4 Reasons You Should Add Your Community Pricing to All Search Ads
November 15, 2023
How to Reduce Your Lead to Tour Time
Eden Chai
Are you struggling with your lead-to-tour time?
Dealing with higher vacancy rates?
Tired of waiting for someone who clicked on your ad to actually schedule a tour?
It’s tempting to think your lead-to-tour time is out of your control because someone isn’t ready to rent.
In reality, it probably has more to do with how you handle the gap between lead and tour.
After all, even prospects who want to move “soon” will still want a tour to see if your community is worthy of their short list.
There are ways you can slash time and improve your marketing efficiency with a few simple steps.
Offer a Clean Web Experience Without Tons of Pop-Ups
Before you do anything else, your online presence needs to be clean and intuitive without distracting pop-ups.
Today’s multifamily websites are often information overload that does the opposite of what they’re intended to do–increase conversions.
When a prospect lands on your community website from an ad, social media post, or Google search, what do they see?
If you're making them jump through hoops or distracting them with pop-ups when they just want to book a tour, you’ve already lost their interest.
They’re unlikely to stick around, and if they do, you’ll see a lag in the time to sign up for a tour or move forward on anything else.
Make sure your community website has the option to:
✅ Schedule a Tour
✅ View floor plans
✅ See your rental pricing
✅ Call your office directly
✅ Review amenities
✅ Read testimonials and reviews
✅ Browse sales copy designed to engage and convert
Truth 💣: You can add other bells and whistles to your site, like a community blog or an email sign-up, but without a well-designed, easy-to-understand, and simple-to-navigate website, you’re wasting your time. You won’t see your leads do much but bounce off your site.
Weave in Social Proof Everywhere
Social proof is a powerful marketing tool that can convert better than traditional advertising, or at least enhance it.
Research shows that 93% of millennials trust reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family, and 88% of people trust reviews over advertising.
👉 Respond to every online review about your community
👉 Respond to comments and try to engage residents and followers on social media
👉 Ask for reviews from existing residents and add them to your website
👉 Highlight the success stories of residents who found a home in your community after moving to the area
👉 Include reviews to marketing flyers and ads
👉 Add social proof to your application submission emails (just because they applied, doesn’t mean they’ll lease - keep showing them they made the right decision)
The more you can add social proof to every outlet available, the easier it is to convert leads to book tours and sign a lease.
(Source)
Create Time-Sensitive Rent Specials
Some leads are unhappy with their current community and are looking at options several months out.
They may not be your ideal prospect, but they could still convert along with your time-sensitive leads with the right rent special to motivate action.
People need an incentive to look, tour, and lease as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, your community ends up on a list of options as prospects take their time scheduling tours and making their decision..
A time-sensitive special could look like a slash in your pricing, but it can also be a waived application fee or a gift card to look and lease on the same day.
Tip 💡: More importantly, your time-sensitive special needs to be competitive. You won’t see much traction if your direct competitors are offering a free month's rent and you’re slashing $50 off.
Use AI to Maximize Your Response Time
Response time is everything when it comes to multifamily marketing.
The faster you respond, the faster your leads can move through your cycle and convert.
Prospects who are eager to move are also impatient.
They’re not going to wait for a phone call back when other communities have already responded and booked them for a tour.
Tip 💡: Beefing up your team is one answer, but you can maximize your efficiency by turning to AI to nurture the response and speed up the process.
If someone calls at night and speaks to an AI agent, they're now in your marketing funnel and moving through your lead-to-lease process faster than if they leave a voicemail and wait.
Here are a few AI voice agents on the market to consider:
You may hear some odd nuances that you’re talking to AI and not a human, but in the case of EliseAI, it answers back in context.
For example, if a lead asks about dog-friendly units, EliseAI answers back in real time and offers to schedule a tour—all sounding eerily close to a real conversation.
(Source)
Instead of waiting for a marketing manager or leasing agent to come in the next day and answer the call, AI can do it for you and book the tour.
Reducing lead time to booking a tour is really about removing obstacles.
Make sure your leads are motivated to convert by giving them everything they need to take the next steps.
