Editors note: This feature originally appeared in theNovember issueof MReport.

Personalization in marketing campaigns mattersa lot. Delivering the right engagement, to the right person, at the right time, with the right message means marketers have to get a lot of things right.

When done correctly, marketing campaigns soar with success, and it makes the loan officers jobs a lot easier. When done generically, its not necessarily a failure, but the results are nothing to brag about, and much of the success of converting a prospect into a customer is based on the loan officers talents. When done wrong, the wheels completely fall off and its hard to recover with those prospects. In that case, many of the top-performing loan officers will begin to seek a new company to call home.

Great marketing is difficult for a variety of reasons and is a constant work in progress. Implementing personalized marketing automation campaigns at scale and across multiple platforms requires a lot of energy and focus given the amount of detail required, but it will pay dividends for years to come. The result can be an experience that is unique for each consumer. Personalized experiences make people feel like they are being marketed to by someone who knows them and cares about them as an individual.

People like doing business with those that care, are empathetic, confident, and treat them with respect. They dont appreciate being sold or feeling like they are just another number. But the care given doesnt start and end with the loan officer. Marketing plays a vital role in this relationship, more so than most realize. Many times, marketing can make or break a deal based on the level of personalization of campaigns. When marketers have the tools and data to create personalized engagements, and care about getting every detail right, that is when it all comes together seamlessly and harmoniously, and the consumer feels like they matter to the lender. On the other side of the coin, when marketers are sloppy and throw marketing campaigns together, consumers assume the lender doesnt care about them and will seek financing elsewhere.

Marketing Gone Wrong

Weve all seen mistakes in marketing, some small and others large. Consumers reject lenders who make mistakes in getting the marketing details right because its a reflection of what they can expect throughout the process where a mistake can be costly. Here are some examples that negatively impact a lenders conversion.

Email/Text Campaigns:

Outbound Dialing Campaigns:

Marketing Campaigns Gone Right

The best marketers have moved away from lead-based marketing and have deployed a more personalized, one-to-one engagement strategy called people-based marketing, using an omnichannel approach. In other words, the consumer is receiving an engagement message and cadence across multiple channels (phone, email, direct mail, sms, digital ads, etc) that is unique to them.

For example, when Mike Smith fills out an online inquiry, hell receive an immediate phone call with a voicemail left by a real person. Hi, Mike. This is Lauren at XYZ Mortgage, and I just received your inquiry about a mortgage. Its Tuesday at 1:40 p.m. and Im sorry to have missed you. Please call me back at your convenience. I look forward to helping you.

Then, a text message and an email are sent automatically, appearing to be personally written by Lauren. If Mike responds to the text, that is flagged as his preferred contact method moving forward. If Mike goes stale for a month and the marketer is informed by a third-party data vendor that Mike is back in the market for a mortgage, then the timing is right to re-engage. If the vendor indicates Mike is interested in a home equity loan, then future marketing messages are scheduled for home equity or cash-out, messaged to improve click-thru performance.

Lenders who use dialers often get excited to use the automated voicemail feature that will leave a pre-recorded message for all consumers at specific points in the funnel (e.g. all dial attempt five consumers will get the same voicemail). However, performance improves greatly when voicemails are genuine and unique. Let the loan officers leave a well-scripted first-dial voicemail that uses the consumers name along with referencing the time and day. For subsequent voicemail in the calling cadence, consider using the same pre-recorded voicemail that the loan officer recorded that morning referencing the day or date. Consumers will recall the first dial voicemail and assume subsequent voicemails were personalized as well.

Text messaging and emails should be coordinated with the call cadence and should be synchronized with one another and appear to be written by the loan officer personally. How do lenders know when theyve won at creating a winning text and email marketing campaign at scale? When the consumer sends a response that appears as if they are responding to the loan officer directlyHi, Lauren, happy Friday to you too. Thanks for texting about my mortgage. Im swamped and cant answer my phone now. Does tonight at 6:30 work? SUCCESS!

How to Leverage First- and Third-Party Data

Gaining a clear picture of your prospects through the use of third-party data will greatly improve your ability to personalize your marketing and increase win rates. When consumers submit a quote inquiry or complete a lead form, basic contact and loan scenario information is received. Name, address, phone, email, loan amount, property value, loan type, etc. can all be used in personalization. However, some data-as-a-service providers offer more information about the consumers you care about enabling you to create a high-quality people-based marketing strategy with far superior results. Knowing exactly when specific consumers are actively visiting mortgage comparison websites throughout their mortgage shopping journey would allow you to deliver timely one-to-one engagement, substantially improving the performance of those engagements.

Generic, lead-based marketing strategies have quickly lost momentum due to declining performance. By combining a lenders first-party data with third-party data from data-as-a-service providers, marketers can create better strategies and market to consumers as if they know them. Each engagement attempt a marketer attempts should be done in a thoughtful and meaningful way since each failed engagement attempt means a lower chance of successfully converting that consumer.

Link:
Mortgage Marketing With the Personal Touch - The MReport