Prospective renters rank ratings and reviews as more important than referrals from friends and family.

Nearly 70 percent of prospective renters say they research ratings and reviews before making a rental decision.

And a clear majority of prospective renters distrust anonymous ratings and reviews over those that have been third-party verified.

That’s what our recent study, which involved nearly 30,000 respondents, found. I know – you can hardly go to an industry event or pick up an industry publication without hearing or reading something about reputation management. But the industry hasn’t ever had definitive research like this on the importance of ratings and reviews on leasing decisions.

And the facts we found in the study conducted in conjunction with Kingsley Associates provide pretty compelling evidence that ratings and reviews matter to prospective renters. The budget-season question now is: what should apartment companies do about it? Based on the results of the survey, we have a few important suggestions. 

• Monitor. First and foremost, apartment companies must monitor ratings and reviews posted on every site available on the web. This isn’t new advice. Some of the most innovative apartment companies have been doing this for years. The fact that 86.2 percent of the renters in our study said they’d be more likely to consider a community with mostly positive reviews validates this activity.
• Respond. Monitoring without taking action is no longer an option. In fact, 69.5 percent of the survey respondents said they expect apartment communities to respond to ratings and reviews posted online. Regardless of whether you train onsite associates to respond, outsource this activity to a vendor or respond through a communications professional at corporate, it’s important to actively engage on these sites. 
• Encourage Residents to Post Reviews. Our study found that the vast majority of residents (65.8 percent) expect communities to have between six and 25 reviews. So you should find ways to encourage residents to post reviews by simply mentioning the idea of posting a review to all residents or even surveying your residents with tools that enable them to post reviews at the same time. However, it’s important that you handle this process with extreme caution, so you don’t appear to be paying for positive reviews or trying to stack the deck in your favor. 
• Fix the Problems Mentioned in Reviews. This is probably the most important tactic. Review sites give you the opportunity to get candid feedback from residents that can help you improve your community. The best way to improve your ratings and reviews is to fix the problems mentioned most in your reviews. Residents will take notice and let everybody know about it.
• Consider Certified Reviews. Our survey also found that only 1.3 percent of respondents said they are more likely to trust anonymous posts over third-party certified reviews. Although it works in our advantage right now, it is unfortunate there aren’t very many review sites that require third-party certification before being posted.

Of course, you can choose to continue to ignore the reputation management trend, but you do so at your own risk … or at the very least occupancy and rents.