We all know how important online reviews have become in attracting new residents.

We also know what it’s like to be flamed on an apartment online review site by a frustrated resident who claims you “never listened or resolved my issue on multiple attempts”.

The reality is that ~20% of the time there is a disconnect between a resident’s expectation of what the issue is and what your technicians actually fixed.

Regardless of best intentions, you could still be missing the mark.

Here are three quick guidelines for better identifying and remediating this mis-alignment before it boils-over online:

 

1. Speed Kills

Get your service notifications and survey out to residents asap, ideally the same day services were rendered.

If there is an issue, its top of mind for the resident and they are much more likely to tell you about it.

Even if your staff got something wrong, your event-driven resident notification was quickly delivered, allowing the resident to alert you before frustration sets in.

 

2. Medium Matters

Is your followup in a communication channel your resident’s prefer?

Ideally, your onsite leasing agents or customer service reps would personally talk to each resident to make sure they are satisfied with their repairs. Unfortunately, this is hard to consistently execute.

SMS (text) messaging is a great alternative and a medium you should consider trying. According to Mobile Market Watch, SMS has a 98% open rate versus 22% for email, which dramatically improves your chances of identifying that 20% mis-alignment in expectations.

 

3. Promote Praise

70% of resident responses will be positive. Some of these will be downright gold!

You will get several responses a month that would be great to stream on your marketing website as a way of promoting your great customer service as articulated through the voice of your existing residents.

Your maintenance technicians will also appreciate the positive feedback!

“… (name removed) did a fantastic job! Thank you so much for the care taken in leaving my kitchen spotless!”

 

If your multifamily apartment operation is looking for a better way to “do maintenance” and improve on your resident followup, schedule a demo – we promise you’ll be impressed!