With 25% of home buyers first finding their lender online, according to Zillow Group’s Consumer Housing Trends Report 2021, having a strong digital presence is key to growing your business. Whether you’re a seasoned pro when it comes to online lead generation, or you’re getting your feet wet for the first time, creating an action plan will help you achieve your goals and see long-term business success.

We narrowed down the tactics that we recommend you implement now to effectively transform your leads from initial contacts into successful closings.

1 – Respond quickly

The internet makes it easy for consumers to shop around for home financing information. Standing out through great customer service can give you a leg up compared to competing lending institutions. An important component of great service is providing a timely response once a consumer reaches out. Don’t make them wait too long, or you may miss your window of opportunity to connect, which could leave them with a negative first impression.

Did you know?

• The odds of qualifying a lead* if called within ten minutes of the initial lead contact versus five minutes decreases by 400%.

Best Practice: Reach out to new leads within the first five minutes whenever possible. This will give you a better chance of connecting with the consumer since the odds of them still being online or around their phone is high. If you can’t immediately connect via phone call, consider following up with a text message. 89% of consumers prefer to communicate with a business over text anyways, and as consumers are constantly on the go – you may find yourself having success reaching prospects through this channel compared to a phone call or email.

2 – Follow up, and follow up again

It’s easy for a consumer to forget you, especially if you’ve only made one attempt to reach out. If your initial response to their inquiry was unsuccessful, try calling again a few hours later. Perhaps the potential customer was on their lunch break when they submitted the request but had returned to work when you called and were not able to answer anymore. Reaching out multiple times in the first few weeks through a variety of channels raises your chances of connecting as well as keeps you top of mind for the potential customer.

Did you know?

• Most businesses find more success in their follow-up after 6-8 attempts to engage with their prospects.

Best Practice: Attempt contact at least six times in the first few weeks, focusing on getting in touch as quickly as possible. Many lenders who advertise with Zillow Group report a higher contact rate with at least 10 attempts over two weeks. Each attempt should include a call with a voicemail left, a follow-up email, and a follow-up text message. Utilize a CRM to schedule call and text reminders, and even consider setting up an automated welcome email to engage with your leads right away. Remember to keep all of your initial communications short, concise, and ask open-ended questions to encourage replies.

3 – Obtaining and responding to customer reviews

Customer reviews are one of the most important elements of having a strong online presence as well as building trust among your borrower network. Positive reviews can help you stand out among the competition, obtain more leads, earn trust, and build your online reputation. A recent survey found that 93% of consumers say that online reviews do impact their purchasing decisions. If your online lender profile has multiple past and current customers raving about their experience with you, prospects are more likely to reach out to you for home financing information.

Did you know?

• 73% of prospective customers trust a business even more by reading positive customer reviews.

Best Practice: As home buyers continue to go online to research home financing options, building out the customer review section of your Zillow lender profile is a must to see business success. By reaching out to both current and past customers, responding to ALL reviews, and promoting them in your communications, you will show prospective borrowers the exact experience they will receive if they decide to work with you.

4 – Build a long-term pipeline

While you should be able to reach approximately half of the contacts you receive, you may not connect with all of them right away. Building a pipeline of high intent prospects and continuing to reach out often can result in future business for you. The key is to keep your name top of mind and not let the consumer forget you. When the consumer is ready, they’ll remember your consistency and will be more likely to contact you over another lender.

Did you know?

• Using sales automation to keep the leads in your pipeline engaged can lead to a 30% increase in leads converted to close. Email is one channel where you can implement automation to grow your business with automated emails seeing a 70.5% higher open rate than standard marketing messages. Make sure your email content is helpful, relevant, industry-specific, and sent at the right time in the prospects’ lending cycle so they are more likely to respond.

Best Practice: Build out your marketing strategy so that your leads are “touched” 2-3 times a month through various channels. This will keep your business top of mind without overloading your leads with too much content. For better engagement, have a mix of personal touches, such as calls and texts, in addition to your email communications. Be sure to include a strong call to action, such as a request to schedule an initial call to discuss borrower options, to drive engagement. If you are active on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, invite your leads to connect with you on your business page. Dedicate time to your followers by posting unique and industry-relevant content.

Summary

By responding quickly to leads that come into your funnel, following up with non-responders, obtaining positive customer reviews, and continuously working at building a solid pipeline of high intent leads, you can better set your business up for long-term success.

Grow your purchase pipeline with high-intent borrowers who are specifically requesting home financing information. Contact us today.

*This article contains information obtained from third-party sources and is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as guarantees or warranties of any kind. Nor is it an endorsement of any third-party organization or service.