How 2020’s Apartment Marketing Technology Revolution is Powering 2021

3-D virtual tours, chat bots, omni-channel marketing technology and interactive sight maps came into their own in 2020 and are being applied even more in 2021.

Morgan Porter, digital marketing director at Birchstone Residential, Dallas-Fort Worth, commented on their capabilities and value when it comes to improving the resident journey in a blog published this week at multifamilyinsiders.com.

Porter, a multifamily industry professional with 13+ years’ experience, writes that one primary goal for apartment companies looking to maintain success even during the pandemic and beyond was to find ways to replicate that personal touch through digital connections. 

“We learned that consumers need and expect information to be easily accessible and available multiple ways online,” Porter wrote.

“We wanted to get information to the users as quickly as possible. Some solutions executed seamlessly while the industry was forced to innovate on the fly in other instances. All were game changers in a fully digital world.”

3D virtual tours

When the era of social distancing arrived, it became paramount for operators to have virtual tours available for all floor plans (not just a select few), amenity spaces and the clubhouse, Porter wrote, and they needed to own these digital assets so they could share them across multiple mediums.”

Chatbot + Live Agent Combo

During 2020, Porter saw that chat widgets had become smarter through AI-powered natural language processing, as well as cross-channel flexibility “so marketers could leverage the technology in other advertising environments like social media, Google Business appointment schedulers, text messaging bots and more,” she wrote.

More than that, “forward-thinking operators added a hybrid dynamic—a live agent” able to answer the prospect’s specific, unique questions.

Once the prospect maxes out with the instant-message style chatbot, they should be transferred to an onsite team member who can pick up where the chat left off, filling in the blanks and continuing the prospect journey, she wrote.

This tech is a supportive integration, and “when executed well, the chat can become the MVP, otherwise it becomes a frustrating deterrent,” Porter wrote.

Omnichannel Experience vs. Multichannel Experience

Omnichannel experience is a multi-channel approach to marketing and serving customers in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive experience no matter how or where a customer reaches out.

“For operators, it’s paramount that all channels provide users with information continuity and an advancement strategy to continue the journey until the customer is ready to move forward,” she wrote. 

In an omnichannel experience, a prospect might engage with a social media ad that prompts a chatbot and contact form. 

“The user exhausts all the capabilities of the chatbot but is still needing information about floor plan availability, but isn’t ready to submit a contact form,” Porter explained.

The user can then click a link inside the chatbot redirecting them to the property website, “but instead of sending them to the homepage to start over, the link sends them to the floor plan availability page. This creates an intentional linear journey that feels personalized,” she wrote.

Interactive Site maps

Porter wrote that sophisticated prospects need to see the entire picture when they are searching for their next home. 

“Spotlighting general interior features and a few amenity photos isn’t enough anymore,” she wrote. “They don’t want to be sold something—they want to shop for it. Interactive, filter-enabled site maps allow unlimited flexibility for an operator to add more searchable attributes that are relevant to their audience.”

More than anything, Porter wrote that the overall lesson gleaned from 2020 is that the prospect journey can be even more streamlined.