TECHNOLOGY
JEN PICcOTTI | SATISFACTS RESEARCH
How to Win the Ratings Game
1. REMEMBER THAT YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION BEGINS WITH YOUR
ONSITE REPUTATION.
Are you and your team focused on giving your residents the daily VIP treatment (returning resident
calls and emails same day, greeting everyone with a smile, resolving service requests quickly and correctly
the first time, keeping up with preventative maintenance)? If not, no amount of online focus will make
positive reviews appear!
Example: Company A is a large property management company who was not thrilled with their resident
satisfaction scores on their first annual resident survey, nor with the predominantly negative online reviews. To
turn things around, they had an all-hands company meeting, reviewed the annual resident satisfaction survey
scores and laid out a plan to focus on improving what they decided were the 3 most important topics for their
communities. One year later, not only did their survey scores improve, they reduced turnover by 30%! They were
finally giving their residents something to rave about and a good reason to remain a resident!
2. RESPOND TO ALL REVIEWS, BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE.
“I
online!”
t feels like our residents are out to get
us! And now corporate is worried about
the poor reviews. I know our team is
better than what is being portrayed
It’s tough to feel that so much of what is
posted on ratings and review sites is negative, and
it can be easy to kid ourselves and think that if we
ignore it, it will go away. The fact is, however, that
52% of all people looking for a new apartment
look to those very sites for information during
their search.
Don’t accept negative reviews as a given. Improve the onsite experience for your residents. And
then, don’t allow your community to be a punching bag online. Get in the room. Engage in the
conversation. Apologize for a person’s negative
experience at your community. Ask for the opportunity to discuss the situation and find a better
resolution. Ask for positive reviews from your
satisfied and happy residents. With concentrated
effort, you can win the Ratings Game and become
even more attractive to those prospects who are
reading about you online!
Take control of your online reputation and try
these 3 things:
Jen Piccotti is the Senior Vice President, Education and
Consulting for SatisFacts Research and a nationally known
writer and speaker in the multifamily housing industry.
She may be contacted at [email protected].
www.aamdhq.org
Say thank you for the positive ones, and for the not-so positive ones. If a person posts their horrible
experience:
• Apologize for their experience without making excuses or quoting policies and procedures.
• State that you would like the opportunity to find a better resolution to their concern.
• Invite the person to contact the office by phone, email or in person. Provide contact information.
Example: Company B, a large mid-western property management company, put a similar plan in place to
improve key resident satisfaction topics. In addition, they established specific direction and guidelines for responding to all reviews on apartment rating websites.
By focusing on both their onsite and online resident experience, they saw the ratio of online reviews go from
1 positive review for