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3 Tools to Optimize a Property Staff’s Total User Experience

A total user experience for property staff can look a little different than a resident, even though the same principles of communication stay the same. Communication from property staff to residents or prospective residents is just as important as the other way around. With communication in general on a property site, there are a couple tools and functions that property staff need to be able to operate extremely efficiently. 

An illustration of a bulletin board being used as a tool for property staff.

1.Mass communication

Communication to an entire community can be important for any number of reasons, and having a good tool that takes that message to the eyes of a resident can continue to optimize relations between resident and staff. Whether an area of a property is shut down, maintenance is happening, or staff is promoting an event, mass communication is necessary. 

Mass communication to property residents can come in different forms such as emails, messages through a resident portal, or even an on site message board with posters. Find what works and what residents respond to. Remember, good mass communication will always make property staff’s lives easier.

A collection of guest cards for active residents in an apartment community,

2. Centralized guest card

A centralized guest card simply makes property staff’s lives easier. The card should start at any first communication with a prospect and last the entire time a resident is involved with that same resident/property management system. Let’s start with some of the first information gathered. A prospect has searched around apartment websites and discovered yours. They look at photos, videos, online tours and other information presented and decide they would like an in-person tour, or to go ahead and lock down a new apartment with a lease. This prospect submits basic info like name, email and phone number. After signing a lease, more information is transferred over necessary to live in a unit and begin paying rent. All this information lives in that resident’s guest card and stays there until it is not relevant anymore. 

Beyond communication info for a resident, personal preferences to various smart technologies installed on a property can also be stored within a guest card like thermostat schedules.

While a centralized guest card is not necessarily a tool of communicating directly with a resident, it holds all necessary information for a property staff person to communicate directly with any individual on their property. 

 

3. Resident Account Movement

Resident account movement is just another step further for a centralized guest card. Imagine a resident finishing up a lease at one apartment property and moving to a new property with the same property management system. Instead of the property staff having to re-enter and gather all new information for this resident, the system recognizes the transfer of history and enters the info into the new property. Now, the property staff has all relevant information with the sign of a new lease. 

Beyond the normal type of account information with a new lease, personal preferences from smart technologies on a property, like we spoke about above, can also be transferred. This specifically is a cool tool for residents to move around to different properties and make it immediately feel like home.

With this type of information being transferred from property to property, it is important to note the thought behind security. In these situations where a resident’s information is moving around, the resident essentially owns their own information from contact to personal preferences. It is fully in the benefit of the resident and property staff that this information is securely moved around.

 

Tools like these can make your apartment property operation and communication soar. Learn more about how to optimize your property at Quext.