When people want to buy a house, they seek out a few specific things. There’s the ideal house and the preferred neighborhood, of course. But they also want to make sure they’re getting the best possible interest rate on the financing they need. 

That’s where mortgage rate subscription emails come in. You provide regular updates on the mortgage rate environment in the convenient delivery format that is their inbox. In turn, you stay top-of-mind for leads, opening up the door to future sales opportunities. In other words, you scratch their back and ideally, they’ll eventually scratch yours. 

If your lending institution isn’t using mortgage rate subscription automation yet, it’s definitely time to explore this powerful marketing tool. Especially since you can set it up and let it run automatically for you (more on that below). 

Enticing email signups

Most homebuyers know that even a small rate movement in the downward direction can save them thousands over the life of their loan. So they’re often willing to go out of their way to make that happen. That might even include giving you their email address. 

Specifically, if you promise to keep them updated on the current mortgage rate environment, prospective homebuyers will often sign up for communications with your company. And delivering on that promise can help you turn that one piece of contact information into a warm lead and, eventually, a customer. 

Making the high rate environment work for you

This time last year, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged at 6.29%. With today’s average rates at 7.39%, many would-be homebuyers are waiting for the right moment to buy. They might be kicking themselves that they didn’t strike while rates were lower last year. 

No one wants to be the person who locked themselves into a record-high interest rate. As a result, many people are waiting with bated breath for rates to come back down. A report from this summer revealed that two-thirds of Americans were waiting to buy because of high rates. 

As a lending institution, that’s not great news to hear. But you can leverage it to your advantage. 

Specifically, with mortgage rate subscription emails, you can help people who want to buy turn their waiting from passive to active. These emails give them a way to stay in-the-know about the latest rate activity. With emails on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis, they can keep themselves informed — without having to go out of their way to find that info themselves. 

And at the same time, these rate emails serve as a valuable marketing tool for your team. 

Adding value with each touch

To help your lending institution drive sales, you probably strongly encourage your sales team to have regular touches with the contacts in your database. In fact, studies have shown that it takes 6–8 marketing touches just to generate a viable lead. If you need that many just to warm up that lead, your team should be ready for dozens to turn that lead from a customer. 

There’s a fine line to walk here, though. You want to keep your lending offering in front of your contacts, of course. But you also don’t want to bug them. Popping into their inbox on a regular basis can make you annoying — and fast. 

At least, that’s the case if you’re just sending generic marketing messages. If you can regularly serve up something that adds value to their lives, though, it’s a whole different story. 

The frequency of changes in the rate environment help you out here. Because rates fluctuate so often, subscribers want you to provide regular updates. They might get annoyed if you send a promotional email every week. But because you have the opportunity to serve up new information with each mortgage rate subscription email that you send, people who’ve signed up for these emails welcome the regular ping from you. 

Powering up your rate subscription emails 

To help you get the most out of your mortgage rate subscription emails, we have a few tips: 

• Use the subject line to your advantage. Make it clear and informative. Try something like “[DATE] mortgage rates in [LOCATION]”. Keeping the subject line formatting the same for each email helps people get familiar with these emails coming from you. 
• Keep it simple. If people open an email expecting a rate update, they want to see one thing: the updated rate. Put it right up top and minimize what else you include in the email. Less is more in this case. 
• Make the location clear. Personalization gives you the opportunity to add value. There are plenty of companies offering rate subscription emails, including some of the biggest players in the game. You can one-up them, though, by tailoring the email to provide the lead with rates based on their location. 
• Provide clear next steps. Let’s say someone opens up your email and discovers the rate they’ve been waiting for. What’s next? Your email should make that easy. Give them a clear call to action, like a button they can click to have a loan officer get in touch. 

The easiest way to send mortgage rate subscription emails

At this point, you might be thinking: this all sounds good, but it also sounds like a lot of work. 

Actually, though, mortgage rate subscription emails could be one of the easiest-to-use marketing tools in your arsenal.

Here at BankingBridge, we can help you set up this option to go out automatically. Once someone signs up for your rate emails, they go into our system and they receive automated update emails at the cadence you choose. You don’t have to do any heavy lifting here, but you may see hefty returns. 

Take, for example, Farmers Bank of Kansas City. After deploying tools like our mortgage rate subscription emails, they saw a 3x increase in total lead conversion. As Monte Robbins, the bank’s President, explained, “We have seen a real payoff from the investment with BankingBridge! Once the consumer signs up for rate subscription emails, they are able to use all the tools inside of the BankingBridge system.” And, he adds, “We are able to view and measure the engagement from each consumer. Those engagements provide us with a true consumer buying signal.”

If you want to see what mortgage rate subscription emails can do for your lending institution, request a demo today. 

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