How To Incorporate SMS Texting Into Your Mortgage Outreach

If you want to tap into the up-and-coming homebuyer market, you need to adapt your tactics. Not so very long ago, phone calls felt like a personalized, engaging way for your loan officers to reach out. Today, though, picking up the phone to call probably won’t get them very far. 

A survey from this year that polled more than 2,000 people ages 18–34 found that a quarter of respondents said they never pick up the phone to answer a call. 70% of all respondents said they much prefer a text message to a call.

Yes, that might mean your team needs to change tack. But incorporating text messaging into your mortgage marketing efforts can go a long way, helping you reach leads while lightening the load for your loan officers. 

Benefits of mortgage SMS marketing

With short message service (SMS) messaging — i.e., texting — you get a way to reach nearly everyone. Data shows that:

• 97% of U.S. adults have a mobile phone
• SMS campaigns have an average open rate of 98% (for reference, emails have an average open rate of 20%)
• 48% of people prefer to get communication from companies via text

That last point is particularly true for younger demographics. So as this new wave of homebuyers enters the scene, you want to be ready to deploy SMS texting as part of your mortgage outreach. 

If you’re wondering what this would look like for your mortgage lending operation, you’re in the right place. 

Ideas to get started

Part of the beauty of SMS texting over calls is that you can automate these messages. Once your team determines the best points in the process at which to text, you can set up SMS campaigns to automatically send messages at those times.

Here, it’s important to use a text marketing solution that includes a personalization feature. A text that says, “Sally, it was great to chat the other day. Do you have any questions about the mortgage options we discussed?” is a lot more effective than one without her name. Personalizing your automated texts helps them stand out and feel like a personal outreach, which in turn makes the lead more likely to engage with next steps. 

So, now that we know that we want to include their name and tailor the messaging to where they’re at in the borrowing process, let’s look at a few specific campaigns your team might want to deploy. 

Keep in mind that with each of these, the follow-up texts we’re suggesting assume that lead hasn’t reached out and engaged with next steps. If they have, make sure to turn off the automated texts so they don’t get information that could confuse them. 

Welcoming new leads

When you first get a lead’s contact information, you want to stay on their mind. If they turned over their phone number to you, their intent to borrow is probably pretty high. You want to strike while the iron’s hot.

As a result, you might send a few welcome texts. Here’s a sample of what they could look like:

• Immediately after getting their number: “Hi, [NAME], it’s [LOAN OFFICER] from [COMPANY]. I’m glad we connected! If you have any questions about your [MORTGAGE or REFINANCE] options, feel free to text me anytime.”
• Follow up in a few days: “Hi, [NAME], it’s [LOAN OFFICER] with [COMPANY]. Just checking in to see if there’s anything I can do to help with your [MORTGAGE or REFINANCE] exploration. Let me know!”
• Follow up in a week: “Hey, [NAME], [LOAN OFFICER] here. I haven’t heard back from you about your [MORTGAGE or REFINANCE]. Are you still interested in learning more?”

Moving the application process forward

Once someone applies for a loan product from your company, SMS texting gives your team a way to provide a personalized touch and keep them in the loop, all without creating extra work.

You might set up a campaign that triggers automatic text updates at certain points in the application process, like:

• When their application is first submitted: “Hi, [NAME], thanks so much for submitting your loan application! Our team is reviewing it. You should hear back from us in [NUMBER OF BUSINESS DAYS] about our next steps. Please stay tuned!”
• If you need additional documentation: “Hey, [NAME], we’re working on your application but it looks like we still need [MISSING DOCUMENT]. Could you send that over to me when you get the chance? So you have it handy, my email is [EMAIL ADDRESS].”
• When you need signatures: “Hi, [NAME], great news! We’re ready to approve your application. I emailed you the documents that need your signature. Will you take a look and let me know if you have any questions? Thanks!”

Rewarming cold leads

If a lead has sat dormant for a few weeks, you can use SMS text marketing to potentially bring them back to the table. You might send periodic texts like,

• “Hi, [NAME], it’s [LOAN OFFICER] with [COMPANY]. We haven’t chatted in a while. Are there any [MORTGAGE or REFINANCE] questions I can answer for you?”
• “Hi, [NAME], it’s [LOAN OFFICER] with [COMPANY]. I wanted to let you know that the Federal Reserve announced rate cuts today. To see how that could impact your borrowing scenario, just text me back and we can chat.”
• “Hey, [NAME], are you still looking into [MORTGAGE or REFINANCE] lending? If I can help you find out your credit score so you know what’s available to you, let me know!”

Collecting feedback 

SMS marketing can also be a tool your team leverages to improve its service, including its texting. You might send texts soliciting feedback, like:

• “Hi, [NAME]. I’m [MARKETING STAFFER’S NAME] and I work with the team at [COMPANY]. I wanted to reach out and see how your experience has been with us. Is there anything we could do better?”
• “Hi, [NAME]. How could [COMPANY] improve to better serve you? Text us back if you have a minute. We value your feedback!”

Of course, if you do send texts, you need to make sure the responses from leads get routed to your loan officers, captured in your CRM, and followed up on promptly. We can help with all of that. To learn about how AI-powered SMS marketing can help you do all of the above with very little lift from your team, schedule a demo with us today. 

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