From Cold Outreach to Qualified Trust
Recruiting $1M+ homeowners is a high-trust, emotionally driven decision, not a typical lead-gen play. In AvantStay's first 60 days, the Yap team ditched generic ad creative for rapid-fire testing across UGC, founder-led video, and explainer content, all built around one question: Can I trust AvantStay with my home? The result: a handful of breakout winners and a clear playbook for converting skeptical, high-net-worth owners into qualified supply.
Rebuilding the creative strategy
Coming into the AvantStay account, our focus was clear: unlock the supply side of the business by attracting high-value homeowners. AvantStay isn't for everyone — homes need to meet a high bar, typically $1M+, designed for group stays, and located in top-tier vacation markets — so our job wasn't just lead generation, it was qualification and trust-building at scale. We inherited an account with limited creative variety and no structured testing strategy, working against a niche, high-consideration audience (45+, high income, often multiple properties) facing a decision that's as emotional as it is financial.
The Yap team rebuilt the creative strategy from the ground up, focused on speaking to high-net-worth homeowners in a way that felt credible rather than salesy, balancing aspirational lifestyle messaging with clear operational value, and iterating rapidly across formats — from UGC-style videos and founder-led content to educational explainers and bold static graphics. Above all, every asset had to answer one question fast: can I trust AvantStay with my home? Through consistent testing, clear patterns emerged: simple, friction-removing explainers performed well, messaging that spoke to revenue upside without feeling promotional resonated, and creative that didn't look or feel like a typical ad consistently stood out. The broader lesson was just as valuable as any single winner — high-income audiences don't respond to typical ad creative, UGC and face-to-camera content outperformed polished production, simple messaging beat complexity, and speed and volume of testing were what made early wins possible at all.
