Stride Financial
28% Conversion Improvement, $8.4M Additional Annual Revenue
Fast Facts
Industry
Financial Services
Company Size
200-500 employees
Location
Austin, TX
Products Used
• Lead Routing Automation• Risk Assessment Engine• Compliance Audit Trails• A/B Testing Framework
Key Results
28%
Conversion Rate Improvement
From 22% to 28.2% lead-to-opportunity
< 60 sec
Speed-to-Lead
Down from 4-8 hours previously
$8.4M
Additional Revenue
Annual increase from improved conversion
+25%
Officer Efficiency
Effective capacity increase per officer
73%
Wasted Time Reduction
Time on unqualified leads: 30% → 8%
Zero
Compliance Incidents
6 months with full audit trails
The Challenge
Manual Lead Routing Costing 40% of High-Intent Prospects
Stride Financial offers small business loans ($50K-$2M) with 24-48 hour approval times. They generate 2,500 monthly leads through digital marketing, partner referrals, and inbound calls. Each lead requires credit evaluation, risk assessment, and routing to the appropriate loan officer.
Their manual routing process created revenue leaks: high-quality leads waited 4-8 hours for assignment during nights and weekends. By the time a loan officer called back, 40% of hot leads had already accepted offers from faster competitors. Low-quality leads (won't qualify, outside criteria) consumed 30% of officer time before being disqualified.
Compliance added complexity: ECOA regulations require fair lending practices, necessitating audit trails for routing decisions. Officers made subjective judgment calls about lead priority, creating potential compliance risks and inconsistent customer experiences.
Key Pain Points
- ✗4-8 hour routing delays causing 40% lead loss to faster competitors
- ✗Loan officers spending 30% of time on leads that won't qualify
- ✗No nights/weekend routing, losing high-intent leads seeking immediate help
- ✗Subjective routing decisions creating compliance risk
- ✗Inability to A/B test routing strategies to optimize conversion
"We were generating great leads but hemorrhaging them due to speed-to-lead problems. A small business owner applies for a loan at 9pm—they're highly motivated. If we don't respond until next morning, they've already talked to three competitors. We needed always-on, intelligent routing."
The Solution
AI-Powered Lead Scoring with Risk-Aware Routing and Human Oversight
Artifically built a lead routing system that scores, assesses, and assigns leads in under 60 seconds, 24/7, with built-in compliance guardrails.
**Intelligent Lead Scoring:**
The AI evaluates each lead across 40+ factors: credit data (soft pull via Experian), business financials, industry risk, loan amount, stated urgency, and engagement signals (form completion time, page views). Outputs a quality score (A, B, C, D) and predicted conversion probability. A-tier leads route immediately; D-tier leads receive automated nurture sequences.
**Risk-Aware Routing:**
Matches leads to loan officers based on specialization (industry expertise, loan size focus), current workload, time zone, and historical conversion rates. High-value, complex deals ($1M+, specialized industries) route to senior officers. Standard deals distribute based on availability and performance metrics.
**Human-in-the-Loop Compliance:**
Before final assignment, the system flags potential compliance concerns (e.g., protected class considerations, unusual patterns) for compliance team review. All routing decisions are logged with reasoning for audit purposes. Officers can reject assignments with feedback that improves future routing.
Key Features Implemented
- ✓Real-time lead scoring using credit data and 40+ behavioral signals
- ✓Intelligent routing matching leads to best-fit loan officers
- ✓24/7 operation with immediate assignment (under 60 seconds)
- ✓Compliance approval workflow for edge cases and protected classes
- ✓Full audit trail for all routing decisions and officer actions
- ✓A/B testing framework to continuously improve conversion rates
Timeline: 4 weeks from kickoff to full production deployment
"The system is smart about more than just speed. It knows Sarah excels with construction loans, Michael specializes in restaurants, and Emma crushes large deals. It routes accordingly. And the compliance audit trail means our legal team sleeps easy—every decision is documented and defensible."
The Impact
28% Conversion Improvement, $8.4M Additional Annual Revenue
Lead-to-opportunity conversion improved from 22% to 28.2%—a 28% relative increase. Speed-to-lead dropped from 4-8 hours to under 60 seconds. **Nights and weekend leads (previously 40% loss rate) now convert at 24%**, recovering $1.8M annually.
Loan officers became more efficient: time spent on unqualified leads dropped from 30% to 8%, allowing focus on high-potential prospects. Officer capacity effectively increased 25% without hiring. Average deal size increased 12% because senior officers now handle complex, high-value deals exclusively.
Compliance confidence improved significantly. Full audit trails enable quarterly fair lending reviews. The system's objective scoring eliminates subjective bias concerns. In 6 months, zero compliance incidents compared to 3 escalations in the prior period.
Additional Benefits
- ✓24/7 lead routing recovered high-value nights/weekend leads
- ✓Loan officers focused on qualified prospects, improving job satisfaction
- ✓Senior officers now handle complex deals exclusively, increasing close rates
- ✓Compliance team confident in fair lending documentation
- ✓A/B testing enables continuous optimization of routing strategies
"The revenue impact exceeded projections, but the cultural shift was equally valuable. Our loan officers went from frustrated by bad leads to confident they're working the right opportunities. Morale improved, turnover dropped, and we're closing bigger deals. Artifically delivered on every promise."
"We evaluated four lead routing solutions. Artifically was the only one that understood financial services compliance isn't an afterthought—it's foundational. The audit trails, human-in-the-loop review, and objective scoring gave our legal team confidence to move forward. Smart automation with appropriate guardrails."
Ready to Achieve Similar Results?
See how Artifically can deliver measurable ROI for your organization. Schedule a personalized demo to explore automation opportunities specific to your industry.