Expert explains how and why mortgage professionals need to use text messages in their engagement efforts
Digital marketing gurus and sales experts will tell any mortgage professional the same thing these days: if you want to grow, meet your customers where they are. While the mortgage industry currently does a great job accessing clients via emails and phone calls, it’s missing the medium that most customers want to see used and that meets them exactly where they are: text messages.
At a webinar tomorrow, digital engagement experts from SMS marketing platform Podium will explain why and how mortgage professionals should be using text messages to engage their clients and prospects. They’ll share the do’s and don’ts of SMS marketing while highlighting some of the effective strategies that mortgage pros can use to integrate SMS marketing into their existing engagement efforts.
“One of the best ways to engage with customers is by making it easy and convenient for them to engage with you,” said Hayley Sonntag (pictured), senior marketing specialist at Podium and one of the webinar presenters. “One of the best ways to take away that friction and those barriers that are stopping customers from engaging is through texting and SMS messaging. That’s the number one preferred mode of communication with businesses among customers and it’s one of those channels that seems to be lacking more than others.”
Sonntag and her colleagues at Podium aren’t advocating for an SMS-only strategy, but they see SMS marketing as a weaker pillar than most companies’ email and phone marketing. It’s an area that the mortgage industry hasn’t begun to tap into at scale yet because of how document-driven this industry is, lending most formal communications to go via email, while points of connection happen over the phone. Email, though, lacks the instant engagement and response of a text. In addition, Sonntag noted that given the sheer volume of time customers spend on their phones, text messages are a means of accessing a customer exactly where they are, provided the content of the message is solid.
Content is key to using SMS marketing as mortgage pros need to appear friendly, engaging and interpersonal without losing a sense of professionalism. Sonntag’s approach is to use conversational language and fully talk with your customers via text. While correct spelling and grammar are key to maintaining professionalism, she said that throwing in an emoji here and there can keep things lighter and help set the right tone. While your messages need to inform the client or prospect, they’re most effective when they come with a call to action, a link to click or a number to text back so the client can immediately engage with your message.
While Podium offers a premium SMS marketing program, Sonntag explained that mortgage pros can access a free version via the company’s website, if the webinar appeals and the trial works well, a mortgage professional can upgrade their SMS marketing efforts from there. Podium, she explained, can be used to seamlessly integrate SMS messaging within mortgage professionals’ other communication efforts. At the webinar itself, Sonntag will lay out how mortgage pros can use Podium for SMS marketing, but she’ll focus as well on why they should look to text messages to turbocharge their engagement.
“It’s about making the journey convenient for your customer, making it easy for them and meeting them where they are,” Sonntag said. “You want to open these easy channels of communication for customers that are so necessary in today’s convenience economy.”
To hear more from Sonntag and the Podium team, sign up for the webinar here.
