1. Build Your Campaign Around Lead Generation

There’s only so much you can do with a letter or postcard. You have limited space to work with, so you have to limit your message and your goal. Within the mortgage industry, direct mail works best as a lead generator. This has been proven time and time again. So if you aim for more than leads, you’ll probably be disappointed. Your mortgage direct-mail strategy should be built around the concept of lead generation. It might take a few days, or even a few weeks, to turn an inquiry into an actual client. But that’s how the process works.

2. Make an Investment in Your List

This is where a lot of marketers make big (and costly) mistakes. If you send your direct mail piece to a bunch of random individuals, your response rates will be dismally low. Before you mail anything to anyone, you need to identify your target audience. Ask yourself this: Who is most likely to respond to this particular offer? Who is this product or service designed for? Where do these people live? The more detailed you can get, the better. Now present this profile to your list / data provider, and ask them to build a list around it. You’ll get better results from your mortgage direct mail if you invest in the list.

3. Numbers Speak Volumes – So Use Them!

Nothing you can say about your services can take the place of numbers. Numbers speak the loudest, and everything else is just puffery. After all, this is the mortgage industry we’re talking about. Specific numbers that convey benefits are the best ones to include with your mortgage direct mail campaign. Interest rates. Fees. Down payments. Monthly payments. These are the things your readers care about most. They don’t, however, care much about your mission statement or your “customer service philosophy.”

4. Experiment With Different Offers

If you get a 2% response rate on your mailing, and you repeat the same exact mailing, you’ll never get much higher than 2%. So that 2% response now becomes your baseline, or your “control.” Your next goal is to try and beat the control. Experiment with different headlines, mailing lists, numbers, offers, etc. See if you can get a higher response rate. You can always go back to the control if the response goes down. But it might go up — and you never know until you try.

Just limit your experimentation to one item at a time. Otherwise, you won’t know what contributed to the rise or fall in response rates. Mortgage direct mail is one of the easiest marketing methods to track. So track, test it, and strive for higher response rates.

5. Hire Direct Mail Professionals if Needed

There are people who make a living by helping companies like yours improve their direct mail response rates. There are even some writers that specialize in the mortgage industry. If you don’t have an internal marketing department, you should consider outsourcing the job to professional writers and designers. You’ll get more out of your mailings, in the long run. Here’s a list of copywriters you might want to start with.