Bay State Bath, a leader in one-day bath remodeling, has carved out a unique position in the home improvement market. Founded by Jennifer Bylo, the company has grown from a small franchise to a major player in the New England area, thanks to Jennifer's leadership, innovative marketing strategies, and commitment to customer service.
Bay State Bath began in 2004, focusing on providing quick and efficient bathroom remodels for homeowners. The company's primary clientele includes homeowners, particularly those nearing retirement age, who value the speed and quality of the one-day bath process.
“One of our big competitive advantages is our speed. We can do this one-day bath process, which is great for somebody who doesn't have a second bath,” says Bylo, owner and president of Bay State Bath.
Jennifer's entry into the business world was anything but ordinary. Originally a registered nurse, she moved from Long Island to Massachusetts, intending to continue her nursing career. However, life had other plans. Jennifer shared, “I had every intention of working in Boston at one of the teaching hospitals... But of course, as life often does to us, sometimes there's a different plan.”
Jennifer stepped in to help her then-husband with the bath remodeling business. When he stepped away from the business altogether, Jennifer took over. She recalled the benefits of her nursing background, “Nursing was a great baseline of experience to teach me how to work with lots of different people... how to work under pressure.”
In the early 2000s, as internet marketing began to take off, Bylo recognized the need to diversify her marketing strategy. She had traditionally leaned on television advertising, which was very expensive. Bylo recalled, “We wanted to add more things to the marketing wheel,” to supplement the television advertising.
At the time, Bay State Bath was spending 17-18% of its revenue on marketing and identified the need for other, more cost-efficient marketing strategies. This coincided with the emergence of PPC (pay-per-click) and internet advertising.
Bylo understood the novel opportunity that online advertising provided and started by testing out a PPC with a company that has since gone out of business. Unfortunately, it did not perform for them. Bylo recalled that the leads “Fizzled out fast” and the ROI was not there despite spending a lot of money.
EverConnect (formerly Keyword Connects), approached Bylo soon after this. In their pitch, EverConnect team explained that they would warm, transfer and qualify the leads before they sent them along” “I thought that was very unique,” recalls Bylo.
Bylo chose to leverage the EverConnect Direct solution, which uses custom landing pages from digital marketing channels to showcase dealer offers and generate branded leads. One of the main marketing channels is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
Shortly after enrolling it the EverConnect Direct program, Bylo stated: “It was like somebody opened up the faucet, and the phones were ringing, the leads were jamming through, and our cost of marketing was driven down very quickly.”
Thanks to EverConnect Direct, Bay State has seen impressive set rates and close rates. Bay State Bath generates $400,000-$500,000 in revenue each month just from EverConnect leads. Bay Bath receives an average 60% set rate of total lead volume and a 35% close rate.
Across the business as a whole, Bay State experiences a 94% demo rate and a 54% sold rate on leads in Massachusetts. This success has allowed the company to thrive even in a highly competitive market. “Keywords (EverConnect) is always either my number one or number two lead source, and obviously a heck of a lot more affordable than television, “[EverConnect is] way beating my TV ROI”, Bylo laughed
In their smaller market of Rhode Island, Bay State Bath experiences an average 88% demo rate in Rhode Island and 57% close rate.
Bylo went on to explain that EverConnect catches leads before her competitors can. “It's important for me to capture leads as quickly as I can, and having an online marketing partner like EverConnect helps protect what I'm investing in. Because otherwise, my competitors might get them.
Over the years, Bylo has worked closely with Sarah Blackinton, her account coordinator at Ever Connect. “Sarah and I have a regular monthly meeting where we analyze the numbers... She holds me accountable to make sure that I'm holding my team accountable,” Bylo explains.
This partnership has helped Bay State Bath consistently achieve strong results, with Ever Connect often being the top performer in terms of lead generation. “It's really the personal attention that I get and the fact that I just know that Sarah knows me, and she knows what I need,” she said. “She's very realistic, transparent, and [the leads are] reliable, and [they are] quality leads. We know that the Keywords (EverConnect) leads are real opportunities.”
As Jennifer looks to the future, she's excited about the potential of passing the torch to the next generation. Her daughter, Kirsten, is already heavily involved in the business. “Even though I have no intentions of retiring, it's nice to know that I think we're looking at a new generation coming in and a transfer of the success to keep going,” Bylo says.
Looking to the future, Bylo is focused on expanding Bay State Bath's reach. The company plans to open another office in the New Hampshire market to continue their service coverage North. Bylo plans to continue her partnership with EverConnect and leverage the Direct solution to produce leads in Bay State's upcoming and existing markets.
Bylo shared her overall experience working with EverConnect expressed, “It's been a great relationship all along, so I just look forward to growing the company and expanding.”
When asked whether she would recommend EverConnect to other companies, Bylo stated: “I always recommend [EverConnect]... sometimes peers of mine will call me asking for advice about TV advertising and I always tell them, 'It's great to have a TV campaign, but it has to go side by side with ...a good internet marketing partner. You don't want other people seeing your TV commercials and then bidding on your name and getting those pay-per-click leads'”
Jennifer Bylo's journey with Bay State Bath is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of innovative marketing. In diversifying her lead portfolio with the help of EverConnect, Bylo was able launch Bay State into incremental success with above industry average set rates and close rates. By leveraging her unique background and forming a strong lead generation partnership with EverConnect, she has transformed Bay State Bath into a leading player in the home improvement industry.
