Multifamily has a Review Volume Problem

Author: Jake Hughes, Director of Marketing, Widewail

The voice of the satisfied resident is silent, hidden from the view of your prospects. But this is fixable. The average community generates 1.59 Google reviews per month. (Data source: Widewail Multifamily Reputation Index) Automotive averages 9x that volume Longo Toyota, a California dealership, averages 600+ Google reviews per month Over 1,500 dealerships in the U S average more than 50 monthly reviews.

Yes, automotive and multifamily have several obvious differences Automotive has a sizable advantage in one key category: opportunity Opportunity is 400 new vehicle sales each month Opportunity is an endless flow of 3,000 service appointments each month Opportunity is a customer base that comes back for a new service experience every 6 months

Must be nice. Must be nice. BUT…multifamily can narrow that gap. It can fix its review volume problem. Here’s how: Let’s start with some benchmarks

On average, the typical community has generated 1 59 Google reviews per month in the last 12 months The elite, the cream of the crop, the top tier of the industry only does 6-7 Google reviews per month You have your target. (I’ll let you shave my head if you hit 10). The wonderful detail of review volume is that it's positively correlated with ratings.

Last year, we analyzed a few million client reviews and found that businesses with more reviews on a monthly basis had higher ratings Our theory? More reviews mean a better representation of your resident base, which leans towards being satisfied So, I want you to shift your perspective a little bit As a marketer, you cannot ultimately control how many reviews are posted. However, you can control creating opportunities and capitalizing on those opportunities.

To get started, operators need to identify the resident life cycle stages with the highest activity levels: tours and maintenance requests

Short-Term Competitive Advantage

Tours are the lowest-hanging fruit, so let’s start there. Currently, tour reviews account for only 5.85% of all reviews in the Multifamily Reputation Index, with an average rating of 4 18 stars, the highest of any of the life cycle stages

Let’s take a look at all of the average star ratings per lifecycle stage:

If you’re not asking for reviews after a tour, take this as my official recommendation: start now.

A tour is 100% a “reviewable event.” It’s a material interaction with your community. You invest a lot in the tour experience, so build a reputation on that positivity early in the resident lifecycle

The catch: it won’t be long before the industry figures this out After all, it’s a relatively simple win High volume + high ratings = better reputations

A solid tour review generation strategy will likely become table stakes soon, offering no competitive advantage

Lasting Competitive Advantage

In my opinion, the lasting reputational standouts in the upcoming ~24 months will leverage maintenance reviews. Maintenance is the true winner. Why? Because it’s hard. But it’s also high volume.

Let’s dig into some data to support my claim. Maintenance is the number one cause of negativity, mentioned in 34% of negative reviews. The average maintenance review is rated 2.89 stars.

The sentiment surrounding maintenance skews negative, but remember, every portfolio deals with similar negativity You don’t need 5 stars; you just need to outperform industry averages by a healthy margin

We think about improving your reputation from two sides simultaneously: maximizing positivity while minimizing negativity You won’t be able to eliminate negativity in maintenance, but you can reduce it below the levels of your competitors

That said, maintenance drives positivity in a few areas Maintenance staff is the #3 most often mentioned topics in positive reviews While maintenance issues are generating a lot of negative feedback, the people involved are a leading cause of positive outcomes

During renewal, positive mentions of maintenance occur 80% more often than the benchmark. This suggests when maintenance is well-regarded, it’s a significant driver of renewals.

Opportunity and Advantage

Somebody, soon, will figure out how to build a positive reputation with maintenance; the pieces are there. And when it does happen, that portfolio will position itself in a place that is tough for the competition to reach

But first, take the easy win

Ask for reviews after tours to boost review volume and ratings With that process in place, it's time to take on maintenance reviews