Why is the tenant experience important, and what should you look for in tenant engagement software? It all depends on your goals.
The typical tenant experience has traditionally looked a lot like this: create a maintenance request, send it off into the abyss, and wonder whether there will ever be a response (and whether the faucet will ever stop dripping).
Perhaps that sounds grim, but a poor tenant experience has long been the reality for many renters, due in large part to a lack of transparency and communication.
However, over the last few years, the tenant experience has become more important than ever, largely due to new laws around tenant complaints. Technology has also greatly helped shift the narrative, as landlords and property managers recognise that creating ease for tenants leads to trust, loyalty, and better results for everyone involved.
In fact, failing to invest enough in technology could be short-sighted, according to Deloitte’s 2023 commercial real estate outlook. Allocating a budget for tenant experience software is one of the most effective ways to elevate your renters’ experience — and protect your bottom line.
So what should you look for in tenant engagement software? And how can you ensure it’s doing what you need it to do? In this blog, we’ll dig into the details of what makes an excellent tenant experience, and how technology can give you a competitive advantage and set you up for sustained success.
Why is tenant experience important, and what role does technology play?
The tenant experience doesn’t end once you hand over the keys; it’s an ongoing experience. Tenants are trying to build a home where they feel safe and comfortable, and today more than ever, small changes can have a huge impact on quality of life.
Until recently, the tenant experience has chiefly been a one-way street; renters are at the mercy of their landlords, receiving infrequent communication and little transparency around when tasks will be completed. Sometimes tenants will put in multiple tickets about the same complaint or have no ability to update a ticket if something has worsened. This leads to stress and frustration, but perhaps worse, it causes renters to have little to no trust in management.
And what keeps tenants renewing is trust — trust that the property management company cares about their experience, hears their feedback, and responds in a timely, responsible, and transparent manner.
Tenants are more likely to stay longer in — and pay a premium for — a building with reliable management, where they feel listened to and happy with their experience.
Luckily, technology enables property managers to make the necessary improvements for creating an outstanding living experience. Tenant experience software allows you to improve communication and heighten transparency for tenants while streamlining the back end with data tracking and feedback collection. As this technology continues to improve, and other industries provide real-time information, it lets landlords receive instant feedback and provide self-service options.
What should you look for in tenant experience software?
If you’re ready to take the next step and invest in tenant experience software (or upgrade to better), there are a few key factors to look at.
First, it’s important to assess your goals — what you want to improve upon — and ask questions about how you can get there. Your objectives may include:
Collect more timely feedback.
Sending out repair satisfaction surveys for tenants is a simple and effective way to see where changes need to be made. Does the tenant engagement software you’re looking at automate feedback collection and associate the survey with the operative who completed the service? Is the feedback form quick, easy, and simple for the tenant to fill out?
Provide more transparency about when services will be completed.
Does the software offer capabilities like providing real-time ETAs or short and accurate time windows? More than half of customers say they’d feel relief by being able to track the location of their technician on an app or website, and 72% report that they would greatly benefit from being able to directly communicate with their technician.
Provide tools so tenants and operatives can better communicate.
Does the tenant engagement software facilitate self-service and two way-communication? You’ll want to look for technology that offers chat functionality across a number of mediums. Think: SMS, email, chatbot, a designated customer portal, etc.
Easily implement software that bolts on to what you have already.
You likely don’t want to start your tech stack over from scratch. Consider: Is the tenant experience software add-on or bolt-on?
Some job and scheduling platforms offer customer ETA alerts as an add-on, but not all solutions are created equal. Ensure you’re using a job management system that integrates with best-in-breed solutions so that you never have to compromise your tenants’ experience because of rigid technology.
Track data and measure performance.
Consider KPIs you want to track, as well as how you want to be able to sort that data, such as by team or location.
Here are some important KPIs you’ll want your tenant engagement software to track and measure:
- Average time to respond to maintenance requests
- First-time fix rates
- No-access rates
- Number of feedback requests sent to tenants
- Number and percentage of feedback links clicked
- Number of responses to feedback requests/number of forms submitted (conversion rate)
- Average feedback score during a given time period or to a specific operative
- Distribution of ratings
- Number of jobs assigned to each operative
- Ratings by team
- Ratings by region
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Build trust and transparency with tenant engagement software from Localz
Whether you’re looking for a better way to communicate with tenants, create customer portals, collect feedback, or implement data tracking for future optimisations, Localz’ tenant engagement software is fully customisable to meet all your needs.
Our configurable solutions are designed to address your concerns about the tenant experience, and our tools help you track every KPI discussed here — and more. Establish trust and transparency with your tenants by offering technology that allows them to manage their appointments, track technician ETA in real time, communicate via two-way chat, and rate their experiences.
Localz can also empower office-based staff to optimise the day of service with operational statistics, dispatch and job management, multiparty chat, and real-time feedback for service recovery. Plus, pre-built integrations with the top property management platforms (including MRI’s Find My Engineer, Oneserve’s Track My Operative, and Masternaut’s On Time, amongst others) make the solution easy to implement.
Get in touch today to learn more about how Localz can improve your tenant experience — without requiring an entirely new tech stack.
