3 Ways Student Housing Properties Should Be Using SMS
Summer is here, and the community calamity has begun. Every property that has set up shop around a campus is preparing for the influx of students who will arrive at the end of summer. It’s time to prepare your property for the coming wave. Here are three ways student housing properties can benefit from using SMS:
1. Rent Reminders
“Gonna have to pull another all-nighter” is now a common phrase among hopeful graduates. The “diploma quest” creates a busyness that can often lead to a common tragedy, failure to pay rent on time. A student can completely forget to send their payment because they were too focused on the four exams, two quizzes and one research paper due that week.
SMS has an average read rate of 98%, and its most outstanding quality is that 90% of the messages are read within three minutes of delivery. Students always text, which ensures they will see your message. Keeping this in mind, a text message will elevate the odds that you’ll see the money when it’s due.
2. Emergency Notifications
For students, email is a school resource, which includes the added headache of promotional spam. With today’s crisis situations that continue to sweep the nation, as well as the world, people need to see alerts immediately. Email can’t do that. A student won’t see it in time because they often are not paying attention to their email. Alert them through a channel they use more often.
3. Event/Maintenance Updates
One of the primary functions of SMS is keeping communities updated on events in the area. Useful reminders are appreciated and can help with customer satisfaction and ultimately retention. But retention doesn’t just hinge on receiving event updates, emergency notifications, or rent reminders. An excellent way to please your residents is with immediacy regarding maintenance requests.
Instant and convenient text notifications on updates and progress with maintenance issues can be the sole reason a student stays with a property. In addition, real-time updates and responses are a measure of customer service that can keep a student with a crazy schedule appreciative of the property. Take care of your residents. Make them feel like their need is your need with SMS.
Why Texting?
The simple truth is that students are texting. Students rely on it. They need it. A Wall Street Journal article confirmed this by proclaiming, “Teens and people in their early twenties prefer to communicate via text…” (WSJ)
What SMS provides for students is the immediacy and convenience they need. A source of communication they can rely on, and you can trust. As properties discover the capabilities of texting, the read rates, and the conversion rates, they see the potential even one message has for students. It changes a business’ strategy, their thinking, and ultimately leads to larger opportunities that create sustainable success.