This One Simple Call Improves the Resident Experience

It seems simple enough: Set a policy that the maintenance technician calls the resident after the work order has been completed.

Venterra Realty Management has that rule in place, and it saw quality scores for its team rise from 3.2 to 4.8.

“Nothing really changed on how the maintenance tech performed the work, but the ‘perception’ about us changed for the better,” Stephanie Gonzalez, Vice President, Innovation said.

Her comments were from a panel at the National Multifamily Housing Council’s OpTech Conference last week in Las Vegas about improving the customer experience.

Positive experiences can lead directly to renewals, the panel said.

Gonzalez added, “Does the management team care about me as a person” as another sentiment that proved the key reason for renewals at her communities.

Jason Whittington, CTO, REBA, said “Someone at the property knows my name,” was the top reason why residents renewed according to one study.

It’s those review comments that operators must capitalize on.

Marcella Eppsteiner, SVP of Marketing, Learning, and Revenue Management, Mission Rock Residential, said that operators have to value any time a resident shares a review and use that information to share with the onsite team.

Said Joe Bagby, EVP, Chief Experience Officer, Continental Properties, “Sure, getting a ‘10’ score is great, but be just as excited about receiving a low score on a review, as long as it’s telling you something about what you did that you didn’t know so you can learn and improve from it.”

Virginia Love, Industry Principal, Entrata, said that residents have raised expectations on how they should be treated at apartment communities.

“Operators are competing against whatever the last online experience the renter prospect had, whether it’s Amazon, Starbucks, etc.,” according to Love.

The industry is improving the online leasing experience, the panel said, noting that it’s about three to five years away from having the online leasing experience completely frictionless.

Dayna Gardner, Principal, RealPage said there can be as many as 40 steps required to find and book an apartment.

“We’re a self-service world so we want to enable that on as many steps as possible,” Gardner said.

Joya Pavesi, EVP of Marketing and Strategy, Rivergate KW Management, said 26% of her tours are being scheduled via AI and after office hours.

Eppsteiner added that a company might be using 31 different technology devices or platforms as part of its online leasing, “but your customers shouldn’t realize it involves that many. It has to feel breezy while on your website.”