It was only the middle of June we were seeing interest rates falling and mortgage applications on the rise. Yet, less than a week later, the market flipped and interest rates were on the rise with both refinance and purchase mortgage applications declining across the US.
While average interest rates on a 30-year mortgage had only crept up a tiny amount – 3.11% from 3.09% – the impact was evident. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) stated that refinance applications are down 2.8%, while new applications have dropped to 6.4%, the lowest since May 2020. This is also a result of the market index falling to 4% mid-July.
MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, Joel Kan, said “Limited inventory and higher prices are keeping some prospective homebuyers out of the market”. While George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com has observed that “Millions of buyers are eager and able to buy, if only they can find the right home at an affordable price”.
With such an unpredictable market and things literally changing direction in a matter of days, it’s more important than ever to nourish what client relationships you already have and make sure you’re not left with empty folders in your digital filing cabinet.
Below, we take a dive into how to optimize your relationships with your customers and provide the most value to them.
Nurture Customer Relationships with Personalization
Living in a digital world, many businesses think customer experience is just not what it used to be and that customers don’t care about receiving a certain standard of service as long as they get the product they’re looking for. However, this could not be further from the truth – over 80% of consumers are happy to pay for a better customer experience.
One incredibly simple approach you can implement to foster meaningful relationships with your clients and convert them into guaranteed revenue generators is personalization.
People love to feel special and noticed, not just another number on a spreadsheet. You may already know that email is still one of the most powerful communication tools in your kit, but did you know that this is a great place to provide a really personal service?
Sending highly relevant and personalized emails to your clients can make a huge difference between emails that get opened and emails that get moved straight to the trash, untouched. Email is direct, it allows you to be reactive and demonstrate how your brand is invested in your client’s individual needs, and it gives you the opportunity to build better relationships more quickly than with other channels.
However, we’re not expecting you to go through your client list one by one and start having conversations specific to each of their needs. This would be a highly ineffective use of your time and quite literally a full-time job for someone in the office as you wouldn’t have time to do anything else.
Although we’re talking about personalization, many automation tools include this as a feature. Simple things like inserting your customers’ names are a nice touch, but you can create entire sequences that will trigger upon a customer completing a certain action or that you can trigger by adding a customer to a specific mailing list. This means the client is getting emails only relevant to them. You’re not sending new purchase interest rates to your clients who are looking to refinance and you’re not sending refinance loan options to people looking to buy their first home.
With the power of automating reminders and emails, marketing automation lets you take a proactive approach to nurturing your customer relationships, without having to spend an arduous amount of time or effort.
Be Relevant and Be Social
You can’t build quality relationships if you don’t know who your customers are. Trust is such an important factor for borrowers and you need to take the time to listen and understand who your clients are, what they’re looking for, and how you can help them. The more you know about your consumer, the more relevant you become.
Use analytics tools on your website and social media platforms to gain a deeper insight into your demographic and build buyer personas. With the internet at the tips of everyones’ fingers, buyers do not care for push marketing anymore. People can search on Google and engage on social media until they find the right solution for their problem. Until then, any irrelevant information thrown their way will be ignored.
Data-driven marketing is the way forward, providing increased conversion and customer acquisition – 78% of consumers will not even consider a brand if there is no personalization. This is why social media is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for businesses to communicate with their customers. 67% of consumers have used social media for customer service, and with the ability to keep your connections updated instantly and provide quick responses, there is an opportunity to outdo your competitors who don’t do as well in the social game.
Don’t make the rookie mistake of having social media accounts just for the sake of building brand recognition and gaining followers. Use social media for what it was intended – socializing! Use your platforms to connect and engage with your clients and prospects – start a conversation and provide outstanding customer service.
Client Retention is Cheaper than Client Acquisition
Not only does it suit the current climate of the mortgage industry, but generally in business, it costs a lot less to retain a customer than it does to acquire a new one – five times less, so aim to retain!
Many businesses have extensive marketing strategies documented and when something slows down, they have the next campaign lined up, yet few have retention plans in place to ensure customers are not just coming through the doors and falling out the back of the building. A 5% increase in customer retention can actually result in profits of up to 95%, so why is this road so often left abandoned?
Building trust with your customers and providing a positive and personal experience, as outlined in this post, should help you to really build solid relationships and gain high status with your client base. This could actually build your passive client acquisition channel through word of mouth, so it’s well worth the effort. In fact, you have a 60-70% chance of selling a product or service to an existing customer, as opposed to a 5-20% chance for new prospects.
Ensure you know your customers inside and out and use analytics to be aware of any changes in your users. No one should know your audience better than you and no one should know how to delight them more than you. If your competitors understand your audience more than you and have the ability to nurture the relationship to a higher standard, you’re on a one-way street to losing customers. Stay ahead of the rest by following the tips outlined above and grow customer loyalty.
How do you maintain quality customer relationships? Join the discussion below.
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