This glossary is for you if you’re new to multifamily marketing or leasing. Think of it as a cheat sheet that’ll help you get up to speed on all things apartment marketing.
Amenity scheduler
A tool that helps to schedule and manage the use of shared spaces or amenities in a multifamily community. It allows residents to book and reserve spaces such as fitness centers, swimming pools, meeting rooms, etc. and also manage the availability of these spaces.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
A branch of computer science that deals with creating intelligent machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language. It uses techniques such as machine learning to enable computers to learn from data and improve their performance over time.
AI leasing assistant
A type of AI-powered technology that can assist with tasks related to leasing, such as answering questions and scheduling tours.
Audience growth rate
This social media metric helps you track your success on social sites. To find your audience growth rate, take your number of new followers divided by the total number of followers you have. If this percentage increases at a steady pace, it means your content is interesting and engaging. Typically, growth rate is a better indicator of success than follower count.
Centralized leasing team
A team of leasing professionals and operators managing multiple properties from a centralized office location. The move away from individual on-site leasing teams has grown more popular as management companies aim to improve efficiency and cut costs.
Chatbot
A chatbot is a computer program that can simulate conversation with users, often used to assist with tasks such as scheduling tours, answering questions, and providing information about the community. It uses AI technology to chat with users in a more natural way.
Click-through rate
This metric can be used to gauge your audience’s interest in your content. This number is calculated by taking the number of clicks your post receives, divided by the post impressions. If your post has high impressions and a low click-through rate, it could be a sign that people are not interested in engaging with the content, or you need a better call to action.
Community reputation
The perception of a multifamily community by its residents, potential residents, and the surrounding community.
Content Discovery Engine (CDE)
A tool to help find, share, and monitor content for your community’s social media channels. Using machine learning the CDE provides content suggestions based on geographical data for local, and timely content catered toward your community.
Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors to a website or property that take a desired action, such as filling out a contact form or scheduling a tour.
Cost-per-click (or CPC)
In online advertising cost-per-click measures how much it costs you every time someone clicks on your post or ad. You calculate this metric by taking the total ad spend and dividing it by the total number of clicks. Your goal should be for a low CPC. A high cost-per-click indicates people are not interested in your ad, and you should consider revising the content or audience.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A CRM is a platform for managing client info, correspondences, data, and insights, and typically provides streamlined workflows and automations. What kind of data is available in a CRM is dependent on the industry. For multifamily, data such as prospect interests, resident behaviors, and team efficiency are important metrics to track. A good CRM will make office workloads feel lighter.
Email segmentation
Email segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves dividing contacts into smaller, targeted groups based on specific criteria. In multifamily, email segmentation allows property managers to tailor their communications to specific groups of prospects or residents for a more personalized approach to prospect communication and resident engagement.
Engagement rate
A high engagement rate increases the likelihood of your post appearing on the newsfeed. To determine your engagement rate, take the number of likes and comments, divide by number of followers, and multiply by 100.
Fair Housing-certified (or Fair Housing-trained)
A person who has completed training on fair housing laws and regulations and is qualified to assist with compliance.
Generative pre-trained transformer (GPT)
A type of AI model that is trained on a large amount of text data and is capable of generating new written or spoken text based on that training. ChatGPT is an example of a generative pre-trained transformer. These models can be a valuable tool for crafting compelling marketing materials, property descriptions, and communications with residents or prospects.
Impressions
Post impressions indicate the number of times a person saw your post, including duplicate views. Each time a person looks at your post, your impression count will go up. Impressions can also be called ‘Views’ depending on the social media site.
Keyword flagging
Keyword flagging refers to the practice of using specific keywords or phrases to identify and flag relevant information within a data set. For example, keyword flagging in reputation management helps property managers quickly identify reviews that include specific keywords, details, trends. By flagging specific keywords or phrases, property teams can keep track of any and all reviews that could potentially impact the community reputation, and respond appropriately.
Lead generation
The process of identifying and acquiring potential residents or customers for a multifamily community.
Lead nurturing
The process of building relationships with potential residents or customers by providing valuable information and communication over time. Some AI leasing assistants have automated lead nurturing, so they can email or text prospects encouraging them to schedule a tour or submit an application.
Lead source
The origin of a lead, such as a website, referral, or advertising campaign.
Multifamily
A type of real estate property that contains multiple units that are occupied by more than one household.
Natural language processing (NLP)
AI chatbots (and leasing assistants) use NLP to understand human language, making their responses more natural and human-like. They analyze language using algorithms to determine the appropriate response to user’s messages.
Net operating income (NOI)
A measure of a property’s profitability, calculated by subtracting operating expenses from gross income.
Occupancy rate
The percentage of units in a multifamily property that are currently occupied.
Omnichannel
An approach to customer service and communication that uses multiple channels, such as email, phone, and chat, to provide a seamless experience. For example, ResMate responds to every email, web chat, text, phone, Google Business Profile chat, and ILS lead.
Open rate
The percentage of recipients who open an email or other electronic communication.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
An advertising model in which the advertiser pays a fee each time one of their ads is clicked.
Post reach
Post reach counts each individual user who saw your post. If someone saw your post more than once, this number does not change.
Property Management System (PMS)
A software solution used by property managers and multifamily property owners to streamline and automate day-to-day tasks such as rent collection, lease renewals, and maintenance requests.
Prospective resident (or prospect)
A person who is considering renting a unit in an apartment community.
Reputation management
The process of monitoring and influencing the perception of a property or community.
Resident satisfaction survey
A communication tool for property managers to periodically survey residents about their experience in the community. Surveys can be scheduled for shortly after move-in, following maintenance requests, or before a resident is due to resign their lease.
ResMate
An AI leasing assistant that accurately answers inquiries, qualifies prospects, schedules tours, and nurtures leads.
Response rate
This metric divides the number of messages you’ve responded to, by the total number of messages received. A high response rate lets followers or prospects know you are engaged and available to answer questions if needed.
Response time
Response time is exactly what it sounds like—it measures how quickly you respond on average to messages and inquiries. Responding quickly to messages on social media is vital, as 79% of consumers who reach out on social media expect a response within 24 hours.
Return on investment (ROI)
A measure of the profitability of an investment, calculated by dividing the return by the cost of the investment.
Review Booster
A tool that helps multifamily communities to increase the number of positive reviews.
Review Share
A feature that allows multifamily communities to share positive reviews on social media.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
The practice of optimizing a website or online content to improve its visibility in search engine results.
Search engine marketing (SEM)
The practice of using paid advertising on search engines to reach potential renters.
Smart Leasing Platform (SLP)
The Respage Smart Leasing Platform (SLP) is a smarter, simpler version of your traditional CRM, and was built with artificial intelligence to automate more of the leasing process. Many CRMs are stuffed with underutilized features and manual workflows. But the Smart Leasing Platform is easy to use, intuitive, and was designed to make your job easier.
Social management dashboard
A tool that allows a multifamily community or property management to manage their social media accounts and track metrics such as engagement and followers in one location. This can include scheduling posts, analyzing performance of past content, and more.
