Google reviews have quickly become the industry standard as the go-to place for prospects to find out about a potential next home. However, it’s also a place for residents to post about issues or concerns that your team never even had a chance to resolve, out there for everyone to see. Good thing there’s a couple key ways that adding a robust resident texting solution to your property can prevent some of this negative feedback from ever reaching the web!

Make Move-in Enjoyable

Move-in is a pivotal moment in a resident’s experience with their new apartment. Moving is stressful, expensive, and full of unknowns. New residents have a million questions, from how to turn off the ice maker in the fridge, to navigating the building, to finding a great local coffee shop in the neighborhood. 

With a million moving parts in the process, make sure communication with onsite team members is not a challenge. A simple text message the day before move-in asking about any last minute questions not only provides great proactive service, but also makes sure a new resident has an easy way to ask questions or report issues during the moving process. More importantly, creating a positive move-in process has a big impact on Google reviews. Residents are more likely to leave a review within the first few months of a lease than any other time, so make sure the move-in experience is spot on.

Catch feedback before Google

One of the great things about resident messaging is that residents are more likely to share feedback via text than they are through other channels. Residents these days have their phone on them or within a few feet of them at all times. When they notice something off, something is irritating them (or even something makes them excited), their phone is right at their fingertips to share that information. The question is: are they sharing it with you or the whole world? 

A resident may not take the time to go to a computer to send an email or walk down to the office to report something that is off, but if they can quickly shoot off a text, you are more likely to find out about the concern. Consider an external door that isn’t locking properly: A resident may think “someone else will report it” if they have to log in to a portal or find the right email to contact. But the thought that security is a little lax might linger in their head, making them uneasy and potentially leading to a negative review. 

However, if they can send a text right at that moment and receive confirmation that the team knows about the issue, the communication loop is closed quickly and seamlessly.

Prevent Phone Tag

Spam calls are more prevalent than ever! There are a million organizations dialing from anonymous “local” numbers to try to get a hold of anyone they can reach. The result? No one answers their phone anymore. 

Residents and prospects alike are less likely to answer their phone than ever before and management teams are spending more time playing phone tag and leaving voicemails. When a resident has an urgent issue or an onsite team needs to communicate important information to a resident, nothing is more irritating than phone tag. 

Make sure residents are getting the information they need, when they need it, through text instead of unanswered voicemails. Too many Google reviews mention “Management didn’t let me know that…” or “I never heard back about…”. Smooth communication is key when it comes to resident engagement.

Understand Resident Sentiment

By channeling feedback from residents into texting conversations and other private digital communication, management teams can gain important insights into a resident’s individual sentiment.  

Take for example a resident who has three issues with their unit in the span of a week. Through in-person interactions and phone calls, that resident might interact with multiple different contacts and the transparency that things are going awry may not exist. With rich resident messaging, your team can not only proactively reach out and check in with residents, but also see the entire history of conversations with that resident in one place which helps a team draw connections across time and understand resident sentiment more deeply.

These are just some of the ways in which resident messaging can help improve resident experience and keep those negative reviews off of Google. Learn more about resident texting today or schedule a conversation with our team.