Effectively communicating with residents is an essential part of creating an amazing resident experience. Whether you’re communicating changes in policies, sharing emergency procedures, or welcoming new residents, good communication keeps residents informed and educated about your community. This establishes clear expectations and minimizes conflicts, which can have a significant impact on your resident satisfaction and retention.
That’s why we’re sharing four tips for effective communication with residents that you can start implementing right away.
Be clear and Concise
By being clear and concise in their communication, property managers can ensure that residents understand their messages and act upon them in a timely manner. This may be easier said than done, so here are our quick tips to help you minimize confusion:
- Use simple language: Residents shouldn’t need to reach for the dictionary every time they receive a message. Avoid using technical terms, jargon, or overly complex sentences and your messages will be easier to understand.
- Be direct: Euphemisms and beating around the bush won’t improve the effectiveness of your messages. Use direct language to convey important information.
- Only include what you need to: Stay focused on the main message, avoiding unnecessary details or information that may confuse your residents.
- Use bullet points: By using bullet points or numbered lists, you can break down complex information into easy-to-read sections.
- Proofread: Proofread all messages for grammar and spelling errors. This helps to ensure that messages are clear and professional.
Be Responsive
By being responsive, property managers can build trust and create strong relationships with their residents, improving overall satisfaction and retention rates. Aim to respond promptly to inquiries from residents, providing timely and accurate information to help resolve any issues that might pop up.
Of course, no property manager wants to spend every waking minute responding to emails from their residents. By taking a more proactive approach to communication, property managers can reduce the number of messages they receive from residents. Send updates on scheduled maintenance, upcoming community events, and ongoing renovations so residents are informed and can prepare ahead of time.
Property managers can also reduce the amount of time they spend on their overall communication by using the right property management software to streamline communication processes and provide tenants with easy access to important information. Even better, with the right software, property managers can automate a large number of their manual tasks, giving them even more time back.
Use Multiple Channels of Communication
Property managers should use multiple communication channels, such as email, SMS broadcasting, phone calls, and digital bulletin boards, to reach their residents. Residents these days expect more personalized experiences, and using multiple channels ensures that residents receive your communication in a way that is convenient and accessible for them, helping them stay well-informed.
SMS Broadcasting Is One of the Most Powerful Communication Channels for Property Managers
Consumers are 35x more likely to see a brands’ texts over their emails. SMS broadcasting allows property managers to use an app to send a single text message to a large group of residents simultaneously, allowing you to reach a wide audience quickly.
Whether you want to group residents by specific floors, towers, or buildings or depending if they own pets, are on committees, or more, SMS broadcasting is a way to ensure you message only those that need it.
Need to send updates on scheduled maintenance? Give your residents a heads up a week in advance, then send a reminder the day before so everyone in your community feels prepared. Need to communicate with your staff about an upcoming event? You can use SMS broadcasting to do that too. And in the event of an emergency, you can quickly alert everyone on your property and staff so they stay safe and informed.
Property managers can also use SMS broadcasting to send personalized messages to individual recipients, making it an ideal communication tool for property managers to reach residents in a way that’s convenient, fast, and reliable.
Learn more about improving resident communication with SMS broadcasting.
Use Communication Templates to Save Time
Communication templates are simply pre-written messages that can be customized and used repeatedly for a specific purpose or scenario. They ensure that critical information isn’t omitted from important messages, minimizing the risk of misunderstandings or confusion. Using templates also provides a consistent and professional tone for your communications, ensuring that tenants receive the same level of care regardless of who is sending the message.
With templates, you don’t have to write the same message over and over again. You can then quickly and easily customize and send messages to tenants, vendors, or other stakeholders. Stay organized by labeling your templates by purpose, recipient group, and communication channel. Using communication templates is a smart way to improve your efficiency, accuracy, and consistency—all while saving time and effort.
Get five free email communication templates from BuildingLink.
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