According to a study by BrightLocal, nearly 90 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations. And its important to note that poor customer reviews reach twice as many people as positive reviews. Fighting a poor online reputation can seem like an uphill battle. How can the smart property manager make a good impression from a bad review?
We talked to Reputation Manager Jeremy Lawson of Fogelman Management Group for expert tips.
1. Take advantage of prospects. Prospects are an undervalued opportunity for property managers. When a leasing agent has a great tour and makes a positive connection with a prospective resident, thats a good time to ask for a positive review. Use prospects to expand the reach of positive reviews. Owners and property managers are missing out on 66 percent of their customers by not asking them.
2. Reach your residents when theyre happiest. Residents are the happiest when they move in, and the move-in inspection is the perfect way to make a great impression with residents. Property managers completing the inspection and move-in process with residents can defuse a lot of common problems that pop up in bad reviews later on.
3. Pay attention to your most common complaints. Whats one of the top customer complaints? Service request completion. Its one of the first things properties let fall by the wayside. Property managers need to remember theyre in the business of customer service. Look at it this way: A bad review is an opportunity to learn and improve service for residents. But its also important to remember that bad reviews are the exception and not the rule.
4. Get the staff to buy in. The biggest hurdle property owners and property management leadership has to get over is buy-in from their staff members. The leasing agents and service teams are the ones who interact with the customers. The owners are looking at bad reviews, so the staff should, too. Its easy for staff to take reviews very personally; so let them know that youre all on the same team. Incorporate fun contests into your reputation management strategy to get your staff members into it.
5. Respond to the good reviews, too. You have to respond to all reviews, not just the bad ones. Your response should be for the reader, not the reviewer. By just responding to your residents, people take noteand theres a lot of value in that. Communities with a 70 percent approval rate or higher were seeing 12 percent conversions to leads, while communities with lower approval ratings saw just 3 percent conversion to leads. Two or three new, positive reviews will make a big difference.
Discover more ways to respond to negative online reviews at Multifamily Insiders.