In a market that is getting more competitive, customers enjoy increased information in guiding their choice of where to rent – factors such as budget and location, urban or suburban destinations are very significant.
Increasingly however, amenities and lifestyle offerings – such as a residents’ app to communicate with the residence’s community – play an ever more critical role. All applications use the customers’ mobile phones and operate via a branded app.
Mobile applications facilitate better communication with the management team. Customers can use the app to review lease documents, book amenities or contact the concierge. But, despite all the technology available, there are only a few residential, customer-centred apps available to assist and make daily life easier.
How do they work?
The customer can download the brand app via a secure access link and access the appropriate tenant profile. Reservations for amenities, private functions rooms etc., come as a standard feature; maintenance and defect rectification are also a core part. A few programmes allow rent payments to go via the app, but this is more popular in the US. This article focuses on the payment options offered by some of the applications offer.
Apps can help customers report faults
The customer’s mobile phone can become a digital wallet for selected local vendors chosen by the building’s management team, for example laundry, flowers, pet-care, neighbourhood restaurants, building services (repairs, housekeeping, mail and caretaking services etc.), transportation, hairdresser and much more.
An easy-to-operate concierge dashboard allows the management team a comprehensive overview of activities and actionable items. Pick-up or collection to and from an apartment makes prioritisation effortless, depending on the property’s operating policies.
Stripe Connect, or similar payment platforms, process all transactions; all client payment details remain where they belong, with the customer! The app taps into the Apple Wallet or Google Pay app for each transaction, allowing complete control and security confidence all the time.
Benefits for owner/developers and management companies
An app will increase the building’s service offering by enabling customers to buy directly from selected local vendors and have goods delivered to their apartments if so chosen. The digital payments of the platform mean that the development’s accounting team has no extra work with back-charges or account reconciliations. Best of all, with each of the customers’ one-tap transactions, a small margin fee on products and services can create a new steady stream of income.
As feedback is vital, any app should offer a tenant satisfaction widget. After a specified number of transactions, a small pop-up widget (like Trustpilot) can engage with the customer. A simple swipe answers any of the desired customisable questions, such as “cleanliness”, “feeling of safety”, “community”, “concierge service”, “maintenance situation”, etc.
Thus, operators can gauge seamlessly during the year the mood and satisfaction of their customers and will not be surprised by reviews on rating websites. The ongoing satisfaction gathering enables the operation to be constantly fine-tuned and trends can be spotted early, before they become an issue.
Ultimately, this app allows much more real-time feedback from customers – whilst they are spending.
For example, if 100 customers use the app and the offerings on the device entice them to five buying activities per month, the app will generate 6,000 purchases per year. Setting the feedback solicitation at every fifth purchase will result in 1,200 feedback data points per year – not bad, given that most likely there weren’t any in the first place or just very few.
Feedback is key
The logic is straightforward. The more the customer spends, the more commission revenue is generated, and the more feedback data points are gathered. With that combination, the customer can be better tied to the brand (and building) through the demonstration of the care and pro-active management that generates happy customers. This reduces in turn the risk of them leaving after their first tenancy contract.
The beauty of using the app is that the customers would spend the money somehow anyway. The developer/operator simply provides a convenient way for them to spend it remotely via the app whilst unlocking new revenue and vital operations-relevant data.
Benefits for customers
While relationships are at the core of all customer-experience interactions, customers may want to avoid unnecessary face-to-face exchanges, as for example, during COVID-19. This way, customers can deal with all daily household activities quickly and safely without having to be present with cash or credit cards.
Depending on the service levels in the building, items can be delivered straight into the apartment via key-authorisation or picked up at the front desk at the customer’s convenience, with a personalised message in each case.
Customers can do their laundry whilst playing a round of golf – just like a hotel!
Benefits for local businesses
While relationships are at the core of all customer-experience interactions, customers may want to avoid unnecessary face-to-face exchanges, as for example, during COVID-19. This way, customers can deal with all daily household activities quickly and safely without having to be present with cash or credit cards.
Depending on the service levels in the building, items can be delivered straight into the apartment via key-authorisation or picked up at the front desk at the customer’s convenience, with a personalised message in each case.
Customers can do their laundry whilst playing a round of golf – just like a hotel!
Analytics: Understand what is working – knowledge is power
Having access to statistical information from all sales activities gains an advantage over competitors. Understanding trends, and which providers and products work best for the tenants, protects and improves the bottom line.
Analytics: Knowledge is power
This knowledge enables management teams to customise or make strategic changes in services that will result in improvement or, at the very least, limit the erosion of profits. This insight is beneficial if the building offers a range of amenities, such as bar set-up, building-related services etc., and allows the team to catch trends early on or to adjust as and when necessary.
The analytics module might have an enterprise overview. Operators compare several locations’ data to benchmark like-for-like datasets to help determine regional differences, entice friendly competition between teams, and, most importantly, continuously establish best practices across the company.
ResiSettle is such an app. Created specifically for residential customers, it has – as a digital marketplace – safety of transactions and ease of service to customers at its very core. It helps bind digitally aware customers to the brand, unlocks new revenue and creates a new community feeling.