Look for Lead Providers Who Change the Message for the Environment
There is a lot of talk about how the mortgage market has changed. It is certainly obvious that home owners and new home buyers are in a different state of mind. Is your marketing spend and advertising budget reflecting this change?
The best mortgage lead providers are changing their messages to reflect a different market. Seth Godin discusses the right marketing behavior in his marketing in a recession post.
What does that mean for mortgage brokers, bankers, and loan officers?
In the hey-day of the mortgage refinance boom borrowers were generally in a high rate mortgage and were looking for opportunities to lower their payment. Consequently, marketing targeted at payment produced a well matched lead and a borrower conversation that was focused on their wants. The concepts were simple–lower my payment–and need little research or explanation.
Fast-forward to late 2007 and early 2008. Borrowers are concerned with the economy wondering if they are in a mortgage that will weather the storm without any payment surprises. New home buyers have heard all of the mortgage horror and wonder if they can even get a mortgage to buy a home. And everyone is in a heavy research mode trying to find simple explanations to all these foreign concepts–FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, conforming loan limits, economic stimulus, and many other to come.
Do your own research and make sure your marketing or your lead provider campaigns are helping your sales. Has the story changed?
Ensure they are helping to clear some of the confusion and fog with their marketing messages and are positioned correctly to capture those curious home buyers and potential refinance customer.
I am in complete agreement with everything Bill says. In the UK market we have experienced a similar phenomenon but ...
I am going to err on the side that some lead providers in happier times were sitting on bloated poor ...
Young Bill... Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not that coy. All positions we've picked up from suffering competitors ...
Thanks for the kind words, Bill. So far, we're seeing predictive modeling able to very effectively segment online ...
Bill
Good insight
I am surprised that some of these lenders have cut their affiliate pay outs, but continue to advertise online, ...
Comment by Justin Rees on 27 February 2008:
I am in complete agreement with everything Bill says. In the UK market we have experienced a similar phenomenon but with a slight time lag. Although LeadPoint is a lead exchange marketplace and we don’t generate any of our own leads we have to constantly balance the needs of both lead sellers and lead buyers.
Often lead sellers are not involved in the financial services industry; their aim is to get consumers to visit their sites and leave their information. But lead quality is paramount and lead sellers must make sure they concentrate on quality and the consumer experience. This means that they have to know what is going on in the market and understand what consumers really need.