Understanding Mortgage Leads
Mortgage is a term used to commonly define a loan or borrowing, of any category. Mortgage leads are ways and means of marketing mortgage product by way of locating an individual buyer, who intends to take up a mortgage for a home, business venture or any other specific purpose. Basically they function as marketing channels for mortgage products. Brokers dealing in mortgage products use these leads and they basically try to identify the best possible match between the customer’s requirements with the available options. These days, with the ever-increasing trend of ecommerce, a large number of such mortgage leads are found on the Internet.
The different categories of mortgage leads available in the market.
Incentive linked Mortgage Leads –
Data around this category of mortgage leads are typically collected by way of promotional surveys, mass discount offers and product introductory campaigns. The general public is requested to fill out a few basic pieces of information (personal and/or financial) in return for some or other form of incentive. The information collected via these campaigns is thereafter consolidated in a more useful form i.e. in a manner they can be utilized for mortgages. Another important form of incentivized leads could be online surveys, whereby people are encouraged to take up surveys on the Internet.
Auto responder Leads –
Auto responder as a process works by way of bulk emails sent through an automated server request or schedule, whereby standard, predefined mails are sent out to a large number of individuals seeking particular mortgage information. These mails are generally in form of standard questionnaires and the recipient needs to simply answer YES or NO to the relevant questions. This is a very effective method of collating useful, initial information with minimum manual intervention. Once the primary responses have been consolidated, it can be easily converted into specific mortgage leads.
Shared Mortgage Leads –
one or more mortgage broker purchases these leads simultaneously. Usually such leads are cheaper in comparison with the exclusive leads. As far as conversion rate of shared leads is concerned, chances of these being converted are much higher and there is a stiff competition, which goes on between different brokers for eventually turning a shared mortgage lead into a sale.
After having discussed the principle mortgage lead types, let us elaborate on a few important terminologies linked with mortgage leads.
Common Terms
Conversion Rate –
This may be defined as the eventual rate of conversion of mortgage leads into final sale of the mortgage product. Depending on the various types of mortgage leads explained above, the conversion rate would vary from category to category. Conversion rate is the basic criteria to ascertain success percentage of mortgage marketing campaign and eventually goes a long way in determining the overall success of the sales plan. Depending on the respective conversion rates, a mortgage broker may determine which particular category of leads to buy and follow up.
Managing of mortgage leads –
This is a process whereby the data compilation and storage functionalities are taken care of, with a view to generate maximum possible return or benefits from the individual leads. Since this business revolves around handling and maintaining huge volumes of customer data, a robust lead management process is a basic pre-requisite for any operational mortgage lead broker to become profitable. Earlier, this used to be an extremely cumbersome process, but in recent days with the introduction of specialized software, managing of mortgage leads has become relatively simpler.
Lead Filters –
These are custom built software tools (or programs), built into lead management software and help mortgage brokers to determine and choose between the various categories of mortgage leads which they would intend to receive and work on.