Project Overview

Casa Mundi set out to increase occupancy and optimize marketing costs at a critical juncture: new developments brought over 1,000 competing units within a two-mile radius, causing lead volume to decline and urgency to rise. Through a blend of stakeholder interviews, CRM audits, competitive research, and persona development, the team established a data-driven strategy to reverse the trend and reclaim visibility in a crowded market.

Role & Team

I led the project through analysis, strategy, and coordination by providing written reports, team interviews, and presenting actionable recommendations to both the CEO and investors. Core collaborators included the internal sales team, AppFolio CRM specialists, a graphic designer, a web designer, and a copywriter, all held accountable through in-person meetings, targeted presentations, and clear documentation. Your biggest differentiator was bringing an analytical lens to both the pipeline and the market landscape, uncovering gaps between perceived and actual tenant demographics—a crucial insight that shaped the creative and operational approach.

Strategic Approach

The campaign leaned on CRM dashboards, conversion rate optimization, and detailed attribution tracking. Customer and internal feedback inspired distinct offerings (like a community concierge) and helped build personas that directly informed website and ad creative. All digital experience changes were anchored to conversion and acquisition cost goals: website redesign, revamped attribution, and a full redistribution of ad spend to the channels that created not just leads, but signed and retained tenants.

Execution

Major milestones:

Deep pipeline analysis revealed a top “lead source” had not generated a lease in 12 months.
Budget realignment away from low quality leads, to channels that returned our true north metric: leases signed.
Transitioned from industry-specific listing sites to owned paid media (PPC & social).
Website, ad, and messaging overhaul in alignment with new data and brand personas.
Automated tracking for every funnel stage, with weekly KPI reviews from click to conversion.

As leads ramped up, AI-based leasing agents and prompt human outreach became essential, helping Casa Mundi reach and sustain over 95% occupancy for more than two years in a fiercely competitive downtown market.

Synthesis & Iteration

Continuous feedback inspired “high-touch, small community” positioning—overcoming the lack of luxury amenities. CRM upgrades enabled better customer journey mapping and report automation. As the team’s capacity to handle leads was tested, new scripts, AI responders, and internal training on the brand voice ensured every lead was valued and responded to promptly.

Strategic Actions & Results:

Built comprehensive tracking to connect cost with results, allowing true channel-level ROI measurement—a foundational step confirmed in high-performing real estate projects.
Redirected ad spend away from underperforming platforms, saving over $15K annually—a common and justifiable outcome when shifting from generalist listing platforms to curated, high-ROI paid media.
Optimized website for conversion, increasing the rate substantially from 2.2% to 3.74%—well above average multifamily website benchmarks (typically 2–3%).
Tracking every stage, from inquiry to lease, with granular attribution—critical for identifying leakage and maximizing conversion efficiency

Learnings & Reflections

Deep pipeline analysis is critical, even in successful organizations, as hidden inefficiencies can persist.
Cross-functional empowerment—arming the sales and operations teams with KPIs, scripts, and feedback loops—was pivotal to turning leads into leases.
The project reframed your approach: you now prioritize holistic client education on pipeline health, retention strategies, and end-to-end customer experience, not just top-of-funnel lead gen.
With unlimited resources, launching a robust resident retention and advocacy program would likely yield the highest ROI, leveraging high occupancy to lower future acquisition costs even further.

From Leads to Leases: Casa Mundi’s ROI Turnaround