LendingTree's Darren Beck on the Appeal of Web-Based Tools for Leads

Not that LendingTree employees were walking around with pocket protectors, yakking about the Charlotte, N.C.-based online loan offer aggregator's revolutionary mortgage calculators. But it was time to rebrand and add some Web tools that would appeal to more than sure-bet, established Jane and Joe Homeowner.

So the company that's spent a decade advising consumers on mortgages went in search of a useful, easy-to-use personal financial planning and advice tool for its site. In January, LendingTree acquired certain assets of New York-based online financial advisory service Thrive (justthrive.com). Much like the lowercase-lettered, hipper feel of the financial advisory service geared toward 20- and 30-somethings, LendingTree began using more colorful images and less text on its site when it rebranded in July. Now, Thrive's financial planning tool is incorporated on the LendingTree site as its "MoneyRight" feature.

The company reports that since the relaunch and integration of MoneyRight into LendingTree.com, site engagement has increased 13 percent and customer account logins have increased 17 percent.

Darren Beck, LendingTree's chief marketing officer, explains how direct marketing will play into the mix.

Target Marketing: What did younger borrowers prefer about Thrive vs. LendingTree?
Darren Beck: ... Thrive definitely had a younger demographic than LendingTree, but Thrive also had a much smaller group of customers than LendingTree, obviously. And I don't think that Thrive is necessarily only for young people. I think that's more the result of … the type of outreach and marketing they were doing.

TM: Had LendingTree already cornered the market on young customers, or did Thrive help in appealing to them?
DB: I think, over time, it hopefully will give us more to offer to a broader group of consumers. I would agree that LendingTree was probably traditionally skewing older, simply because that was the demographic that was more typically owning homes and a little better established in their finances. But the whole world has changed in the last few years. The economy is a very different place now. And what we found is that it was becoming more and more difficult to find lenders that would be willing to lend money to a broader group of customers.

TM: How will this investment in marketing to younger consumers pay off in the long run?
DB: Even in the past, prior to Thrive joining the LendingTree family, we worked a lot on doing things like first-time homebuyer e-mail series and lots of articles and content and other things. But content and articles, while they're great, they're also a little boring and they're not very interactive and they're not really customizable. So what we were trying to do is move down a path of providing more tools that could actually provide individuals of all ages with customized recommendations based on their situation. ... So it's all part of this broader strategy of really being much more than just a form on the Internet and trying to become a trusted friend, a trusted ally, a trusted adviser for consumers in their big financial decisions.

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