Three ways to help make prospects aware that your current residents are happy.
So, you’ve succeeded in creating a relatively positive resident experience at your property, but how do you effectively market it?
After all, your property is providing a service, probably the most important service of all: A place to call home. Plus, with the current trend of apartment communities offering resort-style amenities to entice more renters, the service aspect has never been more in play. Or, on the flip side, if your property doesn’t have many amenities, then your staff’s personal touch really needs to shine.
Either way, marketing your positive resident experience is key to getting more new leases. Here are a few effective and easy ways to do it:
1. Document + Share Your Move-In Process
A seamless move-in process is an important component for a positive resident experience and, therefore, a higher renewal rate. In fact, a Kingsley Associates study found that the renewal rate for residents who were satisfied with the move-in process was 59% higher than the renewal rate for residents who were dissatisfied.
There’s no question that prospective residents will love to know that moving into one of your apartments is quick and easy—it may even become the deciding factor to signing a lease.
A great way to show an easy move-in process is by documenting a new resident actually moving in from start to finish. You can do this by having the leasing agent take simple videos and pictures of everything. We also recommend getting a few quotes from the resident if possible. Obviously, you will have to secure permission from the incoming resident, but usually a gift card or discount on the first month’s rent will do the trick.
However, if you can’t get permission or don’t feel comfortable, you can still document what the general process looks like without a physical resident or have one of your staff stand in.
As for marketing this content, an easy way is to share the videos to your Instagram stories and save them all as a “Move-In Process” highlight. This way, it will permanently stay on your profile and prospective residents can check it out whenever they want. You can even refer to it in your social posts, lead emails and tours to continue informing prospects that it’s there.
2. Share Reviews
It’s a big win whenever your community receives a positive review online. So, when it comes to pumping up your positive resident experience online, it should be treated as such! It’s time to share every positive review your property receives loud and proud on both social media and your website!
For social media, a tool our marketing team loves to use for quick graphics like this is Canva—an incredibly user-friendly graphic design platform. With this tool, you can create a crisp graphic with the review quote in the foreground and property images or other fun design elements in the background. Plus, in Canva, you can upload your property’s brand colors and logo to use in the graphics.
It’s incredibly reassuring for prospective residents to see positive reviews when they visit your social media platforms or website. It may also help combat any potential negative reviews they see on Google.
3. Post Content of Residents On Property
There’s nothing more reassuring to someone who’s gearing up to move than seeing residents being actively happy at the community where they’re thinking of living.
Seeing real residents living their best life is much more persuasive and impactful than a headline on your website that says. “Live your best life at our property.” To be clear, I’m not knocking a good headline, it’s just helpful to back it up with photo proof.
A great way to keep up this strategy is to set a routine where a designated staff member swings by some of the amenities and community areas on certain days to take quick videos or photos of residents utilizing and enjoying the spaces. If you keep finding that you’re not able to capture too many residents “in the moment,” then think about their routines and the times they are most likely to use the amenities.
Additionally, when your staff or one of your residents hosts an event, that’s the perfect time to snap away!
No Experience Left Behind...
No matter how you choose to do it, get the word out that your residents have a positive experience leasing with your community!
There’s no question it’s great to advertise your amenities and unique features, but too few properties really market the great service they offer and the level of satisfaction of their current residents. This is a mistake, especially considering how resident experience has become such a hot topic in the industry.
Make it your goal this week to implement one new strategy for showing off your happy residents and incredible staff!
Ashley Tyndall is Chief Relationship Officer at Criterion.B.