By Raymond Schwartz III, Over the past year we have generated well over 300,000+ refi and purchase leads. We test every single campaign like a science experiment. Below is a cheat sheet of the ad campaign structure and technology that has produced well over $1 billion in loans in the last 6 months. (It could be much more…only a handful of enterprise partners report closings.)
Now you may be asking yourself…”Why would you just show me the blueprint to generating loans on auto-pilot?”
The reason is fairly simple…My new software platform will do it all for you for the price of a nice steak dinner with your significant other. Arlo is being used by over 400+ brokers over the last 3 months.
So whether you want to use our software to deploy this strategy or not, it is still integral in this era of digital disruption to understand the fundamentals of an automated direct to consumer advertising campaign.
#1 Facebook Square Video Ad
Video is king. 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook every day.
After testing image ads vs. video ads with over $50,000 in a one month period, we witnessed our cost per lead (w/ soft credit pull) drop from $48.54 to $9.87 in the Southern California market.
For every ad campaign, we test over 2500 different combinations of:
- Text
- Video
- Headline
- Description
- CTA Button Text
We have built a portfolio of over 1,000 creative videos that we cycle in and out when certain ads go stale.
If this sounds like a lot of work to reproduce…it is…
Fortunately, we made it easy for anyone to launch video ads.
Learn More about Arlo Ads.
#2 On-Demand Offer
After the dynamic videos grab your prospect’s attention, it is the copy and offer that gets them to click and engage with the ad.
The large majority of mortgage ads all look the same.
They promise an on-demand experience only to take you to a BS thank you page telling you someone will call you back (more on this in #3).
Consumers expect an on-demand experience…so we deliver it to them in the form of an instant pre-qualification, free refi and home valuation report.
By providing the consumer with up front value that does not require a phone call, we have seen a huge bump in customer satisfaction.
The more consumers like the ad, the more they share it. The more they share, the more free leads you receive.
#3 Mobile First, Intelligent Landing Pages.
Which form do you think converts at a higher rate?
A form with 20+ self-reported questions or one that only requires 3-5?
My 3 year old daughter even knows the answer to that question…yet the majority of MLOs use industry form builders that use 10 year old tech.
Here is the breakdown of the one page we used to generate 1,500+ refi leads EVERYDAY.
- Enter Your Address
- Enter Your Name
- Enter a valid phone #
These are the only fields we need to generate:
- FICO Credit Score Range
- Credit Report Summary
- Home Valuation
- Current LTV
- Estimated Rate.
- Loan Type.
- Lender Name.
- Equity Position.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Liens on the property.
- Homeowner verification.
- Date of Birth.
- Current Assessment.
- 20+ Property Details
50+ individual data points and growing (we are even working on digital income and asset verification).
Less form fields. More Data. Higher Conversion = 💰More Loans.
Upon completion of the short form, Arlo instantly delivers a custom refi calculator and home valuation report.
No waiting. No avoiding calls.
By giving the consumer an on-demand calculation we have seen 54.8% scheduling a meeting with ZERO follow up.
#4 Qualified Lead Engagement
The fortune is in the follow up.
Did you know that you have a 500% better chance of closing a deal if you engage the lead within the first 5 minutes? Did you know, 72% of real estate and mortgage leads do business with the first person that contacts them?
Once a qualified lead comes in, we make sure to hit them with a well timed cadence of:
- Text Messages (Audio, SMS, MMS)
- Facebook Messages
- Emails
- Ringless Voicemails
- Direct Dials
The key here is to make the messaging seem as “handwritten” as possible.
Most mortgage companies follow up with robotic, canned messages that feel like they were written for a corporate brochure.
Keep them simple:
Hi {fname}! I have your info and have some really good news about your refinancing request. Have time to talk today?
#5 24/7 Audience & Ad Optimization
The key to sustained profitable advertising is to provide Facebook’s algorithm with the proper data so that your ads will be placed in front of the best potential customers.
Most marketers (even the gurus) are doing it all wrong.
They send every single prospect to the same tracking event.
Facebook’s algorithm has no way to differentiate a bad credit lead from one that has good credit and checks all the boxes.
Our software sends all of the proper data back to Facebook so that it’s algorithm can keep optimizing and finding the best borrowers before your competition.
I used to have a team of 5 media buyers who would optimize campaigns all day.
- Rotate stale creative.
- Update Audiences.
- Test & Optimize different ad variations.
- Optimize across different ad channels.
Arlo integrates with Facebook to optimize campaigns every single day, in real-time with ZERO human interaction.
So you have 2 options…
- Take this blueprint and do it yourself. It will take a lot of time, effort and money not only to launch, but to maintain. We are also constantly adapting this blueprint every month. All those changes we apply to our software so every Arlo user can benefit from new campaigns and updates with 1 click.
- Hire Arlo. It takes minutes to set up. Then it takes just 60 seconds for you to launch the full enterprise-level campaign we described above.
We are even launching a new lead concierge service that will dial everyone of your leads for you…10 times over 5 days to book a call or live transfer a lead who is qualified and ready to apply.
…Plus a new feature we call the Listing Accelerator which will allow you to partner with realtors, fill out a short form and launch ads for all of their listings.
