Financial Lead Generation 101: Financial Leads That Can Bring You Profits

Financial leads are crazy expensive, with the average cost hovering around $555 for organic leads and $761 for paid leads. Whether you are buying financial leads or generating them from earned media, every missed lead gen and sales opportunity makes a dent in your wallet and deprives you of the confidence you need to navigate the finance market.

Even though you can’t turn every stranger into a financial lead into a loyal customer, there’s a way to improve your lead gen dramatically, acquiring and converting leads at scale with no extra effort.

Follow our all-encompassing guide on financial lead generation.

What Are Financial Leads in the First Place?

Financial leads are no different from leads from other industries: these are customers who have shown interest in financial products by registering on a website, filling out a form, making a call, clicking on an ad, etc.

Like any other leads, financial leads can be qualified by your marketing criteria – marketing qualified leads (MQLs) – or your sales criteria – sales qualified leads (SQLs). Qualified financial leads are close to making a purchase, but they still inherit properties of non-qualified leads and abide by the same marketing laws.

Why Are Financial Leads So Expensive?

Even though financial leads are nothing out of the ordinary from the marketing perspective, they are expensive for a reason:

• Compliance costs: The finance industry is quite compliance-burdened and therefore resource-demanding. Spending more resources on generating financial leads within the legal framework, marketers lift their price tags.
• Higher requirements to trust: Whether a lead is looking for a loan, taking out a mortgage, or searching for investment opportunities, they are only likely to commit if they trust the service provider. It takes time and money to win that trust before you can generate financial leads that convert. As a result, the price goes up.
• Higher complexity: Financial products require detailed explanations, accurate risk assessment, and full disclosure. Companies spend extra money to educate financial leads until they grasp all the ins and outs of the product and can make informed decisions.

Financial lead generation is challenging all around, with high customer expectations and even higher standards for lead generation companies. Moreover, financial markets can turn on a dime, rendering inert players unprofitable overnight.

Here are the average CPL rates by industry, with finance being one of the four most expensive industries:

Source: FirstPageSage

Among All Financial Leads, What Leads To Choose?

Finance lead generation is versatile, with myriads of financial products to capitalize on. From banking to mortgage to equity to retirement planning, the world’s your oyster – you can tap into any market, big or small.

Below are some major financial lead generation paths to consider:

1. Business Loan Leads

Even though the demand for commercial and industrial loans is somehow weakening in the United States, business loan leads – businesses taking a loan for development, scaling, expansion, etc. – are still top of mind for anyone willing to conquer the finance industry.

Whether big or small business loan leads, they usually bring higher revenues than, say, personal loans and thus must be nurtured with even more care and precision. Business loan leads are prone to long-lasting relationships and bear a high potential for upsells.

2. Mortgage Leads

With mortgages being the second most common source of debt after credit card bills, mortgage leads are potentially one of the most profitable finance leads to hunt for.

Whether buying mortgage leads or generating them on your own, it’s essential to consider the emotional involvement of your leads and their stage in the sales funnel. For example, some may only be comparing mortgage products, others may seek refinancing, etc.

Here are some types of mortgage leads you might be interested in:

• Reverse mortgage leads – leads looking for a reverse mortgage loan (a loan that you don’t have to pay back as long as you live in the house)
• Mortgage protection leads – leads looking for mortgage protection insurance (the policy that safeguards the lender if the borrower defaults on payments)
• Refinance leads – leads looking to lower interest rates on their mortgage or other types of refinancing

Likewise, mortgage leads can be exclusive or shared. Exclusive mortgage leads are sold to a single lender, whereas shared mortgage leads are subject to competition between several lenders.

3. Credit Card Leads

Over 65% of the U.S. population own a credit card, with a few million new credit card leads popping up on the market annually. Naturally, credit card applicants seek low interest rates, low commissions, reasonable or no annual fees, reward programs, and ironclad security.

Here are some types of credit card leads you might be interested in:

• Credit card processing leads – leads looking for technologies that enable credit and debit card payments for their customers
• Credit card debt leads – leads looking for a solution to reduce or consolidate their credit card debt

You can draw credit card leads from both sides of the spectrum: individuals solving their financial problems and businesses integrating payment gateways into their online stores.

4. Investment Leads

Investment leads encompass a gigantic audience of people looking for investment opportunities. For example, around 61% of adults in the United States invest in stocks, with many more searching for financial advisors, brokers, and investment firms.

Here are some types of investment leads you might be interested in:

• Hedge fund leads looking for profitable and reliable hedge funds
• Equity investor leads interested in buying stock or equity shares
• Crypto leads looking for prospective cryptocurrencies, crypto exchanges, blockchain-based technologies, etc.
• Divorce leads selling shared properly as part of their divorce settlement
• Motivated seller leads who want to sell their property as quickly as possible
• Trading leads (futures trading leads, forex trading leads, etc.) interested in trading technologies, platforms, and successful independent or delegated trading

One factor that unites most investment leads is that they all need professional financial advice. The demand for financial advisory is so high that these people have long formed a separate group: leads for financial advisors.

5. Financial Advisor Leads

Expected to grow at an impressive 5.5% CAGR between 2023 and 2032, the financial advisory service market is abundant with qualified leads for financial advisors. Increasingly more people are seeking professional guidance with financial planning and management, all with specific needs and expectations.

Here are some financial advisor leads you might be interested in:

• Financial planning leads
• Retirement planning leads
• Pension leads

Financial advisor lead generation companies are now in the spotlight, with positive financial forecasts for the decade and beyond.

6. Other Types of Financial Leads

Banking Leads	Leads looking for banking products and services, from investment banking leads to institutional banking leads to corporate banking leads
Commercial Leads	Leads looking for products or services for commercial use, from commercial insurance leads to commercial real estate leads to commercial cleaning leads.
Wealth Management Leads	Leads with high net worth who seek professional assistance in managing their wealth.
Debt Consolidation Leads	Leads looking for a way to reduce their debt by restructuring their debts into a single manageable loan with lower interest rates and realistic payoff conditions
Lease Leads	Leads interested in leasing products or assets, from real estate to vehicle to equipment leasing
Security Leads	Leads interested in physical security and cybersecurity solutions

Now that you’ve skimmed through the most popular financial leads, you might wonder where to get these high-intent leads.

Here you go:

• You can buy financial leads
• You can generate financial leads with your earned media

Let’s walk you through both options.

How To Buy Financial Leads

The complexity of lead generation for financial services results in many aspiring merchants buying financial leads rather than generating them on their own. And there’s nothing wrong with it: not only does buying financial leads grant you high-intent sales prospects on the spot, but it saves you resources that would otherwise be spent on marketing campaigns.

Purchasing Financial Leads Step-by-Step

1 – Set Your Goals	Define your target buyer: demographics, psychographics, price per lead, exclusivity, and every other detail that might help you purchase relevant financial leads.
2 – Choose Your Lead Provider	Research companies that offer favorable conditions and scrutinize those that have passed through initial screening. Finally, choose one or several providers that can sell the leads you want at your target price.
3 – Start Small	Make sure to fully understand the game before committing to it: how many leads you convert, their lifetime value, and whether your first results live up to the expectations.
4 – Scale Up as You Stabilize	Scale up to the expected normal performance. To grow further, you may need lead management software from SaaS software providers.

You’ve just gotten the ball rolling! Now, it’s important to track, distribute, and analyze your financial leads to the best of your abilities AND coordinate all of it with your other marketing efforts.

How can you do it? With the help of lead management software like LMS Sync:

Another important lead trade technology is ping tree, which connects consumer prospects – financial leads – with merchants.

The ping tree technology from Phonexa gives marketers two significant advantages:

• Higher distribution accuracy – you get the leads that match your buying criteria
• High-intent leads with no fraud – all leads undergo screening before being added to the market; duplicated and fraudulent leads are disqualified

Ping Tree allows you to buy high-intent leads, including financial leads, that are easy to convert.

How To Generate Financial Leads from Earned Media

Buying financial leads is the path of least resistance, but relying solely on lead generation services isn’t a great strategy either, as it omits the power of your earned media. Most marketing professionals strive to get the best of both worlds, buying leads and utilizing earned media to draw organic sales.

Now, what’s most important in lead generation for financial services when it comes to earned media?

The survey among U.S.-based marketing decision-makers distinguishes three crucial lead gen factors:

• Communicating your value proposition
• Informing buyers about your products
• Speaking to the buyer’s pain points

Source: Statista 

Let’s decipher each of these cornerstones of a successful lead gen.

1. Create a Superior Unique Value Proposition

Having researched tons of software solutions throughout my career, I can assure you that a rare company escapes sameness. The sad truth is that most businesses just copy what’s already there while trying to present it as new. And even if they have unique features, cost-effectiveness, or a proven track record, these merits are oftentimes hidden behind piles of less important information – and customers leave before getting hooked.

• “94% of B2B value propositions are undifferentiated” – Dr. Paul Johnson, an academic and applied researcher in business and management.

Now, it’s only possible to create a unique value proposition if you know who your leads are and what they want that your competitors don’t offer yet you can provide.

For example, if you’re targeting financial advisor leads, you can emphasize:

• Tailored financial planning
• Advanced financial management technologies and software
• Proven track record of helping clients overcome their financial problems

At the same time, you can’t – and don’t have to – beat the competition in every aspect. A viable approach is to keep your one or two advantages at the forefront and take it from there.

2. Inform Financial Leads about Your Products

Creating a superior value proposition will give you an immense confidence boost and a solid basis for marketing your offer. The next big question is: how do you reach financial leads with your unique value proposition?

Here’s the winning algorithm:

1. Go omnichannel to test what traffic channels drive leads
2. Double down on successful strategies
3. Expand as you accumulate resources

Below are the two most powerful traffic channels for financial lead generation besides your website: email marketing and social media marketing.

Traffic Source #1: Email Marketing

Email campaigns double the ROI for 50% of marketers and quadruple it for 12%, the numbers you can’t argue with – and it works like clockwork for traditional-by-nature financial leads.

The good news is that you can automate your email outreach with software like E-Delivery. The technology ensures you squeeze the most out of your email campaigns while fully understanding your lead flows and how to improve them.

Another important aspect of successful email marketing campaigns is keeping your email list clean from unmotivated subscribers. Forced interactions are no good, reducing deliverability rates, harming your sender reputation, and violating compliance requirements like the CAN-SPAM Act.

Solution?

Suppression list management software like Opt-Intel, which encompasses secure list sharing, compliance notifications, automated data transfers, and out-out domain while labeling. Opt-Intel guarantees that high-intent leads stay with you while those uninterested in your services can conveniently unsubscribe.

Want to know more about suppression list management? Here you go.

Last but not least, financial lead generation oftentimes suffers from overly long sales funnels, when you lose a fair share of customers in transition. However, you can solve this problem by embedding the sales functionality in your AMP emails.

AMP emails display real-time information, so users can always stay in the loop and commit without leaving the email. The new technology optimizes the sales cycle, boosts engagement, improves user experience, and eventually allows you to convert more subscribers.

Traffic Source #2: Social Media

Before we dig into social media lead gen, it’s important to note that SMM and email marketing should be synergized. Here’s a wonderful read on coordinating social media with email marketing.

To the untrained eye, social media might not seem the best place to generate financial leads. But statistics show the opposite. Not only is social media getting older – 27% of social media users are 50 to 64 years old – but it perceives financial products surprisingly well. Even back in 2017, 18% of Generation Z were positive about using social media to receive financial services.

Here are the most popular social media to generate financial leads:

Platform	Pros	Cons
LinkedIn	High-intent B2B leads with minimum fake users	Less effective for B2C marketing
Facebook	Advanced targeting and various content formats	Prone to algorithm changes
Instagram	Targeting visuals and younger demographics	Focused on superficial information and requires outstanding content creation skills
Twitter	Real-time engagement and capitalizing on trends	Prone to trend changes and has limited interactions
YouTube	Ideal for in-depth video marketing	Resource-consuming and subject to strict policies
TikTok	Viral potential and capitalizing on trends	Targets limited demographics

The financial lead gen world is versatile, spanning traditional social media like Facebook and newer platforms like TikTok. And if you think TikTok is bad for generating financial leads, have a look at these examples:

Example 1 – TikTok – Advertising ETFs to Stock and Bond Traders

Example 2 – TikTok – Advertising Business Loans to Car Owners

Example 3 – TikTok – Advertising a Money Saving App to Those Saving

Example 4 – TikTok – Advertising an Investment App to Financial Independence Seekers

 

Other Traffic Sources

There’s plenty more fish in the sea besides email and social media. Among other popular traffic channels are blogs, review & price comparison websites, referral programs, influencer marketing, etc.

How do you capitalize on those?

Here you go:

• A comprehensive blog monetizing guide
• 24 best service review and price comparison websites for D2C
• 14 best referral marketing tools for business
• Brand ambassadors vs. influencers vs. affiliates

Remember, though, that you can’t copy someone else’s success but should develop your own lead generation strategies and mechanisms that reflect your unique business case.

3. Appeal to the Buyer’s Pain Points

With 30% of marketers seeing customers’ pain points as a marketing lever, appealing to these weaknesses can have a huge impact on your success. That said, coming up with a customized, well-timed solution that addresses a particular pain point requires in-depth customer knowledge.

With that in mind, user behavior analytics software like HitMetrix can help you analyze customer behavior while not messing with the UX.

Knowing how your customers interact with your marketing materials will allow you to polish your sales funnels and maybe even leverage psychological hooks like FOMO, loss aversion, and reciprocity.

Drive Your Leads to the Purchase With Phonexa

The best lead management system for finance is the one that takes care of every marketing touchpoint and outcome. And there’s such a system: Phonexa.

Phonexa’s lead management software suite includes eight proprietary solutions for leads, clicks, calls, SMS, accounting, and more. Companies with high traffic volumes can manage their lead flows from a single intuitive dashboard without juggling systems, all within legal and ethical boundaries.

 

Want to generate more financial leads without unnecessary complications? Get the all-encompassing lead management software suite now, or schedule a free consultation to learn more about Phonexa.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s special about financial leads?

Lead generation for financial services is challenging because of the high complexity of financial products, compliance expenses, and possible trust issues. The average price of a financial lead is around $650.

What financial leads are most profitable?

To calculate the profitability of financial leads, you need to know their average lifetime value, conversion rate, and lead acquisition and support costs. At the same time, there’s no way to say what financial leads are most profitable – business loan leads, mortgage leads, commercial leads, or else – as it largely depends on the market conditions and your sales skills.

What is the best lead generation system for finance?

The best lead generation system in the financial sector is the system that allows you to generate financial leads in all available ways – social media, content marketing, PPC, SEO, email marketing, affiliate & referral programs, influencer marketing, etc. – while squeezing out the maximum profits from your major traffic sources.