As smart home technology adoption continues to expand in the multifamily industry, property managers may struggle with how they can best market smart home offerings to prospective and current residents. Offering smart apartments, self-guided tours or access control solutions can be the clear differentiator between your community and your competitors.
Whether your community offers solely self-guided tours, or the full SmartRent technology ecosystem, here are our top 5 tips to ensure you are optimizing your marketing efforts to prospective and current residents.
1 . Promote Smart Apartment Technology on your Website
According to a report from the National Association of Realtors, 44% of prospects will look up a property online before deciding to tour. Your website is the first impression to engage prospects and show them how great your property is. We recommend highlighting your smart apartments with a video or gallery images, and calling out your smart apartments features. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how Essex utilizes their company blog to highlight available smart home communities, and Windsor Communities promotes their smart apartment technology directly on community marketing sites, like The Casey.
2. Set up a Model Smart Apartment
If you have a model or vacant unit, take the time to set it up as a smart apartment! This allows prospective residents to experience what a smart apartment is actually like and to test out the devices that they can use in their new home. This gets residents excited about their new smart home automation technology, and increases the likelihood of them choosing your property over another.
3. Offer Smart Device Leasing Incentives
Many communities offer discounts on first month’s rent, a welcome gift or some other type of leasing incentive. Why not offer an Amazon Echo or Google Home to your newest residents? These voice-enabled devices are fully-integrated with the SmartRent system, making them a cool and useful leasing gift, but also provide a happy introduction to smart home automation. They are less expensive than offering a discount on rent and help to maintain economic occupancy. Furthermore, residents who are engaged with their smart home technology tend to be more satisfied and thus more likely to renew.
4. Host a Resident Event
While marketing to prospective residents is important, it’s equally essential to inform current residents about the smart home technology within their homes. If you plan to roll out new smart tech, we recommend hosting a resident event. Invite residents to hear from a SmartRent representative about what they can expect from their new smart home devices and how to maximize resident mobile app features, like setting scenes and automations. These events allow residents to ask questions, understand how to best use their smart home technology and further build a sense of community at your property.
5. Encourage Residents to Reach Out for Support
Sometimes introducing new technology can be challenging. Encourage residents to reach out for support when they need it. SmartRent offers 24/7 support to residents and staff alike via phone, email or in-app chat. Our support team is happy to help with troubleshooting login issues, app features, adding new devices and more!
Request more information about adding smart apartments to your community.