These circumstances have you questioning the importance of online reputation. Does it really influence your prospects? And should you be concerned with negative reviews? 

These are legit questions, and they are all going to be answered in this post. 

How Much Do People Trust Online Reviews?

Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) is still one of the best forms of advertising. People will believe in a recommendation over any kind of advertising. 

The internet opened the doors to a new method of WOMM, online reviews. Recent research suggests that when family or friends recommend a business, prospects will still take it to the internet and read the reviews. 

When it comes to apartment living, a survey conducted by Apartments.com showed that 98 percent of respondents read the property’s reviews either always or sometimes. The number is an indication that renters want an insight into your community before signing in the dotted line. 

But it doesn’t stop there. Eighty-four percent trust online reviews as much as word of mouth. And 68 percent will form an opinion after reading them. 

These statistics show that apartment reputation management is an essential skill. But what if your community has no reviews?

How Do Reviews Affect Your Community

If your community has no reviews is not good. Based on the Apartments.com survey, 94 percent are likely to rent from a place that has reviews.

A community with positive online reviews will attract a lot more prospects than one with no reviews. On a similar trend, 82 percent of consumers are likely to avoid businesses because of negative reviews. 

But how much negative is really negative?

If you have 200 reviews, and most of them are 4.5 or 5 stars, one negative review will have little impact. In fact, your apartment needs one-star reviews so people will feel you are not cheating the system. 

However, if you only have a few reviews, one negative will majorly impact your overall score.

A business without a five-star has the risk of losing 12 percent of its customers. 

How Can You Improve Your Apartment Reputation

A negative experience is way more likely to produce a review than a positive one. Thus, the best way to improve your overall reputation is to provide exceptional service. 

To improve your online stars, the goal of apartment reputation management is to stir the digital WOMM. Here are a few things that you can do to get the conversation started. 

Respond to Every Review

Make engagement with your prospect or resident a priority; respond to every review, especially the bad ones. 

Fast responses improve perception. Forty-five percent of consumers are more likely to visit a business that responds to negative reviews. Another research indicates that a company cares about people when its management is responsive.

While these researches were conducted for business in general, it still applies to apartment communities.  

Acknowledge and Apologize

Your response to a negative review is crucial in the process of reputation improvement. Most people who are complaining just want to be heard. 

Once someone decides to leave a bad review, they do not want to hear an excuse for the poor service. Accept what they are saying, and try to make it right, if possible. 

Always apologize, even when it is something out of your control. For instance, if someone says the apartment was too noisy because of the highway behind it, you would still apologize for the resident’s bad experience. But you can’t do anything about the highway. 

Attempt to contact the customer and see if there is anything you can do to fix the issue. A bad review could ultimately turn into a good one.  

Ask for Reviews

One way to improve your online reputation is by getting more reviews. Start by asking the residents who bring you lunch every once in a while. That should immediately boost your reputation. 

Eventually, you should ask everyone to leave a review. You can include a request in your newsletter.  

Another way to help your apartment reputation management is by taking it to social media. You can take a picture of residents holding signs expressing their satisfaction and posting it into social media platforms. 

You can also create a page on your site with reviews and photos from residents. This helps your website to rank on Google. When someone searches for reviews on your property, your own site might be the second or third option. 

Offer Incentives for Reviews

If you are having trouble getting your residents to write reviews, you can offer incentives. There are many different ways that you can promote this idea. 

For instance, anyone that writes a review this month could win a $20 gift card for a retailer of their choice. If you partner with local businesses, you can get your partner to give an allowance for an incentive.

Conclusion

Apartment reputation management is a crucial factor in securing more residents. In today’s world, where the internet is the leading research platform, responding to online reviews is one of the most important jobs a property manager has. 

Moreover, the first step to improve your reputation is to provide an above and beyond customer experience. Ask everyone to leave a review, and when one negative one pops up, take immediate action by responding apologetically.