Quicken Loans takes a stab at retaining the communication line with its client base with the introduction of Qtopia. The virtual world of mortgage and finance brings news, advice, mortgage tools and gadgets and of course an easily accessible communication line with a Quicken Loans representative.

The animated, Second Life-style site combines financial planning tools, information resources and community features for Quicken’s 300,000 customers. Visitors are guided through the site by an avatar, who shows off Qtopia’s different structures, such as the Q Library, Q Cafe and Q Arena.

Todd Lunsford, client chief marketing officer  “It’s a site we can create some stickiness to,” he said. “In the past, our client loyalty campaign was like any other company’s, like signing up for newsletters.”

I want to congratulate Todd and his team for taking a look outside the box to create new retention programs. 99.9% companies in the industry are stuck in 1995 with their marketing campaigns. Quicken Loans brings their company in to the new millennium with the introduction of Qtopia, however in the Internet world ideas come and go very very quickly and it’s my opinion and others that virtual gimmick type marketing, similar to what went on in Second Life is dead. Especially if there is no real value and I don’t think Qtopia really provides any reason or someone to participate for more than a day or two, unless I am missing something. Yes, finance news is great, mortgage calculators are nice every 5 years depending on what type of loan you have. Access to real estate agents can be beneficial if you are one of the 2% of the population that doesn’t have a licensed agent in your family. A message board is wonderful if you really would like to discuss mortgages after you have just refinanced, not my cup of tea, but okay.

What is the difference between Qtopia and Yahoo! finance? At Yahoo! finance I can read finance news, play with mortgage calculators, contact a real estate agent and even click on a Quicken Loans ad to contact a representative. Oh but wait, Yahoo! finance doesn’t let me create a creepy recreation of myself. Listen, I will give some of you a break that have avatar to represent yourself on the forums you participate on and on your IM platform. Those can be fun and amusing, but walking around a community with a fake 3D image of yourself is kind of weird.

“You used to be able to push your message out to people,” said Matt Kates, vp of strategy at ePrize. “Now, media is so fractured and people have ability to opt out, there’s the need to lead with the value-added proposition and support with branding.”

The Mortgage industry has always had to deal with the challenge of  building successful client retention programs. Most borrowers don’t remember the company they refinanced with 5 to 10 years ago. They refi and then forget about it. I am not seeing the value Mr. Kates is referring to here, but here is how Qtopia could work, in my opinion of course. Kill the virtual reality idea and all the lame mortgage calculators and worthless tips on refinancing and give your clients something applicable to the their financial life. Give them something like Mint. Give them the opportunity to pay there mortgage and other finances through a Quicken Loans interface. Give them something they have to log into every week. Give people a place to store their personal financial information and use it to apply for all types of loans and credit. Think bigger than a virtual world. There is plenty of room for improving online banking and finance management and with an established brand like Quicken Loans the sky is the limit.

I love the fact that Quicken Loans is a forward thinking company, but I think they are going to strike out with this endeavor, unless they beef it up.

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