If you've tried using Google Ads to generate mortgage leads from your own website then you have probably already realised that getting someone to find your ad and click on it is relatively straightforward.
The hard part is getting the people who click on your ads and visit your website to submit an enquiry form.
The days when you could just send people to a mediocre home page and expect them to turn into leads are long gone. People today are far more web-savvy and far more wary about inputting their personal details into just any old website.
So, if you're serious about generating high quality mortgage leads you need to send people to a landing page that has been carefully designed and optimised to encourage as many people as possible to take the desired action - namely to fill in an enquiry form or pick up the phone and call you.
Mortgage lead landing page templates
Over the years, I've developed a number of different templates that I use with my private clients to ensure they get the best possible results from their Google Ads campaigns.
All of these templates are subtly different from each other and different ones work better for some clients than others, depending on what niche they are targeting and what their particular offering is.
However, they all have a number of things in common and so, in this article, I want to share with you some of the most important ingredients that go together to create a successful mortgage leads landing page.
How to design a mortgage broker landing page
If you want to have the best chance of generating as many high quality mortgage leads as possible and getting the best return on your ad spend, here are eight steps you should take.
Remove the menu bar
This might sound odd, but I've conducted many tests where I've found that removing the top navigation menu from a Google Ads landing page increases the number of mortgage leads generated.
The reason this works is because, if you've designed it properly, all the information a potential client needs in order to decide they want to talk to you will be contained on your landing page. That means they don't need to go exploring other parts of your website. And so, by getting rid of the menu, you're keeping the visitor focused on the landing page content and your calls to action (see below) and removing a source of distractions.
Do make sure you keep your logo at the top of the page, though, and also your phone number.
Include a value proposition
The main headline on the page needs to be a powerful value proposition that sums up what you offer and what benefits someone gets from being your client. Here's an example from a national mortgage broker's website. It makes it clear that they're a mortgage broker and it gives a strong reason (save £290 per month) to speak to them.
You can see more examples of good and bad mortgage broker value propositions in this video over on our YouTube channel.
Use clear CTAs
It's important that you make it really obvious what you want a visitor to your page to do next - typically to request a quote, book an appointment, or request a callback. The way to do this is to have a prominent call-to-action (CTA) and repeat the CTA at various points throughout your landing page.
Typically I'd put a CTA in the header section just below the value proposition and then further CTAs at the end of each main section of the landing page.
Here are some examples of CTA buttons from mortgage broker landing pages. Notice how they all use bold colours to make them really stand out on the page.
Make your enquiry form easy to use
Somewhere on your landing page you will need an enquiry form. This can either be embedded directly into the page, or you could set it so as it appears in a pop-up window when someone clicks your CTA button.
Whichever option you choose, keep the form simple. Don't ask more questions than are necessary and make sure all the questions are easy to answer.
Some of the most effective enquiry forms simply ask for the person's name, phone and email - like this example:
Notice as well how, at the top of the enquiry form, it makes it clear why someone should fill in the form and lets them know what will happen afterwards. These are factors which will help encourage someone to submit the form.
Later on, you can experiment by testing out what happens if you use a longer enquiry form.
Write effective landing page copy
The main text on your page is important in ensuring as many people as possible take action and submit a mortgage enquiry.
The key thing here is to make sure that your content resonates with your target audience by speaking to the pain points they have and making it clear that you are able to solve them.
A good technique is to use the PASO copywriting formula. PASO stands for:
- pain
- agitate
- solution
- opportunity
When using the PASO formula, you first of all talk about the client's pain points (the problem they have), then you agitate those pain points, and then you talk about how you have a solution to that pain, before offering the opportunity for someone to get your help.
For example, if you were creating a landing page aimed at first time buyers, you might start off by talking about the fact that buying your first home and navigating the huge choice of mortgages available can be complicated and confusing. That's the pain.
Then you could agitate that by highlighting the fact that if you try to find the right mortgage on your own it can take a lot of time and effort. Plus you might make the wrong choice and get stuck with a bad deal that leaves you paying more than you need to for the next few years.
Only then would you move on to talking about yourself and your business. You can say that fortunately there is a solution to these problems which is to talk to a mortgage broker like you who has access to thousands of different mortgage deals including ones you won't fond on the high street, and who knows how to find the best one for your unique situation. This is the solution part.
And finally you move to the opportunity, where you might say something like "To find out which mortgages you qualify for, pick up the phone or fill in our enquiry form."
Add social proof
The more you can do to reassure visitors to your landing page that you know what you're dong, the more likely they are to make contact with you.
One of the best ways to provide this reassurance is by adding social proof to your page. This can take the form of testimonials or, better still, a list of reviews pulled in from an independent review site such as Google, Feefo or Trustpilot.
If you have a WordPress website then there are various plugins which will pull your reviews from these external sites automatically and display them on your page.
It's also a good idea to display the Google/Trustpilot/Feefo logo showing how many stars you've got - like this:
Display lender logos
If you're a small independent mortgage brokerage, the chances are you don't have a instantly recognisable brand. And most of the visitors to your landing page will never have heard of you.
One way to help overcome this lack of trust and familiarity is to include the logos of some of the main lenders you work with.
These logos for big names like HSBC, Halifax, NatWest, etc will be instantly recognisable to most people. And so you will achieve a degree of credibility by association.
Consider offering a lead magnet
Although this is not essential and you don't have to do it from day one, offering people a lead magnet can be a good way to capture the details of people who visit your landing page but who aren't quite ready to make an enquiry just yet.
If you offer them a free guide (the lead magnet) which they can download in return for giving their name and email then this gives you the chance to send them follow-up emails which will help get them to know, like and trust you so that, once they are ready to speak to a mortgage adviser, they are likely to come back to you rather than go searching on Google again.
If you want to know more about lead magnets and email marketing, have a look at this series of articles.
Landing pages for Google Ads
I've talked in this article about the importance of having a well-designed landing page if you're using Google Ads to generate mortgage leads.
And yes, that's really important because the cost per click on Google Ads can be quite high, so you want to be doing everything you can to convert as many of those clicks as possible into leads.
But all the above best practices are equally relevant if you're using other methods to drive traffic to your landing page - such as Facebook Ads, social media posts, or word of mouth.
Landing page changes that get more mortgage leads
I hope you've found this article useful. If you want to read a real-life case study where making some of the landing page changes I've talked about above led to one of my clients getting twice as many mortgage leads without increasing their ad spend, click here.
