The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Ryan John Tomasello - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: I guess just following up on the mortgage question. I mean certainly understanding the countercyclicality that LendingTree can benefit from
performance its lenders' partner to backfill these pipelines that are declining. But just looking at some of the recent results across The Street, for
example, [Rocket] recently indicated with its guidance that it's actually choosing not to chase volumes, given uneconomic margins as gain on sale
compresses. So I'm just trying to understand how you're thinking through the puts and takes of the guardrails this year and what data points you're
really focused on for the mortgage business relative to the conviction in the guidance range.
Question: Ryan John Tomasello - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Great. Appreciate that. And then I guess a follow-on question would be the 2022 guidance seems to imply a normalization in brand marketing
expense, by my math, back to 2019 levels. So I guess as you continue to focus on the consumer-centric strategy, including with My LT. Is there a
way to put any guidepost around the time and amount of brand marketing spend that you think will be necessary to drive that next leg of brand
awareness of the platform? And is any of that starting to come through at all in 2022 here?
Question: Melissa Marie Wedel - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: I appreciate you taking the question. I was hoping to touch on the revenues that you -- I would say you didn't restate anything. It was just a shift
in methodology for attributing revenues to My LendingTree. When I compare the current methodology, which incorporates transactions outside
of being logged into the app, it would really seem to indicate there's a lot of activity happening or it has been happening of users transacting
outside of the app. And I was curious to get your thoughts on sort of what would drive consumers to transact outside of My LT and how you interpret
that to sort of inform the strategy going forward?
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FEBRUARY 25, 2022 / 2:00PM, TREE.OQ - Q4 2021 Lendingtree Inc Earnings Call
Question: Melissa Marie Wedel - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. That makes a lot of sense. As a follow-up question, you touched on the shareholder letter about getting some increased adoption with Plaid
integration and getting some consumers to opt in to connecting bank accounts. Can you go over that piece of the strategy? How important that
is given the higher conversion rates and how you can incentivize consumers to do that?
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consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies.
FEBRUARY 25, 2022 / 2:00PM, TREE.OQ - Q4 2021 Lendingtree Inc Earnings Call
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