When you’ve got something to tell your residents—big news, upcoming events, planned maintenance—it’s easy to fall back on good ol’ flyers taped up in high-traffic areas and slipped under doors. The problem is that too many residents walk right by or toss those flyers directly into the recycling bin.
Then there’s email. It works great, IF it gets read. According to March 2018 data from Constant Contact, the email open rate for its real estate customers hovers around 16.5 percent, while the click-through-rate is under 8 percent.
Text (SMS) messaging is increasingly popular, but that just adds one more task to your to-do list. And if you use an SMS marketing platform, it’s one more tool you have to remember how to use.
Of course you know residents don’t want to be bombarded by communications, so you try to target your approach. All too often, that means pulling lists of specific residents (such as those who have pets) and manually emailing or texting them. It’s a time-consuming and all-too-error-prone process.
ENOUGH ALREADY. With an advanced mobile app strategy, property managers can quickly and easily get the word out to the right residents, the way they want to receive it—and make sure the message is received.
If you want to elevate your mobile strategy you need to consider the entire app lifecycle. Download Mobile First: Harnessing the App Lifecycle for Transformative Business Success to learn how.
How Property Management Apps Improve Resident Communications
Sophisticated property mobile apps offer far more than a smartphone-optimized website—they can actually help streamline and improve resident communications. Property managers can use a simple web dashboard to tailor, automate and optimize resident communications. Here’s how:
- Only send messages to residents who want or need them. Using profile information and user data, you can easily create sub-groups of residents—such as frequent gym users, residents who use valet parking, pet owners, etc. This helps keep you from bombarding residents with messages that aren’t important or relevant to them.
- Use the method each resident prefers—text (SMS), push notifications, email or phone. Resident app users specify how they want to be reached, enabling back-end systems to segment the resident database automatically so you don’t text people who just want to receive emails.
- Create and manage email blasts in a snap. Choose from pre-designed templates that can be filled out and sent with just a few clicks.
- Send messages immediately or schedule for automated delivery. Analyzing user data can give you a sense of when non-urgent messages are most likely to be read and received.
- Use push notifications for messages that can’t be ignored or require immediate response. Push notifications show up on the resident’s smartphone lock screen and must be interacted with to be dismissed. They can also be programmed with response options, such as “yes / no” or “cancel / reschedule.”
- Match the method to the situation. For example, you might want to send an eBlast to all residents with an invitation to an upcoming event, then send a push notification requesting RSVPs, and finally an SMS reminder to those who RSVPed “Yes” on the day of the event.
Beyond resident communications, apps can elevate the entire resident experience and help property managers and staff streamline many more aspects of their daily operations and community life. See what a difference a mobile app can make in this case study featuring Jade Ocean in Florida.
