Future tenants will judge you by your reviews online. If you aren’t building up a volume of reviews, the only reviews they’ll see might be negative ones.
It is sad, yet true: Many tenants just create reviews when they aren’t happy. One recent study discovered that basic concerns, like price of rent and property condition, were more than likely to provoke negative reviews online. Additional reasons may involve waiting too long for necessary services or repairs, not getting a complete deposit back after moving out, or being evicted.
Plus, if negative reviews online and social posts are not counteracted by a bigger positive feedback volume your reputation online will suffer.
Entrata discovered most (94%) residents searching for an apartment read reviews online during their search, with 68% reading between 1 and ten reviews. Plus, 86% stated reviews online have a great impact on their choice to rent.
However, only 14% read over 15 reviews — therefore you must be certain the first couple of reviews they see are positive.
Here is the good news: Many reviews are positive. Over 50% of all Amazon reviews — for all services and goods — offer a five-star rating. Therefore, the more reviews there are, the better.
Ask and Ye Shall Receive
You might come across hundreds of individuals satisfied with your service and your property as a property manager — affiliated vendors, tenants, owners, all are excellent sources for reviews online. However, lean property management staff finds it challenging to spend time asking for and observing reviews.
These strategies for Online Reputation Management make building volume of reviews simple:
1) Request reviews: Rather than crossing your fingers and thinking that your tenants are going to sing your praises on the Internet, be proactive and request that they create a review. New mobile applications allow property managers at your places of business to request reviews in person and follow up using a text message — directly from their smartphones. Additional methods include sending emails out or having a kiosk inside the lobby. Building volume of reviews assists in increasing ratings and rankings.
2) Publish reviews upon popular social channels and review sites: Sharing tenant reviews upon Yelp, Facebook, Google or other industry-specific sites for reviewing spreads the word about the quality of your services and properties, and assists in building a strong reputation online. In addition, make sure your business listings upon these websites are accurate, in order for individuals who want to create a review not to have to work diligently to locate you.
3) Respond to every negative review: Many individuals will offer you another chance if you show that you care as they issue a complaint and work to solve their problem. Thirty-three percent of customers who got a reply in response to a critical review turned around then posted a positive review; 34% deleted the original negative review, according to a Retail Consumer Report.
Respond politely and promptly, and reassure a reviewer you are doing whatever is possible to fix the issue.
For more details on Online Reputation Management contact Soaring Away at (910) 471-5030.
