From Drop-Offs to Retrofits: Doubling Program Conversion Rates

Summary

Elevate’s Energy Savers program helped apartment owners lower costs and improve efficiency—but a clunky customer journey limited participation. I mapped the experience, removed friction, improved staff engagement, and streamlined processes. The result: higher conversion, more completed projects, and a scalable model that anchored a $10M grant and national replication.

Problem

Elevate’s Energy Savers program had the potential to help multifamily building owners reduce energy costs and keep housing affordable, but the customer journey was slow and cumbersome. With too many friction points, building owners dropped out before completing energy upgrades, limiting the program’s growth and impact.

Solution

I took charge of refining the entire customer journey to remove bottlenecks and accelerate adoption:

  • Mapped the customer experience using a visual “board game” to illustrate pain points.

  • Shadowed staff and interviewed contractors and customers to uncover hidden roadblocks.

  • Led a process improvement effort, identifying solutions, prioritizing quick wins, and implementing Salesforce automation.

  • Developed training and workshops to strengthen the marketing and engagement skills of customer-facing staff.

Result

  • Conversion rate of customer inquiries to retrofits jumped from 25% to 45%.

  • Annual completed projects increased by 40%, significantly expanding the program’s reach.

  • My improvements positioned Energy Savers as the key component in a $10 million government grant, leading to national replication.

Takeaway

By stepping into the customer’s perspective and methodically removing friction from their journey, I transformed a promising but underperforming program into a highly scalable, national model.