Why is a Chatbot Important for a Property Management Software?

As a Property Management Software company, consider all the solutions you provide- managing leasing applications, streamlining maintenance requests, keeping track of rental payments, etc. I’m sure you know that most of your solutions are heavily dependent on seamless two-way communication.

When you are targeting to provide the best-automated solutions, it is you that first need to follow your footsteps in adopting automation in the true sense- with AI-enabled conversational chatbots.

Source: Technology Advice  

What Is Chatbot?

Chatbots are automated conversational messaging tools you can integrate into your websites and other messaging platforms as well. I’m sure you’re wondering how to use chatbots for property management. A multifamily property management software can help you have a convenient communication channel between residents and property owners alike.

Multifamily Chatbots are revolutionizing the lead generation process and customer service for property management companies. You can use a property management chatbot or real estate chatbot to address your complex multifamily property solutions.

We have listed some points why a property management chatbot is crucial for multifamily property management software:

Multifamily Leasing Assistant

Property Management Chatbots are virtual leasing agents that can capture multifamily property leads with real-time conversations on the website. When a prospect is looking for a property on a PMC website, they are clueless about what kind of property they want. They have many questions like the availability of location, the rental application process, rental deposit, pet policies, prospective date of move in, etc. 

Basically, all the questions a customer would ask a real estate agent. Now that most homebuyers are starting their buying journey online, it is essential to have a tool on websites that can act as a guide and assist visitors in their search process. 

Multifamily Property Management Software can automate property management activities as it answers all these questions of every single visitor. You can also integrate these bots into other channels like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. A property management chatbot can showcase the listings available on their preferred location, amenities, parking space, neighbourhood, guide them through the application process, inform them about the rent amount, and schedule site visits.

Screening & Nurturing Leads

The amount of leads Property Management generates is not so much of a challenge as qualifying them is. There are many rental agreement criteria based on which prospects are shortlisted. 

Property Management Chatbots can pre-screen & filter your leads by asking most of these preliminary questions such as the number of the occupants, lease duration, lifestyle choices (smoking and pets), and their budget. It can then also integrate the contact information of your prospects with CRM. Hence, chatbots can reduce the time and resources spent on screening potential leases and allow sales representatives to focus on those leases that matter. Its omnichannel presence also helps in getting leads from different platforms.

Virtual Maintenance Center

Property management maintenance is a stressful task. Just the amount of tickets PMC receives on an everyday basis are huge in number. They can be overwhelming for the employees as they often have to deal with rude & frustrated tenants. By adopting a property management chatbot, you can develop a quick process to cater to maintenance issues.

Receive the tenant request: Tenants may often face issues relating to water leaks, heaters, air conditioners, shower caulking, etc. With a 24X7 availability, they can open maintenance tickets at any time of the day.

Determine the severity of the issue: Not all requests need immediate attention. Your property management chatbot can segregate high, medium, and low priority complaints and accordingly streamline requests that need urgent assistance. In fact, chatbots can even be trained to provide solutions to minor issues that don’t need expert intervention. It can send explanatory videos and links so that the tenant can resolve the issue by himself.

Book Appointments: Chatbots for mutifamily can automate receiving maintenance tickets and scheduling appointments with the person in charge, like a plumber or an electrician. It can quicken the process instead of holding the line for several minutes.

Alerts and reminders

Almost every adult has a phone today, and 66% of Americans check their phones 166 times a day! Do you know what this means? It is nearly impossible for leasers to miss crucial reminders sent to them on their phones; this can reduce the no-show rate for appointments and increase timely rental payments. You can choose the reminder frequency and timing of the alerts and personalize your reminders. Using property management chatbot, you can automate sending alerts and reminders for:

1. Inspection calls

2. Property visit reminders

3. Rent payment reminders

4. Update on maintenance requests

5. Social & Community Events

Source: Whizardapi

Continuous Customer Service

Let’s consider all the components that are a must for efficient customer service:

Communication– Rent comprises a major chunk of the monthly expenditure. So when your tenant is paying $1500 a month or so, they don’t want to be ignored. The way a PMC manages its day-to-day communication is crucial for its success. Property Management Chatbots facilitate a constant mode of communication, keeping tenants and prospective rentals informed about property and rent-related information at all times. 

Instant Response- Calls have been a popular mode for customer service, but imagine the number of times tenants have to hold the call while speaking to a service representative. Instant customer service response felt like a long lost dream, and a pain point businesses have continuously tried to address. But nothing has worked best like chatbots. Whether your tenant has a plumbing issue at 2 am or whether your rental prospects are looking to schedule appointments over the weekend, your multifamily chatbots can note it then and there without waiting for the employees to walk in on Monday morning; this is why chatbot address issues in real-time.

Source: Appfolio

Customer Engagement- Property managers always need to build a polite and friendly rapport with their current and potential tenants, no matter the workload. You can integrate your brand personality into chatbots. It can talk in your desired manner, be lively, quirky, and fun. The idea is not to replace the human touch but to instead assist in a similar fashion while sticking to its software roots. With every customer getting a personalized experience, you can move a step closer to building lasting customer relationships using multifamily chatbots. 

Marketing Feedback

Customer insights are valuable which is why organizations spend thousands of dollars in understanding what the customer wants. Chatbots are also called marketing intelligence software for a reason. They can get your data. Based on its conversations over time, your property management chatbot can give you answers to questions like:

1. What is the type of persona visiting your website? 

2. What are the types of leads you’re getting?

3. Which of your properties is popular?

4. What are the common issues your rental prospects are facing in your properties?

It can reflect how you’re performing according to the industry standards and help you accumulate data so that you can direct your marketing strategies accordingly in the future. 

So now that you know how to use chatbots for multifamily property management, what is it that you’re waiting for? Multifamily Property management software may cater to multiple solutions, but chatbots are at the forefront of marketing automation and an indispensable tool for property management. By integrating property management chatbot as a service offering, you are one step closer to providing a wholesome automation experience to your clients.