Regardless of the product or service you offer, not all customers will qualify. It’s simply the nature of being a financial service provider. But, the great news is that just because a customer didn’t qualify for the products or service they applied for, it doesn’t mean they can’t become a profitable client in the future.
Common reasons why customers are rejected for financing
Offering financial services or products means you likely have a set of requirements that all potential clients need to meet. When a client is unqualified, typically it’s for one of three reasons:
- Credit score
- Income
- Debt-to-income ratio
So for customers who have low credit scores, high debt-to-income ratios, or are unable to meet income requirements, how can you generate revenue from them?
Other solutions exist for these customers
Customers who are unqualified for one product or service may qualify for another. As a financial service provider, it’s now your job to introduce alternative solutions to these customers so that you can generate revenue and so that clients don’t leave feeling defeated or rejected. This can be achieved through a number of different solutions.
Direct partnerships
By developing direct partnerships with alternative financing providers you can offer your unqualified clients a second-chance solution. Direct partnerships can work in a number of ways. Ideally, your agreement will allow you to send your unqualified clients directly to your partner and be remunerated for your referrals.
Decline monetization platforms
Alternatively, you can work with a decline monetization platform (a service that Loans Canada offers) that can present qualified offers to your declined applicants. A decline monetization platform is an offer-generating platform that you can embed on the exit or decline pages of your website.
Provide other offers
Even if a financing solution doesn’t exist (either yours or from a direct partnership with another provider), users may be interested in additional offers that meet other financial needs. By showing your clients alternative options, whether via email, directly on your website, or through an exit page, you take the right step toward retaining clients and generating revenue. A couple of the most common alternatives financial services providers may want to consider are:
Credit building solutions
If a potential client is unqualified because of poor credit, they may be interested in a credit building solution. This type of product can help them build their credit and ultimately be able to qualify for your main product or service in the future.
Debt consolidation services
If a consumer submitted an application but was unable to qualify because of a high debt-to-income ratio, a debt consolidation service from a professional third party could be a great alternative option.
Personal loans or “buy now pay later” platforms
If the user fails to qualify for your loan or financing product, alternative lending options exist.
Benefits of offering declined customers alternative offers
The question is, why would you want to send the customer your marketing dollar or your goodwill acquired off to another company or platform? The simple answer is that it can significantly help offset your marketing spend, it can lower your average cost of acquisition, and it can help you transform a negative customer experience into a positive one.
What about my qualified customers?
Opportunity exists even after you’ve secured your qualified customers. To create a longstanding relationship with your qualified customers and open up new opportunities with your unqualified clients, you can use these marketing strategies”
Cross-selling
Cross-selling involves offering complementary products to your own. For example, if you offer loans to bad credit individuals, you can also cross-sell by offering other products (through your own company or through third-party partnerships) like credit building services, savings loans, and secured credit cards.
Affiliate offers
Affiliate marketing involves promoting another company's product or service in order to generate sales for that company. Generally, each lead that converts into a sale will gain you a commission.
Email marketing
As you gather more emails from your qualified customers (and unqualified customers), you can use email marketing to continue to promote your business services. You can also use it to promote your affiliate offers. When used strategically, email marketing can drive traffic, increase leads, and build lasting relationships with your customers.
Don’t forget: consent matters
When contacting clients via electronic messages, there’s an important law in Canada that you must abide by involving consent. Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) requires companies to receive consent from their recipients before sending any electronic mail such as emails or texts.
Any electronic mail involving “commercial activity” must comply with CASL or face serious legal penalties such as civil charges, criminal charges and a penalty fee up to $10 million.
Improve the customer experience
When you reject a customer, particularly in the financial industry, it can cause a negative experience for the customer. This can ruin the consumer’s confidence and loyalty to your brand. To help transform a negative user experience into a positive one, you can invest more in the rejection process by offering alternative options to your unqualified customer. This will lead to more positive outcomes and better relationships with your users and can help offset some of your marketing costs.