In 2004, the U.S. homeownership rate averaged 69%. By 2025, it was 65.2%. During the first quarter of 2025, 46.1 million American households rented their homes, and nearly half spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Making the idea of homeownership feel unobtainable.
The founders of Bilt saw this pressure amongst their own friend circles, and decided to build a company centered on essential expenses, because the milestones their parents had reached were becoming increasingly harder for their generation to afford.
Bilt emerged to let people earn rewards on the rent they are already paying. Points could go towards travel or a future downpayment, giving members something back from an expense that typically offered little beyond a roof over their head.
For Zoe Oz, Bilt’s CMO, the marketing challenge began with education. This was something completely new. People understand airline miles and credit card points but rewards on housing required some explaining.
Traditional advertising would not build the company they envisioned. Instead, Bilt developed relationships with property owners and managers to be integrated in how people pay for housing, placing the company inside an existing habit.
Once members enter the Bilt ecosystem, the next challenge is figuring out what the renter will need next.
Signing Up Comes Before Understanding
Most businesses struggle to establish enough value to get a customer, Bilt acquired customers to make a rent payment.
However, residents might use Bilt every month without understanding much about the actual membership. They know where to go to pay rent but have no idea Bilt offers benefits like at restaurants or fitness studios.
When someone first moves into a new place there are immediate concerns: payments, maintenance, or package delivery. Messaging about pharmacy rewards will be useful eventually but probably not right away. That changes strategy for lifecycle marketing. Bilt has to decide which benefit is worth introducing when people are actually ready to use them.
Making the First of the Month Hit Different
Around the first of the month, customers opened the app to pay rent and check their email to make sure the rent went through. This is a dependable point of contact which was also attached to dread.
Rent Day was born from that observation. Bilt introduces bonuses, experiences, special releases - including A$AP Rocky vinyl - to make the first feel special instead of dreadful.
Bilt has larger ambitions around neighborhood partnerships. Zoe describes restaurant checks that come with a complimentary Lyft ride home. The value grows when it helps members do something they already want to do.
The monthly rent payment gives Bilt a recurring place but what happens beyond that payment determines how far the relationship will go.
INTERVIEW UNCOVERS:
How distribution changes the marketing problem.
How useful information can have bad timing.
Why your own routine can hide customer needs.
Why experienced users make valuable testers.
How an existing habit can support a new ritual.