Optimize the Resident Experience by Setting Happiness Goals

The number two reason why people leave their homes is based on the quality of service from the property manager, according to a study by the National Multifamily Housing Council.

If residents are happy with the quality of service you provide, they’ll stick around. This saves your company oodles of money in turnover and make-ready costs. In fact, replacing a resident is four times more expensive than keeping the one you already have.

Alright, you get it. Resident happiness is super important. Question is, how do you increase it?

The first step to increasing resident happiness is to measure it. Most companies never survey their residents or do it infrequently. This is a poor measure of happiness because you get poor response rates, and a small sample of surveys doesn’t tell you the cause of frustrations or happiness. With Aptly, the resident experience is measured regularly with customer satisfaction surveys. Results from these surveys create the overall Happiness Score, revealing real-time data about resident happiness the entire team can see.

With this simple scoring tool, your whole team can have an impact on reducing unit turnover and increasing renewals, referrals and converted leads.

Once you know your Happiness Score, create goals to improve it. Follow these steps to set resident happiness goals for your team.

1. Set reasonable goals

Take a step back and think about what you’re really looking to improve. You want to see your Happiness Score go up, but your score is based on how well you’re handling resident issues, right? This means you need to map out your current processes when setting Happiness goals, and see if there are areas to improve.

Pick three different metrics that you want to improve. These metrics should be processes your team uses regularly that affect resident sentiment. These metrics could be:

• Count of issues by type
• Average response time
• Survey results

Determine which of your processes need improvement, and set goals to get it done!

2. Analyze existing feedback

I can’t think of anyone that enjoys reading negative feedback about themselves, but combing through it is necessary if you want to improve the resident journey.

What kinds of topics are mentioned the most in negative responses? This will give you insight into what is causing negative feedback:

• Lack of responsiveness
• Time it took to resolve
• Tone of the person handling the issue

Identify areas in need of improvement and use them as training opportunities with your team. Create a plan for how and when your team should respond, and introduce incentives to get everyone on board!

For negative reviews, be proactive and reach out before they end up on social media. Ask residents what your team could’ve done to make their experience better and give them a chance to leave another review. Use negative reviews to convert unhappy residents into brand ambassadors who promote and recommend your property online.

Don’t forget about the positive responses! Ask residents who leave positive reviews to post it on your social media channels. Following up with happy residents increases the chance they will leave another positive review because it tells them your team cares about their opinion.

Communication templates are an awesome tool to make following up on survey responses quick and simple. Aptly stores all of your communication templates and even auto-suggests relevant ones in email conversations. Check out an example template for following up on a positive survey response:

3. Motivate your Team to Meet Happiness Goals

Once you’ve set goals to improve your Happiness Score, how do you get your team excited? One word: Incentives.

Explain what the Happiness Score means to the on-site team. Motivate your team to embrace these goals by telling them how this will make their lives easier. Happier residents means less complaints!

Also, create specific goals for the work day, week, and month. By presenting your team with goals they can achieve in the short-term, they’re more inclined to follow through.

Here are some ways to keep your team even more motivated to meet their Happiness Goals:

• Reward teammates who receive the most positive survey results by posting about them on your company’s social media channels or giving them a cash bonus or small incentive, like a free dinner out.
• Also reward those teammates who have the most responses, not just the most positive responses. This team member is really driving survey responses and helping your company keep an accurate record of resident sentiment.
• Leverage the Happiness Score in one-on-one meetings with teammates. Go over their individual goals, and discuss how they’re progressing each week.
• Host weekly training sessions on listening and responsiveness skills. During these sessions, your team can listen to recorded Aptly phone calls together and discuss why certain calls received a positive or negative survey response.

4. Track your progress!

Use the Happiness Score as a KPI to benchmark performance for the company as a whole. Once every one or two weeks, have a check-in with your team to go over CSAT results and the overall Happiness Score.

Use these meetings to analyze progress and stay on top of your goals. Show off your progress to leadership by sending CSAT reports to them. Don’t forget to praise your resident Happiness superstars!

5. Set Your Company Apart from the Rest

The Happiness Score is a valuable measurement to ensure your team is focused on delighting residents. Setting goals to improve this score helps your company stay hyper-focused on the resident experience, and this gives your company an edge against the competition!

Property management is all about relationships, so if your company is killing it with your Happiness Score, then use this as a marketing tool. Write articles, testimonials, or posts on social media about how you’ve taken steps to improve the resident experience. This will distinguish your company from the others and show that YOU are the one to go to for an excellent resident journey.

To help your team improve your resident Happiness Score, implement tools like Aptly to track, socialize, and visualize your goals. Use these tools to show investors and leadership how your company is hyper-focused on the resident journey. Take a cue from companies like Red Peak and Veritas who have aligned their companies around the resident experience.

Not using Aptly?

Aptly is a task management tool specifically designed for property teams. We integrate task boards with your inbox, phone, and property management software (PMS) giving teams a single place to collaborate and manage all work.

Contact us to get a free trial of Aptly and learn more about the future of work for property teams.