Onsite Insites by SatisFacts Research 2015 - 2nd Quarter | Page 11

The findings were fascinating – with significant
changes in some areas – and some real surprises
regarding the importance of things such as social
media, ratings and reviews, and what drives
leasing and renewals. For example, the results
helped answer a variety of hot multifamily topics
such as:

In evaluating the results, we saw that there
were two primary takeaways. When you read
these, think about yourself, how you should,
your personal decision making criteria –
because today’s online renters are no
different than what you desire as a consumer:
1.

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Did you know that 60.1% of all renters used
a smart phone or tablet during their recent
search (up from 26.3% in 2011)?
How has the usage of ILS, review sites,
apartment guides and social media changed
in apartment searches? For example, the
percent of residents now using ratings and
review sites in their search is up to 45.4%.
Are you surprised that being able to view an
actual apartment available to lease was the
#1 rated factor that impacts rental
decisions?
And that viewing furnished
models was only #12?
Were you aware that on 11.8% of apartment
shoppers trust ads? What do residents trust
and how important is transparency in
apartment marketing?
What percent of residents want property
staffs to communicate with them via texting?
The results will surprise some, and
disappoint others.
How much do residents follow and interact
with their community on social media, and
what are they using? The results will be
shocking to many.
How important is it for community teams to
respond to positive and negative online
reviews? The findings were significant but
should not be surprising if one steps back
and thinks about our experiences reading
reviews.
Would you expect that a whopping 50.3% do
not trust review sites where all or most of
the reviews are positive? Given that some
ILS permit cherry picking reviews, the results
should raise some eye brows and have one
question possible decisions that impact
transparency to today’s savvy shopper.

2.

Residents want transparency not
marketing. For example, they want:
unfiltered reviews so they can make
their own judgments (the majority do
not trust ILS sites that offer property
management companies the ability to
“cherry pick” which reviews to post); to
tour actual vacant apartments that
available to lease; they don’t trust
marketing, ads or social media pages.
What the results show they are saying is:
“Cut the fluff, give me the info, and let
me make an informed decision for
myself.”
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