Why You Should Shift Focus From Lead Quantity to Lead Quality

You launch a new multifamily marketing campaign and end up with hundreds of new leads for prospective residents.

Sounds great, right?

But if they're not converting to a signed lease, what's the point in amassing more? The key is in whether or not those leads are high quality.

Instead of trying to collect as many leads as humanly possible, try taking a more targeted approach to lead quality. Of course, that's easier said than done.

Research shows that 61% of marketers believe generating high-quality leads is their biggest challenge.

When you're targeting the right audience from the start, they don't need to go through so many stages of your marketing funnel and need as many touch points to sign their next lease.

Before you dig into your marketing channels, funnels, and data, figure out your lead scoring first.

What Is Lead Scoring?

Lead scoring is the process of determining a lead's sales-readiness.

Similar to KPIs, lead scoring helps allocate different actions that gain momentum to your goal of signing a lease or signing up for a tour.

You can allocate a rank of 1 through 10 or A through J, or just a marker like "hot, warm, or cold" to give appropriate weight to which actions are most important to your multifamily business.

At the end of the day, you have to decide if you want more of these types of leads or not, so regardless of which lead scoring model you choose, make sure it's obvious whether this is a source you want to eliminate or double down on.

You should also review your data periodically to see if those lead scores still hold true.

For example, you may have assumed social media engagements were low on your lead score and ranked a "cold."

But later you realize those engagements actually lead to conversions over a period of 4 to 6 weeks. Track everything!

Adopt an E-Commerce Mindset

Think about your multifamily business as an e-commerce model.

If you were selling iPhone cases, you wouldn't care much if someone called to ask about the product.

The leads you actually want would result from an iPhone case sale or sign-up for a coupon code.

Take a similar approach to your community marketing. You want your leads to be about how likely they are to fit your ideal target market and convert.

Let's say you set up a booth to market your community at a local festival and put out treats as a little bribe for foot traffic.

Truth 💣: If everyone is coming for the free cupcakes… you're just getting a lot of leads that like free cupcakes.

Instead, you want leads that are asking for more information, fill out a form, or ask for a QR code that scans your landing page about a rent special. The goal is an action that converts.

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Track All of Your Leads

It's almost impossible to figure out your lead quantity vs. lead quality when you're not tracking them, to begin with.

Your favorite CRM or email marketing provider can help track your leads. But you can also put together a simple spreadsheet and ask your leasing team to keep track of who is:

👉 Calling

👉 Emailing

👉 Engaging through your messenger on social media

👉 Walking in after seeing a billboard or ad

👉 Signing up for virtual tours

👉 Commenting on your community's blog

Depending on how they're reaching out, you may not be able to capture everyone's email or phone number.

Tip💡: You should still make a note of anyone who is engaging with your community. When someone signs a lease, ask how they heard about your community or what made them come in on that day.

You can then update your leads to show the conversion and what triggered it.

Keep an Eye on Your Slow Converters

Updating your leads is also crucial to account for those slow converters.

Someone at the top of your marketing funnel may be thinking about lowering their rent or escaping noisy neighbors. Yet still have a few months before their lease is up.

Seasonality in apartment renting also matters 📣📣📣

Check out this graphic. It shows there's higher urgency to rent in early spring to late fall, with a drop-off in winter months. So if you're frustrated with your lead volume and quality during the long winter months, they could be some of those slow converters.

Consider the Cost of Bad Leads

It may be tempting to stick with quantity and hope for the best with quality. After all, wouldn’t some of those bad leads convert?

Maybe.

Truth 💣: A handful of unqualified leads may convert, but you’re still dealing with a high percentage of bad leads that suck up your marketing efforts.

Research shows that as many as 66.7% of sales leads don’t close because of bad data quality.

You end up eating up your marketing dollars over poor leads.

Yet the issue is more than just spending money on PPC ads and sending out email and SMS campaigns.

It’s also about the time wasted that your leasing agents could've spent on leads that will actually convert!

Assess Your Lead Quality (and Readjust Your Marketing)

Once you've spent some time tracking and finessing your leads, you can reassess your lead quality.

Your quality isn't very good if you have a high number of leads and very low conversions.

Instead of getting discouraged, use your poor lead quality as an opportunity to rethink your marketing strategy. You may be better off doing less and putting all your focus on what works.

For example, maybe you've been posting fliers around the neighborhood because your competitors are and aren't seeing results.

Tip 💡: Instead, open up your lead tracker. If the majority of people are converting from a referral program, double down on your rewards program.

Why reinvent the marketing wheel when you know what's working?

Make sure all of your residents know about your referral bonuses, how to take advantage of them, and empower them to be your brand ambassadors.

Leave marketing materials like postcards or send out an email template that they can forward to a friend.

The higher the lead quality, the more you can niche down your marketing techniques to save yourself time, money, and resources.

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