Website and landing page lead conversion start with a great design that provides several CTAs to increase the chances of turning more website traffic into high-quality leads. 

Many mortgage companies are running Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or are responsible for converting leads from sites like BrownBag or NerdWallet. Your unique landing page should provide a clear CTA that makes it very easy for a website visitor to become a lead.

We will dive into landing page designs from LendingTree, Bankrate, Sofi, and BankingBridge. The annual combined ad spend budget for LendingTree and Bankrate is over $100M but each uses the same lead conversion landing page workflow. The goal of any small to mid-sized lender, who might only have a $5,000-$50,000 monthly budget, is to learn from the industry giants and apply those fundamentals to their initiatives. There are similarities in each design which is a takeaway from this review.  We believe that if companies like LendingTree and Bankrate, who have invested $100M+ in annual ad spend, are using this type of landing page design then it should be a consideration for any mortgage company. 

In our examples LendingTree, Bankrate, and Sofi are running paid search ads and the keywords we have chosen is “mortgage rates”, “mortgage rates in florida”, or “todays mortgage rates”. 

LendingTree

The LendingTree landing page is designed to keep the user moving through the lead workflow questionnaire. The landing page does not allow the user to navigate to other pages of the LendingTree website. The benefits to LendingTree of using a workflow questionnaire vs a contact form is that it requires the user to invest 45-60 seconds of their time which increases the chances of a higher quality lead. Although a traditional website form might convert more leads because it has less friction, it will increase the number of spam submission. The digital marketing executive has to walk a line between number of overall mortgage leads and quality of those leads.  Based on how LendingTree, Bankrate, and Sofi utilize the lead workflow it seems to be the best way to ensure quality and quantity of mortgage leads. 

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Bankrate

The Bankrate landing page design also utilizes the lead workflow questionnaire. The page does not allow the user to access the full Bankrate website which is shown to improve mortgage lead conversion. One interesting feature Bankrate has included is the “Lock Rate” clock countdown ticker at the bottom right corner of the page. This provides a sense of urgency. The design also includes a “Bankrate average rate” at the bottom left of the page. This allows the user to see that Bankrate rates are lower than the national average also building value to the user.  

These little improvements to mortgage landing page’s are what increase your lead conversion opportunities. Bankrate has taken a lead workflow questionnaire and enhanced the landing page to meet more of their users demands. Those user demands include competitive rates below the national average and when can I lock in my rate. 

Sofi Mortgage

The Sofi mortgage landing page has a great design but they utilize a contact form when the user clicks “View More Rates” button. We always recommend trying to deliver on whatever call to action you have setup in the page. If the call to action buttons says “View More Rates” then when the user clicks the button they should be able to actual view more rates or receive a custom rate offer in the website. The contact form is not a great user experience in this case and probably has a below average conversion rate or produces a lot of junk or spam mortgage leads for the Sofi team. 

Sofi does include content around flexible loan terms and minimal down payment which should match the actual Google Ad they are running. If your Google Ad campaign is focused on First Time Homebuyers then the landing page from that add should include content around First Time Homebuyer loan options which will improve lead conversion. 

The value proposition they also include in this page is the ability of the lead to receive a portion of the real estate commission back. When designing your landing page offer a similar value proposition or include something similar to Bankrate with “below national average rates”. Every little tweak will improve your ability to take a website visitor into a high quality lead for your mortgage team!

 Take a look at our full video review below!

Landing Page Conversion Tips

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