Leverage Homes / Case Study

A homeowner in trouble had no way to find us, and no reason to trust us if they did.

When I joined, it was very difficult for a struggling homeowner to find Leverage Homes online, there was no easy way to stay top of mind for homeowners who needed more time, and no system to track any of it. People we help are in some of the hardest moments of their lives: in foreclosure, left with a house they inherited and can't deal with, needing to move fast for a variety of reasons, and more. They have to really trust someone before letting them work with their most valuable asset. So my work covered the entire digital process that a homeowner goes through when interacting with our company. How they find us online, how we build trust and credibility, and how we stay top of mind when they're ready to sell.

01 Website & UX

First, we needed a site that built trust with a skeptical homeowner.

Our audience is skeptical before they even get to our website, and they have every reason to be. The “we buy houses” space has a lot of predatory business. So the first thing the site had to do was show that we’re a trustworthy company fit for a decision this big. We designed the brand from scratch, warm and human, and I built the homepage and a reusable component system around one plain promise. A fair cash offer, no repairs, no extra fees. Many of these homeowners are older, so the site stays deliberately simple. Large readable typography, short lines, obvious buttons, and no gimmicks or overly fancy layouts that could trip up less tech-savvy people.

The headline is in plain language that leads with what is most beneficial for a homeowner in these situations: cash, any condition, no repairs

It asks for one low-friction step, a single address field, with the offer promised within 24 hours

Real, third-party logos for trust sit up front, BBB A+, Inc. 5000, and a 4.8 Google rating before the first scroll

The language is calm and friendly. While competitors use urgency and caps-lock promises, every line here is written to sound like a person trying to help out, instead of a marketing pitch

Leverage Homes homepage: customer reviews, why-choose highlights, and results sections

More of the homepage: customer reviews, the highlights grid, and the results bar.

The design system every page is built from: the brand colors, the Poppins type scale, and the reusable components.

Leverage Homes About page at the mobile breakpoint

The same system at the mobile breakpoint, on the About page. Most of these homeowners are searching from a phone, so mobile designs were prioritized.

02 SEO

Then, we needed to show up in the searches people make on their phones.

Homeowners in these situations search in very specific and local ways, usually from their phone. So I built a page for each situation: a house with too many repairs, an inherited property, a relocation, a landlord who is overwhelmed. I also built pages for an always-expanding library of blog posts. Each page answers the search that brings someone to it, iterating on copy and structure with findings from Google Search Console.

Leverage Homes homepage solutions hub linking to each situation page

Search intent maps to a page, answering and catering to each question a homeowner has

One hub section routes every situation to a page built for it: foreclosure, repairs, relocation, probate

Leverage Homes too many repairs situation page

Leverage Homes relocation situation page

Two of the situation pages. Each one is built around the searches sellers actually make, so someone dealing with a specific problem lands on a page written about that problem.

Leverage Homes resources page of homeowner guides and articles

The resource library houses all the informational blogs. These answer the questions people have while they are still deciding whether to sell at all, constantly expanding the searches we appear for.

03 Email & Marketing

Next, we needed a follow-up system so we could stay top of mind.

Most sellers don’t decide on the first conversation. So after a rep meets with someone, an email sequence follows up, written as if it was sent from the rep who they just met. I segmented it by the homeowner’s actual situation and how the meeting went, so a seller in foreclosure hears that we know that timing is important, and a family sorting out an inherited home hears that there is no rush. The wrong tone here breaks trust, but the right tone makes the homeowner feel seen.

Trust also needs evidence, so we publish new success stories (what I named our case studies) regularly. We interview our reps to learn about a specific seller situation and how we actually helped, then turn it into a real story that runs through our email follow-up and social channels and lives on the site’s Success Stories page. For a homeowner weighing whether we’re legit or not, social proof like this (a real account of us helping someone in the same situation) means more than any promise we could state in marketing material.

Follow-up email matrix

It segments on two axes, the seller's situation and how receptive they were in the appointment

The subject line already tells you the tone, before any of the body is read

A negative meeting still gets a warm reply, there's no pressure or pitch, and there's a clear way to reach us later if anything changes

Each one links to a matching success story, so the social proof fits the situation

A success story from beginning to end

Success story: two years in probate, sold in 60 days, the challenge and setup

Success story outcome and closing quote from the VP of Acquisitions

Every story is labeled the same way: location, property type and the challenge, named right away at the top

The situation comes before the outcome: a will from 1970 nobody could validate and thirteen heirs nobody could find

The outcome is clearly defined, step-by-step, so our attention to detail and wide range of problem solving are shown

The VP who worked on this deal closes each one in his own words, next to his photo, to show that a friendly face is behind it all

Success Stories page

The page states our pitch directly: whatever your situation looks like, chances are we have worked with someone in a similar spot

Every story is dated, so a seller can see that we're active

04 Systems

Finally, we needed to automate everything for a smooth experience.

None of the above matters if a lead in a time-sensitive situation goes unanswered. So behind everything I built the Salesforce side: automation that routes and segments leads, logic that makes sure the right emails send only once, and email verification so we’re not hurting domain reputation on invalid addresses.

The lead flow from initial form fill to Slack alert

A seller fills the form, and it hands off all lead info to Salesforce, which then hands off to Slack, all automatically

Speed to lead is essential in this business, so here, a rep sees the alert and can reach out to the seller seconds after they fill the form

I created the process that informs, builds trust, and connects with the seller at every step of the funnel.

This is live and still evolving. From the search that initially finds us to the follow-up weeks later, I wanted a homeowner to feel that they’ve met a company that understands what they are going through and can truly help.

Next: Brick City Capital Back to work

Brand and creative developed in collaboration with our Creative Marketing Manager. Website, UX, SEO, email systems, and lead-related Salesforce architecture owned and executed by me.