Millions of emails are sent every day, and it’s something that we all use in our work. So why do tenants find it difficult to manage emails from their property managers?
Below we cover why tenants prefer calls over emails and how your property team can make communication easier so that tenants don't miss important notices and updates.
Why Emails Don’t Work For Tenants
The answer to this question is volume. Often, tenants become overwhelmed with the number of announcements or updates coming from different property stakeholders. They will also generally use their email to communicate with their own contacts, clients, colleagues, etc. As such, their email boxes can become filled with hundreds of emails, making it difficult to go through everything and stay up to date with the property.
The other side of the tenant email problem is the delayed nature of emails. Compared to a phone call, which provides instant engagement, tenants often have to wait for email responses. This can be frustrating, especially with urgent issues.
So, instead of chasing their emails to different property stakeholders, tenants prefer calling the switchboard. This complicates the flow of information as the switchboard becomes a bridge between tenants and property management. Having this unnecessary go-between can lead to issues getting lost in the mix as the call centre is not always equipped to track facility issues.
How To Change This Culture
The clear motivation for tenants’ “call-in culture" is convenience. They find it easier to get a response through a phone call. However, this method piles work onto the switchboard. In addition, it creates an extra step in the flow of information to the property manager. To address this, you can use the following tips.
Implement A Clear Communication Channel
A good starting point is to introduce a single channel for all types of property related communication. This channel should be the central hub for all communication from tenants to the property management or service providers, and vice versa.
Having a centralised platform condenses the flow of information and ensures that everybody remains up-to-date at all times.
With dedicated notifications, reminders, and real-time updates, this kind of platform makes it easier to track issues. That way, you can never forget requests or miss communicating their status back to the tenants.
Conduct Tenant Meetings
Facilitate a space where tenants can share their concerns. Regular tenant meetings can serve as a forum where the tenants can voice their concerns, feedback and suggestions directly. This removes the boundary that can be created by virtual communication and encourages a personal relationship with tenants.
To support this, you can document they key points from these meetings to the centralised tenant portal so this information can also be accessed by people who couldn't be present in the meeting.
Have Other Feedback Options
In addition to forums and meetings, make sure you have other platforms for tenants to provide feedback. Your portal can be one space for that. You can collect feedback through feedback forms that tenants can attach to your portal chat.
To emphasise this, make sure tenants know that you are open to ideas and regularly show them how you make improvements based on the feedback.
Final Thoughts
Communication lies at the core of your tenant experience and the competent management of your facilities. By improving your tenant communication, you can facilitate better, more transparent relationships with your tenants. As a result, you’ll improve tenant satisfaction and retention as well.
If your organisation is looking for a 360° tenant experience tool to involve all employees, service providers and tenants to improve the quality of your operations, have a look at the 30-day free trial of Falcony Tenant Portal:
We are building the world's first operational involvement platform. Our mission is to make the process of finding, sharing, fixing and learning from issues and observations as easy as thinking about them and as rewarding as being remembered for them.
By doing this, we are making work more meaningful for all parties involved.
More information at falcony.io.
