020 was an inflection point for the industry as more and more processes become digital.
How did specific features affect ROI?
To determine the ROI mentioned above, MarketWise started by analyzing the data on a feature level. For the purposes of the report and webinar, we’ve aggregated those results. To provide those who participated in the survey with useful operational benchmarking data, Blend sat down with them to review their specific ROI, including the feature-level analysis, after the survey’s conclusion. In addition, Blend customers can elect to receive this analysis through one-on-one consultation. Blend takes pride in contributing to our partners’ success by sharing performance benchmarks based on this data.
Finally, for those who are not current Blend customers, we’re happy to start a conversation about how you can achieve greater ROI.
ROI now and into the future
By automating tasks and communication throughout the process, Blend can help lenders cut nearly twelve hours of time from processing each loan and reducing cycle time a week, but this is only part of the story.
We see our customers as partners on a journey together, and these efficiencies are not static. As Blend continues to innovate, adding new features and clients continue to adopt additional capabilities, the potential ROI should increase.
All data, reports and analytics are provided for informational purposes only. Individual results will vary. Both MarketWise Advisors, LLC and Blend Labs disclaim any liability and provide no warranty or representations as to performance or accuracy of the data.