Unlocking Efficiency: How Tenant Communication Software Transforms Real Estate Management

Building owners trust their community managers to oversee nearly every aspect of day-to-day operations. Not only are most property managers responsible for listing vacancies, negotiating leases, and managing overhead costs, but their overall success is determined by their ability to create an environment that attracts and retains tenants. For property owners and their management teams, effective tenant communication is a business essential.

Tenants who feel informed and engaged with their residential communities are more likely to renew their leases than those who do not. But there’s only so much time in the day to take care of everything that needs to get done. With national vacancy rates on the upswing, building owners and property managers nationwide are investing in innovative technologies and turnkey property management software solutions designed to optimize communication and unlock efficiency. 

For real estate management teams using cost-effective proptech to display property messages on HDMI-capable screens, the impact is transformative.

Why Real Estate Managers Are Installing Digital Signage in Residential Communities

Property managers are using turnkey proptech and software to display eye-catching property messages on screens installed in their lobbies, laundry rooms, elevator banks, and other high-traffic common areas. They’re using those screens to ensure their residents have ample opportunity to engage with those property messages multiple times each day. It’s a benefit they don’t get from other digital communication solutions. There’s simply too much noise.

Take email messaging, for example. The tech once considered the ideal channel for cost-effective business communication is often ignored. Recent polls suggest that most email users have at least 50 unread messages in their inboxes at any given time, and a disheartening 35% (or more) are never opened.

While there will always be residents willing to receive calls or texts, there’s still no guarantee resident messages will reach their intended recipients or initiate a response. The average American spends nearly seven hours of their day engaged with their tablets, laptops and cellphones, but most look past information they don’t find relevant to their daily life or immediate needs.

Related: Guide to Digital Signage | Your Questions Answered

Digital signage screens are fresh, innovative, and remarkably effective because it’s a technology that community members enjoy watching. They’re so popular with building residents that the technology is often included in vacancy listings as a high-value amenity. With turnkey all-in-one communication solutions, real estate managers have everything they need to easily create, upload, schedule, and publish their property messages without having to invest in a lot of pricey hardware upgrades or multiple software subscriptions.

How Property Managers Use Turnkey Software to Transform Residential Communication

Property managers are pressed for time. They need easy and effective methods to convey urgent messages and ongoing strategies to build community with residents. Outdated methods of printed signage or door drops are costly and time-consuming. Many digital methods such as email have proven less effective over time and should be reserved as a means to reinforce top priority messages.

With high-impact digital signage installed in heavily trafficked common areas, property managers and their teams have a communication solution that helps save time and money. They can use compatible turnkey software to create, update, schedule, and publish eye-catching screens in minutes. 

The right solution greatly reduces the amount of time needed to draft correspondence, as well as the cost of regularly printing notices. It also frees up the resources normally allocated for time-consuming door-drops. This technology can be used to display a wide range of community essentials.

Maintenance Notifications & Safety Protocols

Publishing essential notifications and reminders on digital displays gives property owners and real estate management the peace of mind that comes with knowing every member of their residential community has ample opportunity to see scheduled maintenance reminders and review safety protocols.

Their residents appreciate knowing they have a central location for weather warnings, emergency alerts, and contact information for after-hours repair services. When the unexpected happens, property managers use their digital signage to post frequent updates so residents know when they can expect any disruptions to their routine to be resolved. Transparency builds trust.

Building Resident Loyalty

There was a time when fitness centers, game rooms, and rooftop lounges were enough to attract and retain residents. Today’s apartment dwellers are looking beyond those features when searching for a place to call home. Efficient communication technology gives property managers more time to focus on resident engagement opportunities. They’re using their digital screens to generate excitement.

Publishing event calendars and reminders of upcoming activities where residents know where to look helps ensure an impressive turnout to movie nights, game tournaments, holiday mixers, and family-friendly activities. Residents who feel they belong to an active, vibrant community are less likely to migrate to the competition.

Optimizing the Impact of Referral Programs

In an increasingly competitive real estate market, building managers need every advantage they can get for marketing their property and securing leases. They’re maximizing the value of their turnkey property management software to announce tenant referral programs and renewal incentives. Most property managers find that reminding residents of the benefits (and financial gains) of their referral programs can significantly reduce marketing costs.

Real estate managers are also using the screens installed in high-traffic common areas to post in-residence vacancy notifications, images, and floor plans to capture the attention of visitors and the family and friends of their residents. They’re optimizing those screens with QR codes to direct potential tenants to pricing information and online applications.

Before You Invest: Choosing the Best Turnkey Solutions for Residential Properties

Property owners and residential managers invest in turnkey proptech and software to ensure they have a cost-effective solution that’s ready to use right out of the box. When you know how they’re using their HDMI-capable screens in high-traffic common areas to optimize resident communication, it’s easy to see how having the right combination of proptech software makes more time for fine-tuning resident engagement initiatives, marketing strategies, plans for reducing overhead costs, and other business essentials.  

Once you’ve got your display screens and software up and running, it’s also much easier to understand why this modern business solution is so popular with management teams and their residential community. But not all turnkey solutions are the same. When you’re serious about providing truly transformative management communication proptech, consider how the service providers competing for your attention compare in the following areas.

Device Installation & Ease of Use

Most property managers don’t have time to deal with technology that’s difficult to install or maintain. Whether you’re looking for technology that converts the HDMI-capable screens you already own or are still considering your options, your proptech should be easy to install by your team with a simple plug-and-play device or with end-to-end support from the provider of your choice.

Message Creation Tools & Templates

The best turnkey tenant communication solutions don’t require a degree in graphic design to create eye-catching screens. Look for a solution provider that gives property managers the ability to log into a user-friendly platform with everything they need to create professional-looking screens quickly. For most property managers, templates are ideal.

It takes far less time to create screens from a template than for property managers to design their own. When you choose a cloud-hosted solution, it’s easy for anyone tasked with resident messaging to create content, upload their screens to the message library, choose their display frequency, and publish their newly created screens from nearly any internet-capable device.

Seamless Integration with Engaging Content

With the growing popularity of digital signage, multiple companies are offering the technology you’ll need to display property management messages on digital screens. But many work like electronic billboards. 

When tenants get too used to seeing a stream of generic notifications and alerts, they stop paying attention. The best way to keep your residents engaged with your communication technology is to offer additional value in exchange for their time and attention—something they appreciate and enjoy.

Related: Content that Contributes to a Positive Tenant Experience

With the right turnkey solution provider, your property messaging is displayed—full size—alongside and in rotation with expertly curated programming, a bite-sized mix of health information, business news, entertainment, real-time transit updates, and other content relevant to your community, provided by reputable, recognizable sources.  

Could Digital Signage Unlock Communication Efficiency in Your Residential Community?

Property managers rely on a considerable amount of software to streamline day-to-day processes. However many are still in need of cost-effective solutions to help streamline tenant communication. 

With the right media provider, you don’t have to invest in a lot of costly equipment to display your property messages on the digital screens in the lobbies, elevator banks, and other high-traffic common areas in your residential community. All you need to get started is the right proptech and turnkey software.

An impressive 92% of building residents surveyed find Captivate-powered screens informative, and 83% would be disappointed if the service was no longer available. If you’re intrigued by what you’ve learned so far, visit Captivate for more information about our ScreenCenter™ content management system, plug-and-play technology, and expertly curated programming mix. To get started, submit a contact form.