Digging Through Apartment Self-Touring Data

A multitude of touring options has some apartment marketers struggling to measure each one’s effectiveness and formalize an ideal strategy for that key step in attracting prospective residents.

Demetri Themelis, Co-Founder, Knock; Todd Katler, CEO, Anyone Home; and C.J. Edmonds, Chief Revenue Officer, Smart Rent; discussed what data to consider and the tour-conversion relationship during a session at National Multifamily Housing Council’s OpTech Conference in National Harbor, Md.

Themelis advised to succinctly divide any type tour into one of four categories: Assisted, Unassisted, Virtual and In-Person. He said communities that have multiple touring options see their leads-to-leases conversions increase by up to 38 percent.

Katler added, “It’s not what’s better or worse, or what you like. Offer them all.”

The panel shared that those who took a self-guided tour and leased an apartment completed their tour within 60 minutes of their initial inquiry.

And if a prospect didn’t sign a lease after a tour, 47.3 percent said it was because they still wanted to interact with a leasing agent.

Apps, Fobs and Models

There’s no consensus on whether prospects prefer a self-guided or guided tour. Katler mentioned that his data show prospects’ first tour is split evenly between self-guided and guided. 

When offering self-guided tours, “the company should go with what they are comfortable with, Katler said. “If it’s just handing off a key fob to a prospect who shows up at your leasing office; it’s whatever is in their comfort zone.”

Edmonds said one option is to have the prospect download an app that will guide them through the touring process, but cautioned against it. “App fatigue is real,” he said. “Having a person willing to download an app one time just to tour your property once is not always going to be successful.”

Edmonds offered an example of one community that, at first, furnished the model that would be used for the self-guided tour, hanging signs to let the prospects know the property had installed cameras to help it maintain safety.

Another, he said, stocked the unit with things such as food and drinks, and invited the prospects to take what they wished. He said that the property’s tours performed better.

“The important thing is that after a tour is completed, the prospect knows what their next step is in the process, with a proper call to action,” Edmonds said. 

Ultimately, the panel agreed that the entire curb-to-couch process for renters signing leases has not been perfected.