Keep Your Residents Happy: Using Texting to Increase Resident Satisfaction
July 25, 2017 4:34 pm 1 CommentStop us if you’ve heard this one—a property manager needs to get a hold of their resident to schedule maintenance, but can’t reach them through email or paper notices. The property manager schedules the maintenance at an inconvenient time for the resident. Disappointed, the resident leaves the next year in search of another apartment complex. The property manager has lost a good tenant, and the resident has lost out on a good home. Why? Simply because they didn’t use the most effective way of contacting residents: texting.
Luckily, text messaging for property managers has been streamlined by several tech businesses. Now property managers can easily contact their tenants and give them the important information they need through texting.
At Market Apartments, we know how difficult facilitating resident interactions can be. We feel strongly, though, that each resident deserves a good relationship with their property managers, and every property manager deserves lasting residents. Relationships like these make for happy and healthy places to live! That’s why we’ve developed a new mass texting service to foster sustained interaction, leading to renewed leases and happy residents! Text messaging for property management companies offers a new and fast communication option to reach tenants.
Texting has evolved from its purely social beginnings, and, as it turns out when it comes to property managing, texting is a great way to retain residents and improve satisfaction! Let’s take a look at how texting can improve your conversion rate by 328% (yes, you read that correctly)!* In a recent sales optimization study, Velocify found that sending three or more purposeful text messages after a contact can increase conversion rates by over 300%. With numbers like that, it’s hard to think up a reason not to make the switch to texting over email and paper.
Engaging residents via texting not only boosts interaction rates but also significantly enhances the overall tenant experience. With this in mind, let’s explore the key reasons why texting should be your go-to method for communicating with tenants.
Texting vs. Email
SMS marketing and email marketing have different roles to play in your overall online advertising strategy. Each holds unique benefits in the way they deliver information to your current and future residents.
In its infancy, texting in the 90s began with only three keys. Fast forward to today, when mass texting services have hit the market, making communication much easier for business owners.
Mass texting services allow you to send out mass text messages to multiple users that will appear as individual messages. Busy tenants need to have options on how you communicate with them. Many tenants would rather SMS message than call.
Mobile messaging has transformed how property managers connect with their tenants, offering a direct and efficient communication channel. Mass texting services promise huge potential for property managers.
Services like AptsChat allow landlords to send out mass texts to their residents’ mobile devices, and receive texts from them as well. Previous mass texting services would only allow limited responses, but now mass texting services can facilitate an entire conversation!
According to a recent study by Mobile Marketing Watch, 98% of text messages are opened, as compared to a lowly 20% of emails opened. After reading the texts, recipients respond 45% of the time, versus an abysmal 6% response rate from email. This means your residents are more likely to open the text messages and respond! By simply changing the medium you use to reach your residents, you’re more likely to communicate with them. And as we know in marketing, direct communication leads to interest and renewed leases!
We know every landlord’s goal is to keep and retain good residents. Mass texting services help achieve that goal! The best part is that mass texting services make it easier on you, allowing you to communicate with residents on the go and at your fingertips.
Gone are the days of emailing residents and hearing only crickets back. No longer must you worry about communicating maintenance requests through taped notices on their doors. There must be a better way, and now there is!
Eliminate Physically Delivering Newsletters/Flyers
It has been the tradition for a long time to deliver flyers or brochures directly to residents’ doors or mailboxes. While this used to be a great way to place information in front of your residents, it requires a lot of time and effort. Rather than exerting physical work and time, you can save all of your resources with AptsChat.
Apartment texting allows you to eliminate this extra effort, leaving you with plenty of extra time and energy. Through texting, you can send out quick reminders, community updates, and more. It makes complete sense to utilize the time you would spend walking door to door to do something more productive!
Connect With Your Residents Quickly
Imagine being able to send out exactly what you need to, right when you need to! AptsChat gives you the power to do all of this, and more. With the world of texting at your fingertips, you can deliver any news that you need to, at any moment. This quick connection is helpful for many reasons and relieves the burden of communicating with every resident individually.
Aside from delivering important messages, you can connect with your residents more regularly. Text messaging will show your residents that you continually care about how they’re doing, and increase their satisfaction. Focusing on resident engagement through personalized messages can make tenants feel valued and more connected to their community.
Create Regular and Consistent Communication
How your residents feel about your community can determine the way a lot of prospects feel! Not to mention, your residents will appreciate receiving details about their community on a regular basis. It can be very difficult to live on property when you don’t feel like you know what’s going on. With AptsChat, you can share the smallest to the biggest details, giving your residents everything that they need to know to feel right at home.
From updates at your property to upcoming resident events, everyone will appreciate being on the same page. Apartment texting allows you to create regular, and consistent communication that greatly benefits your property.
Establish Better Relationships with Residents
At the end of the day, your residents want to know that you care about them. They want to feel that the property they live at is going to be aware of their needs and share relevant information with them. The last few years have proven to everyone that virtual forms of communication are crucial.
Digital communication tools offer a reliable way to keep in touch, making sure messages reach residents instantly. Rather than relying on phone calls or in-person communication, resident texting can simplify your load.
Generate Reviews and Further Feedback
Managing your reviews is necessary, but in order to manage them, you have to receive them in the first place. Many properties may struggle to get new reviews or do not have a productive process set up to generate more. Texting gives you an easy way reach your residents and get more positive reviews.
For example, if you had a resident event, you could send a text to leave a review right after. Each of your residents could follow a link and leave you a review. This is a process that could be set up for a variety of tasks, events, or triggers. It’s the perfect way to kick off receiving more reviews!
Simplify Communication In the Case of an Emergency
In today’s world, it’s crucial to have a form of communication with your residents that is quick and accurate. In the unfortunate case of an emergency at your property, you’ll be able to contact all of your residents at once. If there was an alert that you needed to disperse all at the same time, you would have no problem doing so.
Enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing you could relay important messages within seconds. Having this line of communication open within your community will make a huge difference for you and your residents.
Increase Attendance at Resident Events
Many properties plan incredible resident events but may struggle to get residents to attend. Text messaging allows you to send out reminders ahead of time. These repeated reminders will help increase the likelihood of your community attending!
There are a lot of benefits to having more residents attend your events. They can create a sense of community as well as increase the resident’s satisfaction. From here, you can generate better reviews and overall better experiences. Apartment texting can do so much for your community all at the same time!
How to Best Utilize Texting Service
While texting residents are shown to be more effective over email and paper communications, it is important how it is used. One study* showed that texting services were most effective when the business had already met and/or interacted with the text receiver. This is great news for property managers, who need to communicate important information, and to their residents who need and want to receive the information.
The only piece of technology that your customers are likely to carry with them all day is their phone. This makes this communication strategy perfect for conveying brief messages, promotions, and adverts.
Curious about how mass texting services work or how you can use them as a communication and apartment marketing tool? We’ve compiled some recommendations on how to best interact with your residents, and maximize your texting services:
Legal and Privacy Considerations in Mass Texting
Navigating the legal landscape of mass texting requires an understanding of compliance and privacy. When you use texting to communicate with residents, you have to adhere to laws like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This act mandates obtaining explicit consent from residents before sending them text messages. It’s there to make sure that residents have a clear path to opt out of receiving messages at any time. This approach aligns with legal standards and shows you respect their privacy, fostering trust and transparency between property managers and residents.
Privacy concerns are at the forefront of responsible texting practices. Making sure that messages don’t contain sensitive personal information is key to protecting resident privacy. If you send a text about scheduled maintenance it should be concise and free of any details that could compromise a resident’s privacy. This way, property managers can create a communication environment that respects legal boundaries while prioritizing resident comfort and security.
Ready to start texting with your residents? We’ve gone over a lot of the benefits, but in order to take advantage of all text messaging can do, you have to choose the right mass texting service. This is where our expertise comes in. We can help you compare prices and look into features so you can choose the right provider for your needs! Reach out today!
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Categorised in: Apartment Marketing, For Property Managers, Resident Retention
This post was written by Isabella Housel
Isabella Housel is a passionate and versatile professional writer with a deep love for words and a commitment to crafting compelling content that engages, informs, and inspires. With many years of experience in the industry, she has honed her skills across various genres, from creative storytelling to informative articles and technical documentation.
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