✿ Live Client

Viridiant needed to increase the number of home energy audits they were completing per year to increase revenue and regional impact.

Viridiant is a non-profit that focuses on bringing affordable, healthy, energy-efficient, and resilient buildings to life in the Richmond area. They conduct home energy audits in the area to help homeowners identify the best ways to reduce their energy bills and make their homes more comfortable.

The Ask: How can Viridiant optimize and broaden exposure for its home energy audits to meet their revenue goal?

Business Goals:

  • Completing five home energy audits per week

  • Goal Revenue: $100,000

What is a Home Energy Audit?

A home energy audit evaluates a home’s energy use to identify inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement. It results in clear recommendations to improve efficiency, comfort, and long-term durability.

Research Objective:

To uncover why consumers were not engaging with Viridiant’s services and identify pathways to drive adoption

Methodology

    • Brand Immersion: Assessing current awareness materials, reading past newsletters and impact reports, looking at Google Analytics, conducting a website and social media audit

    • Social Listening: Reading through social media comments and past Google Reviews to understand current and potential consumer impressions

    • Specifically targeting Richmond Homeowners, I received responses regarding consumer energy efficiency needs, current understanding of home energy audits, and perceptions of how home energy audits can benefit homeowners

    • Respondents: 39

    • Internal Interviews: Conducted internal interviews with the Executive Director and the individuals in charge of home energy audits to understand what was currently driving homeowners to pay for the service, as well as get a better understanding of what they could see improved

    • Homeowner Interviews: Interviewed Richmond region homeowners to get a deeper understanding of how they viewed home energy audits, how and if they could see it benefiting them, and how they received information within their communities about services like these and organizations like Viridiant

A Double Awareness Gap: The Brand and the Category

“Most people have never in their lives heard of something called an energy audit.” - Andrew Grigsby

“Most people have no idea what I do when I say I’m an energy auditor.” - Amory Fischer

89.5% of respondents were not aware of Viridiant

However, 55.3 % of respondents said that they did know what home energy audits are… but upon digging deeper, there was a real perception gap regarding what a home energy audit actually is:

Interviewees perceived home energy audits to be:

“It would be nice if a blower door test were routinely performed, but I don't think it is.”

“Auditing how much energy a zip code uses?”

“Looking at our energy usage over time, maybe even scrutinizing what's plugged in & running and finding opportunities for efficiency?”

Home energy audits were being conducted for two reasons: Comfort & Affordability

“People get very high bills in the winter… and they call us.” - Andrew Grigsby

“It is going to be economic more than anything else.”- Andrew Green

“They only call us when they remember their home is uncomfortable.”- Amory Fischer

This was reflected in my survey, but shockingly, environmental concerns also showed through.

The Key Problems:

  1. Brand & Energy Audit Awareness

  2. Energy Audit Misconceptions

  3. Lack of Perceived Need – Until It Is a Must

Recommendation Goals

  1. Raise awareness for Viridiant

  2. Raise awareness for home energy audits

  3. Clearly communicate what home energy audits are

  4. Utilize what is currently working

  5. Keeping the cost low

Recommendation #1: Utilizing Social Media

Although Viridiant was doing a lot right on social media…

✔ Posting about home energy audits

✔ Highlighting what you are doing in the community

✔ Humanized the organization

✔ Creating CTAs around consumer needs

✔ Educating consumers about home energy efficiency

Their engagement rate did not reflect this, at 0.49%.

They needed to implement…

  • Feed content can be passed over with a quick scroll, so it’s important to deliver value as promptly as you can (Source).

  • Lean into content that users would want to save for later use. Carousels are a great way to do this (Source).

  • Reels are reshared more than 4.5 billion times per day on Instagram. For Reels to be recommended to non-followers, they need to be less than 3 minutes long (Source).

  • Posting at the right frequency gives you visibility without overwhelming your audience.

    • Instagram: 3-5 posts/week

    • Facebook: 1-2 posts/day

    But quality is always better than quantity (Source).

Implementing These Findings on Social

Leveraging Posts to Talk About Seasonal Consumer Needs

Creating Educational & Engaging Content

Humanizing & Creating Trust with Reviews

Partnerships on Social

Story Q & A’s

Utilizing Paid Social

Enterprises balance organic and paid by using organic content to build trust and credibility, and paid promotion to scale their visibility. 

Organic supports long-term brand growth, while paid guarantees visibility when timing and reach matter most (Source).

Determining Social Success

  • Increasing followers 

  • Increasing engagement to at least 2%

  • Creating clear messages to educate consumers about home energy audits

  • Prioritizing organic social to keep costs low

Recommendation #2: Community Partnerships

Dominion Energy is a local energy company that has proven to be successful with its current Viridiant partnerships. Utilizing similar ones can help boost cross-sector success for Viridiant!

Partnering With Libraries

“I do go to the library.” – Star

“I do love going to the library almost weekly.” – Christine

Between the Richmond Public Library and the Henrico Public Library system, Viridiant can reach a wide variety of areas and markets throughout the Richmond region.

By utilizing pull-tabs and homeowner workshops, Viridiant can create awareness for their brand, their services, and educate consumers on how it could benefit them, leading them from awareness to purchase.

Partnering With HOAs

“...Our HOA!” – Star

The Richmond Government website has a great list of contact information regarding all neighborhoods within the Richmond region, making it easy for Viridiant to reach out, join Facebook groups, and inform different individuals in different neighborhoods about how their services could benefit them.

Determining Partner Success

  • Increase website engagement from pull tabs + messages

  • Increase in inquiries + bookings tied to libraries + HOA efforts

  • Increased awareness among the community regarding Viridiant and home energy audits

Recommendation #3: Generating Word of Mouth

Getting People Talking at Farmer’s Markets

“I love that [Dory Park] farmers market so much, yeah, kind of good local community and selection of things. ” – Star

With over 20 farmers’ markets in the Richmond region, hosting a booth at one of these would help them reach a variety of areas & markets, build trust in the nonprofit, educate homeowners about their services, and build awareness for Viridiant.

Encouraging Post-Service Referrals

“When working on a tight budget, lean in to inspiring UGC & online reviews” (Source).

“[I learn about resources from] talking to friends about what they're doing at their houses.” – Michael

“Enjoying Your Results? Tell Others!” Once the audit is complete, asking the homeowner to share their experience with others will build trust with Viridiant and spread awareness about them and home energy audits.

Determining Word of Mouth Success

  • Increased word-of-mouth engagement with Viridiant

  • Increase in online reviews on Google Reviews & Facebook

  • Increased awareness & understanding of Viridiant and home energy audits

  • Increased trust in Viridiant

Impact

I was able to present these ideas to my client in person and discuss with them how this could impact their non-profit. After sending over all materials, I hope to see pull-tabs in libraries and social media posts soon!

My Role

Account management, Client Relations, Project Management, Survey Development, Interview Moderation, Development of Insights & Implications, Recommendation Development, Deck Narrative, Deck Design, and Pitch

This independent study project served as the “crown jewel” of my Brandcenter experience, allowing me to partner with a live client and present my findings in person. After some initial challenges in securing a partner, collaborating with Viridiant became the perfect intersection of my passion for sustainability and nonprofit work!

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Category Expansion + Awareness
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