Imagine having a blunder so bad that a term was created for it. That’s what happened to Mark Sanchez of the Jets when he committed what many call the worst blunder in NFL history: The Butt Fumble.
In front of a crowd of 79,000 New Yorkers, and primetime T.V. viewers about of 20 million, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez ran straight into the rear end of his teammate, fumbled the ball, and lost it to Patriots’ Steve Gregory who then returned for a touchdown.
The question is, how can a professional football player with an excellent record make such a mistake?
And the answer is embarrassingly simple: he was distracted.
The blooper not only cost the Jets the game, but it’s also considered the lowest point in Jets history, and worse yet, Sanchez was now “The Butt” of jokes forever.
Distractions are serious and costly
Unchecked, distractions encourage mindless wandering, missed opportunities and cause delays in action.
And that’s precisely what happens to a visitor on a “distracting” mortgage website.
A distracting mortgage website makes it so your visitor misses your offer, your value, and your Call-To-Action.
Is your mortgage website leading visitors to convert into prospects — or is so distracting that it encourages them to look elsewhere for their mortgage needs?
Get More Mortgage Leads By Removing Distractions
Distractions are inversely related to your conversion rate. In other words, the more distractions you have on your website, the less conversion your site will experience.
Here’s how to reduce distractions and increase the mortgage leads from your website:
The Rule of One
The Rule of One is very simple — every page on your website should have one purpose. The impulse is to have many options to increase your chances of the consumer turning into a customer, but studies show the opposite is true! Too many choices actually distract and prevent the visitor from taking the ONE action you want — for the visitor to give you their contact information!
The infographic below helps to illustrate this further.
In the case study shown above, the New York Times aimed to discover how the number of choices affects sales. You’ll notice that while more people stopped to try the jam when they offered 24 choices in flavors, only 3% ended buying jam in the end.
Now compare that to the rate of conversion when people were offered only 6 different flavors. An impressive 30% purchased the jam after sampling it!
These numbers transfer over into the mortgage industry because it’s an innate consumer mindset. So if you want to see more mortgage leads on your website, have ONE goal action on every page!
All Roads Lead Back To You
While having in mind the one action that you want the visitor to take, make sure that the message is consistent throughout your site.
Keep your navigation minimal, and your menu clutter free. Some users prefer to do an in-depth search of websites as part of their decision-making process. For these users, have a “site map” at the bottom where they can access every page of your mortgage website.
Otherwise, keep your main navigational menu simple and user-friendly.
On the same note, make sure that wherever the visitor goes on your site, the Call-To-Action remains the same — contacting you!
Preferably by filling out your lead capture form or digital 1003.
Clean and Logical Design Flow
There’s a place for being avant-garde in design — and a mortgage website aimed at generating leads is not the place.
When a website looks and functions as a visitor expects, it reduces the “noise” and allows your visitor to focus your offer and Call-To-Action.
That doesn’t mean that your site needs to be boring. Branding and personalizing your mortgage site is a great way to make you recognizable. But, at the same time, there are gold standards that you want to follow on your mortgage site.
5 Things That Improve Your Mortgage Website Design Flow
- Elements should be where your visitors expect to find them — a menu at the top of the page, contact information at the top and bottom, a home button on every page.
- Similar color and design scheme throughout your site. Use the colors from your logo and implement the same typeface across all pages.
- Use words and phrases that the general public would understand. Limit industry lingo.
- All images should be relevant and appeal to your visitor — make it communicate something that your visitor desires. Think “emotional triggers”.
- Utilize white space as much as possible, especially around a Call-To-Action. Having a white space buffer around text not only makes your website clean and easier to read but having white space around your CTA creates a spotlight-effect
By minimizing distractions, your visitor will focus on engaging with your website, increasing the chances of them filling out your lead capture form, digital 1003, or calling your office.
Looking for an out-of-the-box mortgage website solution with all of those elements? Look at our template gallery and sign up for a FREE trial! 888-377-1265
