How to Transform Your Operations with a Multifamily Property Software
Multifamily property software has come a long way in recent years. Most industries have adapted more digital practices but the wheels turn slow in multifamily when it comes to new tech. With the world needing more remote/virtual options, multifamily has had to adapt quickly. Virtual leasing became the go-to way to lease and has proven it’s here to stay. The natural progression was to head into leasing AI.
Leasing AI meets consumer demands. This new generation of renters wants automation and instant gratification that AI gives. There was a time when we could imagine buying something that is a huge financial commitment, like a car, completely online. Today you can buy a car or a house online without ever having seen the product in person. Consumers want 24/7 support and they don’t care if it comes from a robot. As long as it answers their questions and gets them a real person when they need it, consumers expect this kind of service now.
You can type “free multifamily software” into Google and find thousands of links to demos and pilots of all kinds of tech, both old and new. The kind of multifamily property software you should be investing in is software that uses AI technology. If not, you’ll find yourself scrambling to do it in a few years, maybe months. This page goes into leasing AI and what it does for property management, especially in the multifamily industry. Are you ready to bring your community up to speed?
How Do I Choose Software for a Multifamily Property?
Figuring out how to choose a property software is difficult but a good place to start is figuring out what it is you need it to do. You can look through a list of the best software for multifamily properties from random websites, but that list won’t help you find the right tech for your property.
Property management software is software that is made for property managers to help automate many of the onsite teams’ daily tasks and improve your operational efficiency. It also should be able to collect insightful data and give you detailed reporting on your leads and prospective renters. Multifamily communities can have a lot of units and the PMCs that own them can have portfolios varying in size. Choosing the right PMS can make it easier to manage your portfolio while giving a great experience to your prospects.
Daniel Paulino, VP of Marketing at Bozzuto, discusses below the importance of lead nurture tools when looking at property management for multifamily communities.
Right now, the direction that software for multifamily is taking is along the path of AI. The way AI is being used in this space is in the form of AI Leasing Assistants and AI Chatbots. There are a few different kinds of AI chatbots, from natural language to rule-based. It may seem like a subtle difference but the way the bot responds to prospects is important. Let’s dive into how AI Leasing Assistants help multifamily communities increase website conversions and lead to lease.
Differences in Multifamily Property Software
AI Leasing Assistants live on your website. They make it more interactive and engaging making it the perfect apartment complex software to keep rental prospects interested and, on your website, longer. This also allows for more data to be collected and make their leasing journey more personalized.
The differences between AI Leasing Assistants start to come into play with the chatbot. There are natural language bots and rule-based ones. Natural language bots are what it sounds like, they respond to your text and have a conversation with you. Rule-based bots have prompts that the prospect must answer in a specified order. Think of when you call customer service and have to go through a robot menu. It’s frustrating and sometimes beyond annoying when none of the selections match what it is you’re trying to do.
With rule-based bots, it takes longer for prospects to get the answer they are looking for while natural language bots easily get to the point. This is a customer service interaction, except it’s not between the onsite team and a prospect, it’s between the bot and the prospect. Going with a natural language bot is not only less frustrating for the person asking questions, but it’s also better for customer service.
Leveraging AI to Empower Your Multifamily Property Software
You could go for simple software that barely gets the job done, or you could get an AI Leasing Assistant that is simple to use, grab prospect information from, and meets consumer buying habits of today. Outside of the two kinds of chatbots, AI Leasing Assistants offer better-automated lead follow-up which has proven to increase conversions.
Dalia Kalgreen, Director of Marketing at Unified Residential, was in the same place that a lot of multifamily communities are finding themselves in. Website traffic has increased and the number of leads coming through is overwhelmingly high. Part of the reason for this is an increase in what Dalia calls “looky loos”. People who are not moving any time soon, or even people who don’t plan on renting, just looking at apartments for fun in their free time.
This led to onsite teams, including hers, drowning in hundreds of bad leads on top of trying to maintain their other tasks. “It takes a lot of time for your leasing team to sift through what we call ‘looky-loos,’ when they could be working on more serious leads,” says Kalgreen. After hiring PERQ’s AI Leasing Assistant, Unified Residential saw their website traffic conversion increase 3X and their lead to tour went up to over 83%.
The AI Leasing Assistant knows when to follow up and when to pull back. Everyone’s inboxes these days are flooded with emails and the AI Assistant knows when to hold back so the prospect isn’t annoyed. PERQ has the option to customize your follow-up messaging to be in your brand colors and voice. This adds a level of personalization to an automated process that makes your emails stand out in a sea of endless emails.
Learn more about PERQ’s AI Leasing Assistant
PERQ’s Marketing Automation Platform Sets the Score
Online multifamily software is a need and leasing AI helps fulfill that need. PERQ’s AI Leasing Assistant supports your team by equipping them with better data and only handing off quality leads that are ready to talk, tour, or lease. Onsite teams can feel confident knowing that they aren’t pursuing trash leads and can focus on building relationships with the residents and qualified prospects.
At PERQ, our core values are centered around innovation and growth. See why Jamin Harkness, EVP at The Management Group, decided to hire our AI Assistant and why he still loves it below.
No other AI Leasing Assistant on the market can initiate initial upfront engagement with a prospect AND lead nurture through follow-up. The natural language bot gives a better customer experience than the rule-based bots. The interactive experiences the prospect uses well as the chat information is available to the onsite team so they can see the prospect’s whole journey and see what they’ve already talked about with the bot.
You also can use our AI Assistant on multiple marketing channels, like an ILS. Our tools double conversions and overall user experience compared to other bots. Not to mention, we offer the industry’s most advanced consumer insights and data—allowing teams to make better decisions on amenities, marketing, and messaging.
Related Links
- Apartment Marketing Blogs: Getting Started
- Building Your Apartment Complex’s Brand on Instagram
- Empowering Your Leasing Team: A Guide to Effective Digital Leasing