The mortgage industry is a competitive business. Potential customers may not be loyal to any individual lender and view mortgages as a commodity where one lender is just as good as the next. Unless your business has a large advertising budget, getting borrowers to recognize your brand can be extremely difficult. Not everyone can afford to have celebrities like well-known comedians and athletes feature their brand in national television commercials. So how can mortgage companies stand out from the crowd? More and more marketers are generating direct mail mortgage leads using software and automation.
Consistent delivery of relevant, personalized messages is always a smart move. personalized campaigns that deliver the right messages to a carefully selected group outperform mass marketing approaches almost every time.
When you think of personalization, digital messaging may be the channel that first comes to mind. But did you know that direct mail now presents the same opportunities for personalization and targeting that marketers implement with digital channels? Well-executed direct mail mortgage lead generation campaigns generate greater response than all digital channels combined.
direct mail mortgage leads: technology has changed the game
Borrowers are familiar with the personalized experiences they enjoy online and expect a higher level of relevance and personalization in all communications with an organization. Modern direct mail marketing techniques allow mortgage companies to provide those desired experiences while simultaneously lowering their costs and increasing the leads they generate with the direct mail portion of their marketing campaigns.
Direct mail has been part of the marketing plans of mortgage companies for decades. the difference today is how these organizations use the channel in conjunction with digital messaging. they implement email, sms, web and social networks, in addition to direct mail to keep their names in front of future clients in the long run.
In the past, direct mailing required long lead times as you found graphic artists and copywriters to create the marketing pieces. then he had to work with local print service providers to negotiate quantities, prices and hours. traditional offset printing technology contributes to this costly and inefficient mailing approach.
Today, digital printing presses are replacing older offset printing methods for many applications, including direct mail.
see how direct mail is changing. Read: “Top 15 Direct Mail Marketing Trends”
It’s not expensive if done right
With direct mail automation workflows, printers eliminate most of the costly and time-consuming pre-press preparation steps. Mortgage company marketers can use pre-designed templates for letters and postcards that reduce reliance on graphic artists. With systems like Postalytics they can send small amounts, directly from their CRM systems. they will not have to order large volumes of materials to ensure a reasonable price per piece. From a seller’s point of view, the entire direct mail experience is much better than it was several years ago.
In addition to saving on print production costs, lenders using available data quality tools no longer waste large amounts of money on unqualified leads or postage on undeliverable correspondence.
orientation is key
One of the biggest mistakes mortgage lenders can make with direct mail is failing to identify their targeted audience. They rely on old familiar methods to acquire lists of people they believe to be potential customers, without being very selective. Then they waste lots of money to send mail to a large group hoping to get the attention of the few who are currently in the market for their services.
Accurate targeting means mortgage companies can stop spending money on production and postage costs to solicit business from people who don’t fit the profile of their desired customers. With data from the credit bureaus, marketers can trim the mailing list with disqualifiers, like weeding out people who are late on payments, and focus their efforts on people with preferred credit scores. By accessing other databases, marketers can filter for deceased homeowners or target specific groups of borrowers, such as those with VA loans or adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). Mortgage-related filter criteria may include the prospect’s age, loan-to-value ratio, and income.
money spent to produce undeliverable mail is wasteful. Databases like the National Change of Address File (NCOA) update the addresses of people who have moved. postalotics automatically updates addresses with usps data to improve the deliverability of mail sent through our service.
If mortgage companies can filter out the obvious unqualified buyers and tailor their message and images to each person who remains on their mailing list, they can easily double the conversion rate. the cost per closed loan is reduced with better targeting and personalization. When they don’t narrow down the target list and treat all prospects equally, the cost per closed loan goes up. in tight markets, this is a problem that threatens profitability.
no more mass mailing
Data-driven marketing means mortgage lenders can, for example, send a different series of postcards and letters to homeowners than to renters. variable messages and images will appeal to different age and income groups. young families may seek larger homes with patios, while empty nesters are more interested in condos or downsizing. photos and shipment details should vary based on recipient profiles. a cashout offer may tempt one person, while your neighbor’s postcard touts the benefits of refinancing. The more details you collect about your prospects, the better you can fine-tune your message and the look of your mailings. Inline editors with built-in digital proofing technology make it easy to fine-tune your mailings so they’re memorable and relevant to each prospect who receives the mail.
The nature of the business you are looking for will determine the filter parameters. You can include or exclude borrowers from a direct mailing list based on financial, geographic, or demographic data. the data will also affect the text, images, and timing of your direct mail campaigns.
First-time homebuyers will require additional guidance and information. they haven’t been through the mortgage process before, so the topic of direct mail pieces aimed at this group will be education. The good news is that these prospects may not have a preferred lender. the first mortgage company to impress them has a big advantage.
Home sellers are also good candidates for targeted marketing campaigns. A good number of sellers put their homes up for sale before arranging financing for their next home purchase. These prospects are more sophisticated than first-timers: They’ve already bought a house and now they’re selling it. a campaign targeting this group could focus on any changes in mortgage markets that have occurred since sellers bought their current homes.
The only way to be sure which layouts, messages, and offers generate the best response is to test. you can start with small representative subsets of your list and try different approaches. be sure to track the results using different phone numbers or codes. implement a method called “a/b testing”, a tactic used by big brand marketers all the time. choose the versions of the correspondence that performed best with the test group and use them for subsequent mailings.
For more testing tips, read “Direct Mail Testing: A Best Practices Guide”
Although each element of a digitally printed direct mail piece can be variable, be sure to apply consistency once you identify what works best. Be sure to display the loan officer’s corporate colors, logo, or photos on all of your print and digital marketing pieces. use the same fonts everywhere. this consistency promotes brand recognition.
plan your campaigns: touch your audience multiple times
Some mortgage lenders tried direct mail in the past and were unimpressed with the results. This is usually because they concentrated all their efforts on a single mailing. Contacting prospects only one time will not make an impact. Though it may generate some opportunities for new business, marketers should not expect a dramatic rise in lead activity after their first mailing.
Research tells us that it takes at least seven or more “touches” before a potential customer responds. Some of those touches may be electronic and others physical, but make sure your strategy allows for multiple pieces of marketing to be generated consistently and sent to each identified prospect.
Another common mistake mortgage company marketers make is failing to state the reason for sending correspondence. direct mail should highlight the benefit to the borrower. if you want them to call you, a bullet point list of the services you offer will not. simply asking prospects about your business every time won’t make a great impression. include helpful information such as current rate data, local real estate market conditions, financial tips, etc.
Always make sure each piece makes it perfectly clear what action you want the recipient to take. include phone number or other contact information and don’t forget your social media handles. Actions that don’t require direct communication, like watching a video, downloading a checklist, or using an online calculator, are more likely to keep prospects engaged with your brand.
see “Direct Mail Leads: 4 Easy Steps to Create Winning Campaigns”
Digital features of direct mail
Digital marketers often point to tracking as an advantage of delivering material electronically. Post Office has its own tracking system called Informed Visibility (IV). IV allows marketers to get information on when the USPS delivers each piece of mail to the recipient. The data is collected by a system called Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) that allows the USPS to scan each piece of mail as it progresses through the delivery cycle.
Marketers using direct mail automation tools can integrate these mail delivery analytics and use them to drive other channels such as email and other channels. digital, as part of their direct mail mortgage lead generation programs.
Mail even comes with its own multi-channel delivery capability called Informed Delivery (ID). With this free provision from the US Postal Service, an image of a postcard or letter is sent to Informed Delivery subscribers via email on the morning the USPS will deliver the physical piece to their homes. This service doubles the impressions for ID subscribers at no charge. Over 40 million people have signed up to receive ID notifications. Marketers need do no extra work to enable the standard ID service—it’s automatic!
Other tactics allow mortgage marketers to connect physical direct mail with digital assets and track individual responses using methods such as personal URLs (purls) or quick response (qr) codes. direct mail that includes these methods is the perfect way to identify the most interested and engaged prospects. Today’s best direct mail automation systems support QR codes and purls, making it easy to add these helpful tracking devices to direct mail letters and postcards.
By sending relevant delivery and response data to CRM or marketing automation tools, email becomes a channel that looks, acts and feels much more like a digital marketing tool than in the past.
consumers trust offers received by mail
Trust is another area where direct mail shines for mortgage lenders. People are cautious about financial solicitations they receive via email, telephone, or text message. But mortgage marketers can still use these channels after they establish brand recognition and a solid reputation through informative and relevant pieces delivered through the mail. Consumers in all age groups view the mail as the most trustworthy source of information from financial service providers.
Marketers have a wealth of digital tools and information they can use to impress potential customers. videos, online applications, testimonials, instant credit approval, and online chat are just a few of the digital methods mortgage companies can use to engage with prospective customers. These are all wonderful techniques, but you need to get borrowers to visit the online locations where these assets are kept. direct mail is an ideal way to direct customers to desired online destinations.
Direct mail isn’t just for marketing to potential customers. real estate agents and financial planners are often great sources of referrals. These professionals receive hundreds of emails per day and your email requesting a referral will likely get buried in their inboxes or sent to spam folders. in contrast, your referral network receives only a few pieces of postal mail per day. try sending postcards or direct mail letters to these people every 30 to 60 days. keep their contact information in your crm system and set up your automation software to send your reference correspondence at a pre-planned time.
Current customers can also be prospects for additional business. they are excellent reference sources that you can turn to for information about new services, features, and products. You can also establish goodwill through triggered messages, such as birthday greetings, holiday cards, or closing date anniversaries.
see “benefit from direct mail automation enabled”
Generate more direct mail mortgage leads by embracing technology
During the last decade, most of the attention of marketers has focused on digital communication channels. the cost of tactics like sending thousands of untargeted emails is so low that organizations of all kinds have jumped to digital channels as their main source of lead generation. Unfortunately, with so many businesses struggling for attention, the glut of emails, text messages, and other types of electronic marketing has created an environment where consumers no longer pay much attention. they can even take steps to prevent you from seeing marketing messages by using spam filters and blocking software.
The average household receives around two physical pieces of marketing mail per day. over 95% of consumers retrieve and view their mail every day. Mortgage companies looking for new business leads can take advantage of this disparity in consumer volume and behavior to get their message across as part of planned multi-channel lead generation strategies.
There is no question that direct mail can be an effective tool for mortgage lead generation programs. the question for marketers is whether they will use modern technology to implement it or rely on outdated techniques. If you’re interested in joining the marketing experts who are implementing direct mail automation tools, get a free postalotics account and start testing!