I've never seen an aggregator RBA email that has the attributes necessary for a conversion of some kind, or is designed in such a way that it adds serious value to the broker-client relationship. Because the RBA email is a necessary and expected email (sent on schedule and one that coincides with extensive news media) a mortgage broker has the capacity to covert off the tail end of the organic exercise. This article briefly touches on what you should be looking at including in your RBA communications, and how and why our RBA emails convert more than any other.

Once we implement our RBA email program I'll often have brokers tell us that they've never seen so many organic inquires, often citing that they have no idea where the business is coming from. We know exactly why a broker is now receiving email and phone calls. Aggregator emails are full or irrelevance; they include details on inflation, unemployment, clearance rates, and other information that is largely irrelevant. A mortgage client is interested in one thing and one thing only: will I see a cut, and how does the change impact upon my repayments? The broker should personalise the email and make it clear that they want to help their valued customers take advantage of any cash rate movement that may have taken place. Think of the RBA email as a "landing page for emails" - do not flood the email with distracting information.

Video Introduction

Our three-paragraph RBA emails have a clear purpose: a conversion (normally a health check or similar). The first paragraph introduces our mortgage client to the impact the rate change will have on their home loan, and introduces an expectation for contact, and the email should include a clear call-to-action (to have them call us, or the other way around). The second paragraph includes an extract from the Governor's statement with a link to the full transcript. The last paragraph will once again introduce a subtle call-to-action and other relevant information.

While the RBA email won't always be read by your mortgage client, simply receiving the fully-branded email contributes towards 'Perception Without Awareness' and the 'Exposure Effect' - both of which are introduced below. Simply sending the email contributes towards our omnipresence strategy; that is, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

What is Perception without Awareness (PWA)?

PWA is when a stimulus is present in the environment, strong enough that a person could perceive it if attention was drawn to it. The person does not necessary pay attention to the stimulus and may not remember it later if asked about it. However, the stimulus affects the person's behaviour, thought process and decisions. A client of yours may see an RBA email or newsletter in their inbox, a transient post on Facebook, or they may scroll past a tweet on Twitter. While they may not remember the interaction, it may impact upon their brand recall.

PWA is an extremely fascinating subject that forms the basis of subliminal advertising that is well outside the scope of this article. Introduced in our BeLearn module in more details, PWA is closely aligned with the concept of the Exposure Effect.

The Exposure Effect

The Exposure Effect is intrinsically connected to the principles of omnipresence. That is, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The more a client is exposed to us, the more they’ll grow to like us (even if they don’t know us). Clever use of the Exposure Effect is a means of escalating a client through our sales process simply by being in front of them.

Of course, too much of the Exposure Effect is akin to spam; there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain when it comes to this exercise (we address email frequency in BeLearn in great detail; we want to send communication frequent enough that we’re top of mind, but infrequent enough that we're not intrusive or annoying... and different segregated groups requires varying contact frequencies).

Relevance to Jupiter and Pluto

Jupiter and Pluto are two of our four relationship 'Gravity' programs (the other two primary programs being Saturn and the EDGE post-settlement system,). Despite providing the most sophisticated and persuasive social advertising programs in the market - such as our high-yield Facebook marketing - any single relationship program we offer will routinely return more than even large-budget paid promotions. The success of these programs, while not predicated upon integration with any PWA or exposure-based marketing, will certainly assist with its success.

The relevance of PWA and the Exposure Effect is that – while not always possible - we want to be in front of our client before we contact them (all the time, not just for the purpose of a once-off database exercise). This might be just an RBA email, newsletter, or a number of relevant posts on Facebook. Having us in a client's mind almost creates an expectation of contact... and may create a subconscious need for contact.

Of course, from a referral point-of-view, being top of mind is always important, and having all digital communication supplement by ongoing and relevant real-world and digital contact is both essential and key to an ongoing relationship, and our newsletter and other programs are designed to make this a simple task.

Before we engage with any Gravity module we'll ideally send out our first RBA email and a newsletter (both sent over a month, and both active emails rather than the passive 'aggregator-style' format). It’s far from mandatory but it does often create a discussion. Of course, both the RBA email and newsletters in isolation without any other measure of digital care will still generate organic inquires (we obviously provide a best-practice effort!).

Yabber Support

As part of our very broad SMS Text Messaging and email modules we include a standalone and purpose-built module to have the RBA communication manually or automatically sent. The system works as follows:

• Shortly after the RBA Board Meets and releases its statement we make a generic but best-practice email and text message available.
• If you have automated the system we simply send the appropriate messages to your defined list of contacts.
• If sending manually, you should log in, alter the message, and send as you would any standard email or text message campaign.

Full statistics are obviously made available as per any email sent via the email marketing module. The SMS module supports the 'STOP' message for any recipient that chooses not to receive your communications in the future. Of course, and as expected, the email carries an unsubscribe link although we recommend a redirect to an unsubscription resubscribe 'conversion' page.

  Pictured: The RBA Email and SMS Archive. Test data shown.

Not unlike email lists, Yabber supports segmented SMS lists. This provides the capacity to contact groups of contacts with the most relevant information; this might apply to loan types, bank, or product type.

We follow a strict adherence to best-practice and compliant conduct so we make all RBA communication available via a standalone archive. The default options with email (since we're integrated with Office 365) is to have your emails recorded in your 'Sent Items' folders, although you may disable this feature at any time.

Automation may be enabled or disabled via the 'Options' tab - we always suggest taking the 30-seconds necessary to manually review your email and/or text message and apply your own personal message.

Conclusion

In working in the finance industry for over 20 years (including founding one of the highest volume independent brokerages in Australia) Domenico and I have fully refined the secret sauce necessary for broker success. PWA, omnipresence, and careful exposure are all background 'relationship' programs necessary for success, but they're just one part of a broader strategy necessary for real success. An RBA email is already (or should be) part of your regimented communication program but must be leveraged to provide a clearly assigned purpose (lending itself to a tactical strategy around how you'll build on the contact).

It shouldn't need to be said, but if you have the internal resources to contact groups of clients on the basis of any rate change you should assign appropriate blocks of time to make the necessary phone calls. Human contact will always work better, and be more appreciated, than any digital service.

While the RBA Communication is a Best Interest Duty obligation, it's also a massive marketing and conversion opportunity. Don't waste it.