Case Study: How Ascent Increased Occupancy With Two-Way AI SMS

Ascent Living Communities operates six senior living communities known for high-quality resident care. Like many regional operators, their lean sales and marketing teams struggled with manual follow-ups, outdated web forms, and growing competition from larger brands. The challenge: how to keep pace with today’s digital-first families when staff can’t be everywhere at once.

The Challenge: Manual Processes Holding Growth Back

• Sales capacity limits: Too many leads, not enough staff to follow up quickly.
  
  
• Outdated digital tools: Legacy web forms captured leads, but very few converted to tours or move-ins.
  
  
• Missed opportunities: Delays in responding to inquiries meant families often moved on to competitors.
  
  

For Ascent, every unconverted lead represented not just lost revenue—but an empty apartment that could have been filled. And for families making urgent, emotional decisions, slow responses added unnecessary stress to an already difficult time.

The Breakthrough: Conversational AI SMS

Ascent launched an AI SMS tool to handle first contact, follow-ups, and nurturing with two-way SMS. Unlike static web forms, AI SMS created two-way conversations with families—guiding them toward tours and move-ins. Conversations felt natural and human because they were trained on millions of prior data points and industry-specific interactions—ensuring messages were empathetic and never robotic.

Real Campaigns in Action

The Conversational AI SMS ran targeted campaigns based on where prospects were in their journey:

• Tour Request Received: 130 leads, 7% replied → 10 move-ins
• Looking Immediately (Qualified): 31 leads, 55% replied → 1 tour
• Looking 1–3 Months Out: 41 leads, 37% replied → 2 tours, 1 move-in
• No Action After Pricing: 106 leads, 38% replied → 2 move-ins
• Just Researching: 60 early-stage leads, 52% replied → 1 move-in

Timely, empathetic automation freed staff to focus on high-value tours.

These automated, conversational campaigns gave families timely, empathetic responses—while freeing staff to focus on high-value tours and move-ins.

Results in 6 Months

• ✅ 1,000 leads engaged
• ✅ 156 tours scheduled (15.6% conversion)
• ✅ 25 move-ins (2.5% of all leads)
• ✅ 40%+ of replies led to tours

For a six-community operator, those numbers were game-changing. Messaging automation became the equivalent of adding a full-time sales teammate—without the cost.

Why It Mattered for a Small Operator

For regional operators, scaling sales isn’t about hiring more staff—it’s about working smarter. Messaging automation helped Ascent:

• Compete with national brands by delivering near-instant response times (average 40–50 seconds). That speed wasn’t just operationally efficient—it meant families felt heard and supported during a stressful search for care.
  
  
• Keep staff focused on high-value interactions, not chasing cold leads.
  
  
• Turn “hidden interest” into action by re-engaging families who might otherwise have dropped off.

In effect, the technology leveled the playing field, giving Ascent the same reach and responsiveness as much larger national operators—without increasing headcount.

The Bigger Picture

Ascent’s story shows that embracing AI isn’t just for the big players. For small and mid-sized operators, technology like Conversational AI SMS is the equalizer—helping lean teams do more with less, close faster, and fill communities.

"Quick responses mean families feel supported from the very first touchpoint. For us, it’s led to smoother conversations and fuller communities.” — Kim Goodwin, Area Director of Sales & Marketing, Ascent Living Communities

Messaging automation isn’t a “nice-to-have” anymore—it’s the difference between keeping occupancy strong or falling behind. Ascent proved that even a six-community operator can unlock double-digit move-ins from digital conversations when they embrace AI.

Looking to expand with confidence? Book a demo to find out how Further can help you capture every lead, engage every family, and convert with ease.