REPLI Talk
REPLI Talk
REPLI Talk #5 - The Prospect Experience
In this episode, we're covering the prospect experience and why we think it's more important than the resident experience.
All right. Welcome to reply talk. We've got episode number five, episode number five, we're going to cover the prospect experience and why we think that it's more important than the resident experience.
Speaker 2:You're listening to reply talk, a podcast designed to provide actionable marketing strategies and valuable insights around Apartment marketing hosted by Corbin Wrights, entrepreneur, Dad and renaissance marketer of the multifamily industry.
Speaker 1:So today we are talking about the prospect experience. How my favorite yes. Love. So we talk about this, we hear a lot about resident experience. It's like the hot topic right now. Um, but we want to focus on the, the resident or the, uh, the prospect experience because, uh, we feel pretty strongly about that, the importance of the prospect experience and uh, and what that actually means in multifamily marketing. So,
Speaker 3:right. And I think there's a, you know, there's a huge push for resident experienced the moment. I think there's kind of some, maybe some, maybe not misconception, but a little gap and like what resident experience, you know, you're selling and you know, how that affects or what that looks like from a, uh, a prospect your side, right? Like, I can't be a resident, I can't live your resident experience. I can't live all the great things about your community before, you know, as a resident without being a prospect first touch on. Maybe you can touch on some of like from your experiences when you were in the industry, um, you know, as a marketing manager or conventional digital, all those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, uh, let's, let's define kind of what the prospect experience is first. I think that's the best thing to start out with and you know, prospects, prospect experiences, anything related to, uh, the search and finding a new home. Right. Um, you know, whether that's through conventional efforts or through a digital journey. Yeah. So that's kind of defines it. What do you mean by conventional? So conventional is more of the, uh, you know, drive by or seeing, uh, seeing this sign, signage, signage, uh, you know, word of mouth. Yup. Those are more of the conventional things. And I have experienced in that through, through working in the multifamily marketing industry before, right. This of dealing with both sides of it. Sure. But we are reaching a, you know, it's heavier on the digital side.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I think, uh, I read, uh, read a study recently is that 80% of a prospect's journey when they're finding a new home and you community is done the research. I we digital yeah. As far as that,
Speaker 1:uh, you know, and your digital footprint, just like it's everywhere. So you've got to make sure that that's right. And that's what people resort to its instant gratification. You right your and you want to know what apartments are near you, you search departments, you're me. Right. Um, so it does, digital plays a huge, a huge role in, in this prospect experience. So, um, I guess, you know, rolling in, uh, to do what we do, what we do is more on the digital side of things. So let's talk about the prospect journey on the digital side and, uh, and you know, what are those touch points? That's what we want to keep kind of want to cover today. What are the touch points on the digital journey for the prospect experience?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So, you know, for us, you know, there's the, you know, the organic realm, right? Seo, um, and then there's the paid route. So whether that paid round being PPC, whether that's social, you know, there's multiple facets to that prospect journey. Um, but I think one of the things that we've ultimately come to a conclusion about it is that some sort of brand cohesiveness between the two strategies, making sure that there is that cohesiveness between your efforts and creating that, um, that visibility and that cohesiveness through all the different digital channels that you're offering your prospect. For. Sure. I,
Speaker 1:I agree. And I think that that's what's, uh, you start to lose trust, the more disconnected these touchpoints are. Absolutely. And that's really, I know that that's what we focus on is kind of creating that seamless Omni experience, Omni channel experience to make sure that we're connecting the dots from a paid standpoint, from an SEO standpoint. Um, but you know, what are, what are some of the gaps that we're seeing? And let's talk about the gaps that we're seeing in these experiences. Why prospect experiences is so important.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean at the end of the day, prospect experience. So important because you know, it's the first interaction and right. And I want to be able to live at your community before I actually live at your community. I want to feel like I can let you know like I've lived at your community or like I can envision myself see myself and one of those apartment homes before I actually come to the property, right? All the things that you can do to sell me before I even get there. Right? And then it's providing your leasing teams with all the information to be the most powerful salesperson they possibly can be. Um, so I think when you talk about that Omni channel experience, right? Um, it's offering me all the channels that I want to communicate, creating that cohesiveness in your strategy. So I see the same thing no matter whether I go to apartments.com or I go to your sem landing page or I see or I'm getting served a remarketing ad cause I visited your website, right? A lot of that needs to be tailored properly. And what we're seeing is some gaps and what that message conveys and what I'm seeing when I, when I do that, when I go through that journey, you know, so whether it be reviews, right? I think we've seen a huge influx of, you know, focus on reviews. Um, so I think there are some gaps and you know, you've gotta have it gotta have the basics, right? You put the grip on the basics, basics all the time, put the basics in play and get the basics right. You know, focus on your reviews, create that cohesiveness across all your strategies, um, and you'll find less gaps in your efforts. For sure. So, so let's
Speaker 1:touch a little bit more on the touch points. So say that they're, they're visiting your website, you mentioned they're at, whether it's through an organic approach or a paid approach, but also with your ILS is too, and making sure that that information correlates and there's a good experience with that too, right? Um, because it's, I always like to go back to the retail industry and if you go to the website and you go to walmart.com and you see an ad for walmart.com and then you go to their website and you see that product page and they don't link up and they're different instantly lose trust in the mat. And then I'm gonna go to Amazon and then I'm going to go on Amazon. Yeah. So, uh, because you do know that Amazon, like it's pretty seamless. They do a good job at creating this, uh, this Omni channel experience of having it, you know, you have it on your app, you have it on the website, you can kind of get the same information everywhere and it all links up.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think if we go back to the basics of all that right, is, is understanding what that journey looks like. Journey. It looks different for everybody and having the basic set up to understand that journey is super important as well. Uh, so wanting to know how they communicate, wanting to know how they found you, what other sources did they pursue before they got to you, where they're at in their journey, ones they're moving date. Do I have the ability to push this lead down a 60 day road and do I have the right followup set up in my CRM? Do I have those capabilities to treat them the necessary way to capture them 60 days down the road, 90 days down the road. Yeah, I'm moving in five months. Okay, well I'm a leasing consultant. How do I set that up to make sure that they're still getting the information they need? They're still hearing from me next month, the following month and the month after that. Or do they get, they get sent to it as a dead lead almost Austin, this loss, right? Lawson Lawson deadly land. So understanding that journey is super important and creating the um, the processes to understand that journey is important as well.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree. So that's what I know. We talked about this all the time. I think that it's just as important, the prospect experience. Then the resident experience, like you got to walk before you crop her, you got to crawl before you walk. Yeah. And everybody's so focused on this resident experience, but it comes down to getting them right from the start. Setting yourself up for success. You're making sure you have a website that caters to your prospect. They're coming to to lease an apartment. And not only do we want it to be easy for the prospect to lease or to find out more information in the way that they want to receive it, but kind of connecting the dots to when they do become a resonant too. So making it easy for rental payment, making it easy to contact the leasing center for a maintenance order or getting the packages. So it, it really all starts in the beginning setting that expectation. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you're talking about website, right?
Speaker 1:You know, setting up your website, having the right calls to action are super important too. Right? There's got to be different calls to action for all the people that are visiting your website that are in a different spot in their journey. Right? If I'm 90% of the way there, hell yeah. I'm going to click on that schedule a tour. Yeah. Button. Right. But if I'm not right, I may go look for something else. Yeah. So I need all those calls to action in place that allow me to pursue where, where I'm at in my journey, where I want to go, where I want to be, what I want to do, you know. Do I want some more information? Sure. I want to click some more information on me. I like that special that you have. I don't want to call though. So you've gotten the banners for me to call. Yeah. Great. And just offer, offer, offer them, offer each spot in the journey. Try to offer all those calls to action. Yeah. That, that can, that can lead to eventually being ready to lease that apartment. I think you have to have it a, the right blend of an attractive website, but don't over complicate, complicate it by adding in all of these different animations, adding in all of this, uh, this crazy website. Because at the end of the day, it's all about functionality and being able to do what you need to do. Right? You're coming too. I go to Amazon because I know what I want and I know that I can search it and I can find it and it's easy and it's, it's not overly complicated. So I don't think that, that, I know that the process does it, it, it doesn't need to be as hard as it is on some of these, on some of these websites because people just want to know where to go. You want to know where your pricing is that they want to know how they can get ahold of you, how to schedule a tour, how does submit a work order. So I'd be interested in to ticket, you know, your listeners' feedback. Uh, what do you think the most important things are in a website? Uh, I do believe that photography and video is, is crucial, but the animations in an, in making it hard for people to find what you need, like,
Speaker 3:well, I think at the end of the day it's ultimately about finding somebody that can work with you, that can provide the cohesiveness and the uh, the journey and the experience. Yeah. Kind of all in all in one, right? Maybe not just one website provider but maybe one or two, you know, different vendors that are able to, to kind of function in and work with you to develop the best strategy to custom solution that works best for you. Right. And not segmenting that between multiple different companies. Um, having somebody that can do a lot of what you're looking for and work with you to, you know, as a property management company to get the unresolved which we're looking for, right. Don't segment or a silo that information, work with one or two to develop the best strategy, you know, keep, keep the great minds working together. Um, and come up with the best strategy for you. Don't silo that information.
Speaker 1:Okay. Great. Okay. So that pretty much wraps it up. Why are we find prospect experience? So important? I want to be able to live it before I lived there. I agree. You want to build so many the dream. Tell me the story, the segue into it and even better experience. Right. Um, keeps it, you know, keep that whole experience positive. Uh, so we, we'd like your feedback. We want to know, um, if you think prospect experiences more important or if you think resident experience is more important. Uh, we've actually debated with a couple people have of what they think is more important.
Speaker 3:And what are some of the ways that you tell the story at your property? How do you sell the dream at your property to get people to come in, you know, is it video? What, what type of, uh, of, of opportunities or avenues are you providing your prospect to, to live that dream before they actually live that dream? So we'd love to hear your feedback
Speaker 1:for sure. We're going to leave this. We think prospect experience is super important. Just as important, if not more important than resident experience. It sets the tone. So give us your feedback. Send us a message on Linkedin if you have any questions. Uh, Corbin, Michael Ankle, uh, or visit us@ourwebsiterepliedthreesixtydotcomoreplithreesixzero.com and leave a say a, leave us a review five star on a, on a podcast. And I guess Google. How's that? A lot. So thank you guys. Thanks.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us this week on replying. Make sure to visit us to reply. It's three sixteen.com. That's r e p l, I n three sixteen.com. You can subscribe to the show while you're at it. If you found value in this episode, we'd appreciate or rating on iTunes.
