Community reviews are one of your most useful marketing tools, and they’re one that your marketing team can’t take care of themselves. The challenge in asking for community reviews is that you’re essentially asking your residents to do your team a favor, which can take some careful strategy to ensure you get the quality organic reviews you want without making your community residents feel “bothered”. A few tips for asking residents to write reviews for you are:

  • Ask in your community newsletter – Sometimes all that’s needed is a little reminder, and you want that reminder to feel non-intrusive for your residents. One way to do this is to include a small note in your monthly or weekly community newsletter. If you use a newsletter to communicate with your residents already, a small blurb asking for reviews is a simple and natural way to put the reminder out there.
  • Offer an incentive – Incentives are great encouragement whether you’re looking for a resident review, new marketing ideas, or volunteers to help out around your community. When asking for a review, your team can offer gift cards to local restaurants, rent discounts, or any other small token of your appreciation.
  • Always respond to reviews – Personalized experiences feel better, and your residents will feel appreciated for the efforts they put forth for you. When responding to a review, make sure to use the resident’s name, outline personal details, and thank them for giving you their time. While this isn’t an asking strategy, it’s a strategy that may help your team need to ask less.
  • Be where your residents are online – If your residents like to use Yelp, they’re more likely to review on Yelp. If they like to use Facebook, they’re more likely to review on Facebook. It’s important for your team to offer different options when it comes to where you’d like your residents to review your community. When you are where they already like to spend time online, it’s much more convenient for your residents to take the time out to complete a review.

At OccupancySolutions.com we know how much power great reviews hold for any community. A happy and excited community is one that will be glad to share their experience with others. To learn more about asking your residents to review, contact us at OccupancySolutions.com today.