The mortgage industry is facing strong headwinds. Refinance volume is expected to take a nose-dive and decrease by 62% in the coming months. High interest rates are causing the purchase audience to reconsider and the refinance audience to diminish. So what strategies are best to adopt at a time when purchases make up the majority of the market volume? In this article, we discuss a few relevant lead generation, lead nurture, and relationship management ideas that can help you combat the current state of the market.
Generate your own leads
Your website is important as it acts as a digital billboard for your company. While brand promotion is a key component of any website, it also plays a role in organic exposure through SEO strategies. This equates to the capture of new leads that otherwise would have never found your company. Most customers start their buying journey online, be sure that your website shows up as a search result for your industry, product, and/or service.
Website: Your corporate brand’s website is a big asset. In today’s business environment, a clean and simple website is a must. Websites should offer an experience that’s easily navigable and provides relevant content such as blog articles and a direct call-to-action. Providing a good “this is what to expect next” insight works wonders. Review your site to ensure you are capturing your prospects and customers and engaging with them.
A simple form on a webpage is very old school and not a great way to build engagement. People are drawn to chat since there are a number of messaging-friendly and support desk chat apps. Give your website traffic an experience that they are familiar with.
Landing Pages: It’s important to develop a few landing pages to direct your audience to specific areas of interest. These pages can provide relevant information that align with the topic and journey that the customer is taking. Avoid generic landing pages that act as a “one-size-fits-all” (i.e. Purchase, Refinance, HomeEquity). Rather, design a page that provides more information on the topic of a specific loan product.
For example, on a purchase landing page you can list 2-3 blog articles or tips/tricks to follow when purchasing a home. You can also display a home-affordability or rent-vs-buy calculator along with a short form or a chat widget to start a conversation.
Database and portfolio deep dive: Any well-run business will have access to past prospects and customers. Now is the right time to re-engage this audience and make sure that they come to you for any future needs. Remember, a well-treated customer should last a lifetime. The life events of prospects and closed customers will require them to borrow, refinance, upgrade for renovations, along with other homeownership needs and desires. Make an effort to keep current relationships and mend or build back past relationships. Nurture and keep them in the pipeline before they decide to explore your competition.
Direct Mail: Contrary to popular belief, direct mail is not dead. At a time when our email inboxes are overflowing with spam, a simple postcard can standout from your competitors. Send printed, direct mail and remember to include a “text us here” with a QR code to a landing page. Very important to consider: an incoming text and/or an incoming chat from your own software instance is the best way to get first-party TCPA consent. Any opportunity to get a prospect or consumer to engage with you is an opportunity to assist their financial needs and be there for the customer.
Email: Relevant content is always welcome. Engage your audience with a monthly newsletter or quarterly content. Share news about the market, possible investment or savings opportunities, or maybe even travel and other trending topics of interest. Every outreach is important when building a relationship. They can provide a better understanding of the needs that current and future customers have, along with how you can assist, advise, and offer them services. Direct your readers to a landing page where they can learn more about a topic or further engage with your company.
Activate Facebook/Meta, LinkedIn and Google Channels: These digital channels are viewed, accessed and visited several times a day by your prospects and customers. If you check your competition you will see that they are actively making posts across platforms. Provide your frontline agent’s and branch manager’s FB pages and LinkedIn profiles to be out driving traffic to your business. You are in the visibility area of your audience, make it easy for them to engage, interact, and start the conversation.
Local Partnerships: This doesn’t even require you to host an event! Have you heard, researched, or seen that the pet industry is a booming industry? Partner with local businesses that serve this or other popular industries. On your digital channels, arrange for content that appeals to this audience. Collect interests via surveys to gain a better understanding of what they want. This will allow you to tailor content for them and make them return customers!
Some alternative partnerships to explore could be boutique insurance services, home renovation, landscaping, and even property management companies. Consider in-person and social networking with local businesses, and bundling your services along with other products and services. Local partnerships drives trust and credibility for both businesses.
But if you do want to host an event, blood drives, book drives, shredding events, and more can be an easy way to get customers to visit you in person.
ABCDE: Always Build Concrete Differentiating Engagements. At the end of the day, you are looking for ways to interact and engage with past, present, and future clients. There is no one-size-fits-all or magic recipe. While there are constants you should be focused on, like your website, you may have to test multiple tactics to find what works for your company.
Have a neat customer acquisition or engagement strategy that you would like to share with our audience? Let us know! We would love to feature you or host a webinar with you. Listed here are a few ways that our clients manage lead generation, as well as nurture and close deals on the Botsplash platform. If we can help activate more leads for your team, let’s talk and explore the options - bizdev@botsplash.com. Connecting with your audience through different channels and journeys starts with shifting from one-time lead strategy to a customer for life strategy to stay successful.
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