Email marketing is still a vital and valuable mortgage marketing channel for loan officers. Though some things have changed, using it successfully is all about knowing how to do email marketing well. Here are some email marketing tips and best practices for loan officers.
The Email Marketing Cycle
13 years ago it was still a struggle to get loan officers and borrowers to use email. Then it really took off. Email brought a lot of efficiency and productivity to the mortgage lending industry. Of course, like everything else from direct mail to cold calling, Facebook and real estate in general, email marketing has gone through its own cycle too. Consumers got slammed with spam, tuned out and just became overwhelmed with messages. This created a correction which filtered out a lot of the junk. Gmail created new inbox tabs, new regulations chased the scammers, and many started chasing other communication channels.
Now we have a little cleaner landscape in which mortgage loan officers, brokers and lenders can stand out with good email marketing.
It’s true that social, apps and Super Bowl ads may be trendy. Yet, email marketing is still an indispensible channel to be in the mix of all serious mortgage marketers.
There are still millions of individuals who aren’t using Facebook or Snapchat, and certainly not on a daily basis. In the new mobile world we are living in with a never ending stream of new iPhone releases, people are changing phone numbers fast or may be unreachable. That’s if they even still answer the phone. Do your research and you’ll likely find that many of your best prospects for new loan originations might not only be strong email users, but respond best to emails too. These are professionals that are earning money, have stronger credit scores, and are easy to get targeted messages to at times when they can take action.
7 Ways to Use Email Marketing for Mortgages
1. Email Newsletters
Send regular email newsletters to stay at the top of your prospects and clients minds. Make sure they choose you when they or someone they know has a funding need.
2. Get People Back to Your Mortgage Blog & Website
Keep people coming back to your blog and mortgage website for more opportunities to sell by sending out clips to your newest content.
3. Bump Up Your Social Reach
Send out emails inviting contacts to connect with you across your social media channels so that you have multiple mediums to contact them through and won’t lose the lead, even if they change email addresses.
4. Market Updates
Regular email market updates demonstrate your value, help boost your brand as an authority and go-to resource, and keep prospects engaged.
5. New Product & Opportunity Announcements
Use email to alert consumers to new loan products and features as well as timely opportunities to refinance or obtain home equity lines of credit.
6. Customer Loyalty Initiatives
Once you gain a client and the potential of their lifetime business you don’t want to lose that. Email is a great medium for keeping in touch, offering discounts for referrals and sending birthday and anniversary messages. These may seem like small frivolous things, but if you are the only one who remembered to send a birthday greeting you can bet you’ll earn some serious loyalty.
7. Set Up Consultations & In-Person Appointments
Use emails to offer annual mortgage planning consultations and appointments so that you can get face to face, prove your are invaluable, and close more deals.
Forward thinking modern mortgage marketers and entrepreneurs can even use email to promote other products and services to diversify revenue and income streams and generate much higher per customer profits.
Automate Your Email Marketing & Close More Loans
Best Practices for Email Marketing Success
Email Frequency: Focus on value and consistency versus volume
Personalization: Customize each message so they feel it was made just for them
Length: Give enough information for them to take action, while enticing them to click through
Timing: Time delivery of your emails for when recipients will have time to read and react to them
Automate: Automate your email marketing so you can get on with actually closing new loans
GDPR: These new European regulations have been giving bloggers a lot of fuel to whip up the marketing world into a frenzy. Easy fixes to avoid issues include blocking your website from use in the EU and using a third party email service provider who is on top of this, as well as updating your privacy policies and data collection practices.
Summary
Mortgage email marketing is still a relevant and vital channel for professionals and companies who are serious about winning new business and maintaining their customer bases. There are many ways to use emails for these goals. Done right, mortgage lenders may find email has returned to being one of their best performing channels. We hope you’ve enjoyed these email marketing tips for loan officers.
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