7 Best Practices for Increasing Your Site Conversions

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One of the most valuable metrics to measure — sometimes even more important than web traffic — is conversion rate. Conversion rate is the measure of on-site visitors that turn into leads or prospects. In case of your lending business, we’re talking about mortgage leads.

 

So how does a site visitor become a lead? When a visitor lands on your website or landing page and then fills out your lead capture form, emails you, or calls your office, a successful conversion has occurred.

 

Increase Conversion Rate → Increase Leads → Increase in Revenue Potential

Increasing your mortgage website conversions is easier than you think and luckily, many of the tips contained in this article need only be once for you to see its effectiveness.

How to Boost Your Conversion Rate for Mortgage Leads

1. Be Clear About Your Value

One of the first items that your prospect should see on your site is what you do and your value. There are plenty of lenders out there, all competing for that person that is on your site right now. You have but a few seconds to capture their attention, convince them of your value, and its benefit to them.

Here’s one example:

In the example above, the message is “simplicity” and “ease” in refinancing. In just a few seconds, a visitor will know that this is a mortgage website, they do refinancing, and they make the process easy.

The visitor looking for an easier way to refinance or get a home loan will immediately know they’ve come to the right place and will want to stick around.

Which brings us to the next tip…

2. Be Clear About What Action You Want Them to Take

It might seem obvious to you that the visitor should contact you, but it’s not always obvious to the visitor that that is the next step to applying for a loan or getting more information.

Make it clear to the visitor that they should contact you telling them to contact you –and tell them several times, at different points in your website.

See this example:

In the website template above, the “Apply For A Loan” contact form makes it clear to the visitor that the next step is to contact the lender about their home loan needs.

The visitor also has the option of calling, emailing, and even clicking on the “Apply Now” or “Contact.” Overall, there are five options for the visitor to contact the lender on this homepage, making it clear what the visitor should do next.

As you remember, this article is about the “Best Practices,” and you may be wondering if asking for information so blatantly and so often is considered best practices.

It is!

The key is that you are asking for permission to contact the visitor. There is no deception nor is it forceful.

Rather, the various calls to action (or opportunities to convert) send the message of being accessible and eager to help them with the mortgage process

3. Make Your Contact Form Short

Don’t discourage your visitor by asking for too much information from them. Asking for too much too soon can come off as intrusive as well as frustrating. Remember that your visitor is likely still “shopping around” for a lender to work with — do you want to be known as the MLO who didn’t respect their time or privacy?

Of course not!

Instead, ask for the minimum. For mortgage sites, we recommend that contact forms ask for the following:

  • First and last name
  • A way to contact them such as a phone number or email
  • Loan type they are considering (Purchase or Refinance)
  • Loan Amount
  • Property Value
  • Estimated credit score

Hint: Use drop-down options in your form fields whenever possible. It helps to make to lead capture process even easier.

4. Increase the Website Load Time

A site load time at a reasonable 2-3 second time frame increases conversion by an indirect means –it reduces “bounce rate”.

In simple terms, bounce rate is the measure of visitors who click out, or bounce, off your site. If your site is slow to load, even by half a second, your prospect is more likely to bounce out of your site.

Speaking of mobile…

5. Have a Mobile Responsive Website

We’ve written about the importance of a responsive website in a previous post. It’s no secret that mobile devices have become an indispensable tool for nearly every American…so much so that it’s changing how Americans buy homes.

A responsive website automatically adjusts to the device, eliminating to pinch or zoom to see the site or fill-out lead capture forms.

This simple change has a powerful impact on a number of conversions. Data from this business showed that their conversions doubled after making the switch to a mobile responsive website!

Bonus: Websites designed for mobile also decreases bounce rate.

6. Include Testimonials, Reviews, and Endorsements

If you’ve been in the mortgage business for some time or have a background in sales, then you know that recommendations are a rich source of leads. You’re familiar with the transference of trust that “warms up” the lead when you’re recommended.

Similarly, visitors who read positive testimonials or reviews on your site are “warmed up” and more likely to convert.

Adding professional endorsements or affiliations further build credibility and trust, making it all the easier for the visitor to convert into a mortgage lead.

7. Include Visual Demonstrations or Samples

Visuals are multi-layered conversion cues. Images offer the visitor insight into what they’ll get from you as well as arouse urgency to convert. Here’s how to do it:

Use images of beautiful homes, happy couples in front of a house, and veterans with their families. Pictures like these incite a strong, positive emotion that encourages a visitor to take action on your site.

Add a headshot to your Profile and an image of your physical location on your About page, and you’ll build trust with your prospect.

Samples of low rates or special offers in an eye-catching font are tried-and-true marketing technique that triggers higher site conversion rates. Pair it with a clear call-to-action and you’ll soon notice a jump in your leads.

Are you missing any of these conversion elements on your website?

While web traffic is a major factor in measuring digital success, it’s not the only one. Even those websites with modest traffic can have amazing results if their conversion rate is healthy.

Use these tips as a starting point to increase your mortgage conversion rate. It may take some time to see results, but if you keep at it and make adjustments when needed, you’ll be rewarded with a filled pipeline of mortgage leads.

See more examples of mortgage websites optimized for conversion and lead generation.

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