While traditional surveys may have been the status quo for resident feedback for the past 20 years, it’s clear they no longer meet the evolving needs of today’s multifamily communities. Moving forward, property managers must explore more dynamic and human-centric ways to engage with residents. Strategies that allow for real-time, conversational feedback—whether through text, phone, or face-to-face interactions—offer a more personal and responsive way to understand resident needs.

By embracing these qualities, multifamily teams can move beyond outdated surveys and toward a more responsive, engaging approach that fosters stronger, more connected communities.

Why Traditional Multifamily Surveys Are Falling Short

In multifamily environments, gathering resident feedback is more critical than ever. Property managers rely on this input to gain insight into the resident experience and help guide future decision-making. However, traditional surveys are increasingly showing their limitations in achieving these goals. Here's how:

1. Survey fatigue is real

With nearly every service or product asking for feedback, residents are inundated with requests to fill out surveys. This leads to a phenomenon known as "survey fatigue," where individuals either ignore the surveys entirely or provide rushed, surface-level responses just to get through them. This fatigue, compounded by long questionnaires and poor timing, results in low-quality data that is often incomplete, skewed, or not representative of actual resident satisfaction. As a result, the data gathered fails to reflect the true sentiment of residents.

2. Delayed feedback leads to missed opportunities

Surveys typically come at scheduled intervals—quarterly, annually, or following specific events like a maintenance request. By the time the data is collected, analyzed, and acted upon, the opportunity to address a resident's concern may be long gone. This delay can result in unresolved frustrations, ultimately leading to lower  satisfaction, reduced retention rates, and negative online reviews. Residents expect real-time solutions to their real-time problems, and traditional surveys just can’t keep up.

3. Limited flexibility in responses

Survey questions are often rigid, limiting residents to pre-defined and restrictive answer choices. While they might offer a text box for comments, many respondents skip these sections due to time constraints or lack of interest. This format prevents residents from expressing nuanced opinions or addressing issues that don’t fit neatly into pre-established categories, ultimately leading to properties only collecting surface-level insights.

4. One size doesn't fit all

Multifamily communities are diverse. From young professionals to families, and retirees to international residents, the range of expectations and needs of residents is vast. Traditional surveys often employ a one-size-fits-all approach, which fails to capture the unique experiences of different demographic groups. What resonates with one group may not matter to another, making it difficult to glean actionable data from a generalized survey. The problem with structured surveys is that they ask everyone the same questions, even if they don’t apply, and it’s expected of them to fill it out anyway. 

5. Lack of engagement: human vs. chatbot

With traditional surveys, it’s clear we’re not interacting with a real person; the feedback is often delivered by a chatbot or computer. This standard approach diminishes the incentive for residents to engage, leading to a sense that their feedback is disappearing into an abyss—one that won’t ever be read or addressed. This perception stems from a lack of transparency in the feedback process, leaving residents feeling disconnected and undervalued.

When residents know there’s a human on the other side of the conversation, they are more likely to feel that their feedback is being genuinely heard and considered. This fosters open and honest communication, providing property managers with valuable insights.

By shifting to more interactive feedback methods, such as text or face-to-face interactions, residents know they’re talking with a real person, and property managers can enhance engagement. This approach not only increases response rates and improves the quality of feedback but also creates opportunities to build stronger relationships with residents, fostering a deeper sense of community.

6. Difficulty in measuring sentiment

Understanding how residents feel about their living environment is crucial, but traditional surveys often miss the mark. Quantitative methods may reveal what a resident likes or dislikes, but they don’t capture the emotional depth of these preferences. Sentiment is key to grasping overall satisfaction and driving future decision-making, yet it’s frequently lost in checkbox-style questions. Property managers need tools that enable them to gauge residents' emotions more effectively, whether through open-ended feedback options or real-time interactions.