Insights from the HASS Modern Adoption Process (MAP) Project Implementation

Through my role as the Senior Education & Program Specialist for HASS, I recently had the opportunity to visit three animal shelters — different cities, different staff, different sizes — but one thing was the same everywhere: the people were doing everything they could for the animals. They were passionate, determined, and deeply committed to their communities. 

But they were also exhausted.

The shelters were full. Staff were stretched thin. Between feeding, cleaning, managing volunteers, talking to the public, and trying to match pets with adopters — there just wasn’t much time or energy left to think about how process improvement can lead to increased adoptions.

That’s why we partnered for the MAP Project. Three shelters took on the challenge to modernize the adoption process with a focus on elevating the visitor experience. 

Regardless of location, the consistent takeaways remained the same: 

Know Your Audience

Here’s a truth we often forget: If we don’t ask the community what they want, how will we ever know how to support them–let alone, get them to adopt?

Adoption shouldn’t be complex or inaccessible to your community, yet barriers to adoption persist and vary. Maybe it’s confusing paperwork. Maybe people feel judged. Maybe the wait times are too long. 

Asking your community for feedback can help you answer some big questions:

• Why aren’t people adopting from our organization?
• What support do they need from us?
• Where should we focus our energy first?

Here’s what we discovered:

• Many potential adopters — about 1 in 5 — leave without adopting a pet, indicating that they are still making a decision or that there were too many choices. By prioritizing conversations and matchmaking during the adoption process, we can help guide adopters toward the best choice for them and increase their confidence in their decision-making process (as can offering a trial adoption option!)
• Customer service experience ranks amongst the top self-reported reasons why potential adopters leave a shelter without adopting. Factors such as staff friendliness, the quality of information provided about the animals, and the overall atmosphere of the shelter play a critical role in shaping a prospective adopter’s decision. When interactions with shelter staff are positive and informative, it significantly increases the likelihood of adoption.

How’s Your Adoption Process Working, Really?

Beyond the numbers, it helps to take a step back and look at the process from the adopter’s point of view:

• Are visitors greeted and guided when they walk in?
• Do people understand where to go or how the process works?
• Can we streamline the paperwork to make it easier?
• Are their needs met in a timely, efficient, and customer-service-oriented manner?

These small touch points can make a big difference. Sometimes, a few simple tweaks are all it takes to turn a missed connection into a successful adoption.

Here’s What We Discovered

• Long wait times were a big barrier. Adopters were often stuck waiting while staff rushed to complete last-minute tasks like microchipping or vaccinating pets. These are essential steps — but handling them reactively, right when someone is ready to take an animal home, created unnecessary delays (often hours!) and frustration for both staff and adopters.
• Volunteers were underutilized. In many cases, volunteers weren’t involved in the adoption process at all. When staff are stretched thin, one of the most effective ways to expand your capacity and improve customer service is by training volunteers to help with tasks such as greeting visitors, guiding them through the process, or even supporting adoption counseling.
• Small fixes can lead to big improvements. When you break your adoption process down piece by piece, you’ll likely uncover simple opportunities to streamline and strengthen it. Don’t feel like you need to overhaul everything at once — even small, intentional changes can lead to a better experience for your staff, your visitors, and your animals. Consider allocating staff time to help you untangle and fix complex processes.

Do You Know How Your Adoption Program is Performing?

Think beyond just the total number of adoptions your shelter completes each month or year. Do you know how many in-person adoption visitors you have — and how many of them actually adopt?

By setting up a system to track this data, you can begin to understand your shelter’s success rate at turning interest into adoption. This is known as your adoption conversion rate, and it’s one of the most helpful indicators of how well your team is connecting with potential adopters.

Having this information gives you real numbers to work with — so you can spot patterns, identify challenges, and make more informed decisions to improve the experience for pets and people alike.

Here’s What We Discovered

• Only 1 in 3 adoption visitors left the shelter with a pet. Shelters often believe they “don’t have enough adopters” or interest in adoption, but imagine the impact if every potential adopter actually left with a pet!
• First impressions are critical. When visitors don’t adopt a pet during their first visit, they only return to the shelter 17% of the time. This highlights the importance of making the most of a potential adopter’s initial experience at the shelter. And if a visitor doesn’t adopt right away, we can inspire them to return and invite them to do so by showcasing our commitment to helping them discover the perfect match. Let’s create a warm and welcoming atmosphere that keeps them coming back!
• There was a mismatch in visitor volume and staffing. At one shelter, over 130 potential adopters were turned away in a single month because there weren’t enough staff members available to process everyone in line before closing time. To advocate for more staff, the first step is to gather data on your shelter’s foot traffic.

Retail Has Something to Teach Us

It might sound strange at first, but hear me out: Retail knows how to connect people with things they want. And shelters? We’re trying to connect people with animals they’ll love.

Looking to retail for inspiration doesn’t mean becoming pushy or salesy. It means:

• Learning how to build relationships through conversation
• Taking a consultative, problem-solving approach
• Making it easier for visitors to say yes to adoption

When you think about it, it’s just strategic matchmaking — but with pets.

Want to See It in Action?

So what are these shelters doing to overcome these challenges? Enter the Modern Adoption Process (MAP), an initiative all about equipping staff and volunteers with practical, people-centered tools to support adoptions — even during the busiest days. The MAP course is 100% free and available online.

In the course, you’ll learn:

• How to build meaningful connections beyond just basic customer service (though, that’s important, too)
• Why retail-style strategies work (and how to adapt them for shelters, ethically)
• How to collect data that actually helps improve adoptions

Ready to get started? Register now and your organization will begin to receive positive feedback and incredible stories like the ones below.

Source: Human Animal Support Services