Frictionless communication, paperless processes, and social media are sure-fire ways to ensure your lettings agency is keeping up with the times.
Businesses are now open 24/7, everything is rentable online, and a smartphone is becoming more and more of a necessity in everyday tasks. As every aspect of our life becomes more consolidated into digital assets, consumers now expect convenience through the use of their own technology with each transaction they make.
Introduce frictionless communication
The likes of Uber, Sainsbury’s, and even Royal Mail have adapted their services to ensure all customer communication is painless, with instant notifications and transparency provided throughout every stage of their service. As more and more businesses operate in this way, the consumer not only begins to expect this level of convenience, ease, and speed but is now increasingly demanding it, and agencies shouldn’t feel they are exempt from this expectation.
Go paperless
Not only is a cloud-based solution to paperwork more secure and more organised, tenants are increasingly and exclusively doing business with agents that provide them with a paperless, digital and overall convenient lettings process. Lucy Conlon from Peabody said the company's market research found "people wouldn't rent with anybody that they had to physically come and sign a paper agreement with and take time out of their schedule."
Website refresh
A great way to successfully compete with the growing number of online agencies is by improving the user journey and design of your current website. Be sure your website is easy to use, has a modern design representing your brand and allows visitors to gather all of the information they are looking for - particularly details of all available properties and information on how to enquire about them easily.
Use social media
Sixty percent on individuals under 34 are expected to be renting by 2025. Critically, this age group is overwhelmingly the leader when it comes to presence and activity on social media. There are 42 million users registered with social media accounts in the UK, so it is a vital place to market to and engage with the right tenants. We suggest sharing organic content such as blogs from your website or interesting and appropriate articles from third parties, as well as details of the homes you have available for rent. You can reach more relevant people by promoting these posts or using some of the powerful targeting functionality available on most social media platforms to deliver your content or details of available properties to highly specific demographics.
