Online Reputation Boosts Performance for Multifamily

Staff Writer |

This Just In: Documented Evidence that Online Reputation Boosts Property Performance

One thing we know for sure about increasing resident engagement is that it’s an ideal way to pump up your properties’ online reputation. And just as with other products or services, reviews continue to be a critical part of the decision-making process for prospects looking for a place to live. Now, for the first time, there’s clear evidence of the link between online reputation and actual property performance, as measured by occupancy, rent premiums and length of stay.

When RealPage®, multifamily’s chief aggregator of data, partnered with the creator of the ORA(TM) (Online Reputation Assessment) score, one hope was to be able to correlate a property’s performance with its reputation as reflected in online reviews and ratings.

The research found that for every one-point of ORA(TM) improvement, a property will typically observe an outperformance-to-market of three basis points. The average year-over-year revenue return for the study was 3.34%.

The researchers also wanted to know how reputation compares to other factors in weighing properties against one another, looking at whether a property is a high-rise, mid-rise or garden-style, how old it is, the average unit size, and many other particulars. They found that the ORA(TM) score is just as big a factor in performance-to-market as some of these very significant line-items. And of course, using Community Rewards to help get residents more engaged at your apartment community can impact those reputation scores, which can be a lot more economical than renovating or adding a gym!

In short: Community Rewards is a great way to boost meaningful resident engagement; this engagement translates to reviews by residents, and the resulting improvement in online reputation makes a significant bottom-line difference that’s now been proven beyond doubt!

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