Case Study

Mortgage Broker Generated Applications at $47 Each Using Intent Data and Phone Append

A mortgage broker identified homeowners actively researching refinancing options, appended verified phone numbers, and built a compliant SMS outreach campaign that generated applications at a fraction of the cost of paid search.


The Situation

A mortgage broker was spending heavily on Google Ads to capture refinance and home purchase leads — competing against banks, national lenders, and aggregators with far larger budgets. Cost per application had climbed to over $400. He needed a way to reach the same motivated buyers without competing in the most expensive ad auction in financial services.

$47
Average cost per application
8.7x
Return on spend vs. paid search

How It Was Done — Step by Step

1

Built Real-Time Mortgage Intent Audience

He built an intent audience targeting individuals who had researched mortgage refinance, home purchase financing, mortgage rate comparison, and pre-qualification keywords within the past 72 hours — capturing borrowers at the peak of their research phase.

2

Filtered by Homeowner Status and Geography

The raw intent audience was filtered to include only current homeowners or individuals in the market for home purchase, within his licensed lending states. This removed out-of-market searchers and renters who weren’t actionable.

3

Appended Verified Phone Numbers With Compliance Data

Each contact was matched to a verified mobile phone number along with TCPA compliance indicators — opt-in status and litigation risk scoring — ensuring outreach stayed within compliant bounds.

4

Launched SMS Campaign With a Personalized Rate Quote CTA

The SMS campaign opened with a rate quote offer personalized to the type of product the recipient had been researching. Refinance browsers received a refi rate quote. Home purchase researchers received a pre-qualification offer. Relevance drove response rates dramatically.

5

Routed Responses Into a Qualification Sequence

Responses were automatically routed into a text-based qualification sequence that collected property value, loan amount, and credit range before transferring to a live loan officer. Only qualified conversations reached his team.

The Result

Applications at $47 each — versus $400+ on Google Ads — built from an audience that was actively in the mortgage research process. The combination of intent data, homeowner filtering, and phone append gave him a direct line to buyers that most competitors couldn’t reach.

“I was spending $400 to get one application on Google. With intent data and a phone list I’m getting the same application for $47. I never went back to paid search.”

Independent Mortgage Broker — Residential Mortgage Brokerage

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