Understanding your customer base and tailoring your product to fit their needs is not a new trend. Believe it or not, personalized marketing has been around since the 1800s. As technology continued to evolve, customer data became easier to track, and in-turn marketing became more targeted.
Flash forward a couple hundred years to 2024, and personalized marketing in multifamily is no longer just a strategy—but a necessity in order to better connect with prospects, drive community engagement, and ultimately reach occupancy goals.
In this blog post we’ll explore ways you could improve conversions, re-activate cold leads, and foster a stronger relationship with residents using email segmentation.
What is email segmentation?
Email segmentation involves categorizing your prospects and residents based on various criteria, allowing you to send more targeted messages. By understanding the unique characteristics of your audience, you can craft messages that foster a deeper connection with your residents, or activate a call to action to encourage your prospects to sign leases faster.
The Respage platform, for example, can use data provided from PMS connections, ResMate, the Resident Happiness Score, lease status, and other criteria, so leasing agents can send bulk communications tailored to residents and prospects with specific interests.
What kinds of email segments should I be targeting in my multifamily community?
Effective email segmentation relies on identifying unique criteria that define your audience. Here are some essential segments to consider for your email campaigns:
- Source: Whether prospects come in from your AI leasing assistant like ResMate, email inquiries, or other sources like Facebook Messenger, you can tailor communication based on how the prospect previously engaged. For example, if the lead came in through ResMate, you know the prospect appreciates instant responses, and may move through the application process faster than typical prospects.
- Status: Segmenting communication based on status helps deliver relevant information at each stage of the leasing process, ultimately maximizing the chances of conversion. This is also a great tool for re-engaging cold leads or checking in on former residents to see if they are interested in returning to your community. Check out ResMate’s newest skill to learn more about automating cold lead re-engagement.
- Resident happiness: Resident satisfaction can tell you a lot about your community. By providing personalized communication to residents based on their level of happiness, you can help address concerns and nurture positive relationships, ultimately improving resident retention and satisfaction.
- Unit size interest: Did you have a three-bedroom unit become available unexpectedly? Turn it around quickly by segmenting a list of prospects who inquired about three bedroom spaces.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Email segmentation allows you to create lists based on countless criteria (and any combination of). And as we learn more about your prospects, the Respage platform can continue to identify information that could further personalize your marketing efforts.
But it doesn’t stop at prospects. Resident data imported from your property’s PMS allows you to communicate with groups of residents based on their interests. Pet owners, for example, or anyone living in a specific building, or owns a vehicle can be segmented to receive more personalized communication.
How do I know what’s working and what’s not?
Tracking the effectiveness of your email segmentation strategy is vital for determining what is working and what is not when it comes to your prospect and resident communication. Insights like opens and clicks gives you a look into which campaigns are resonating with your prospects, while bounce rates help you keep your segmented lists up to date.
Make better connections, sign more leases with more personalized marketing
By embracing personalized marketing techniques like email segmentation, you can forge deeper connections with your prospects and residents with more targeted communication, and in-turn, improve resident satisfaction and achieve your occupancy goals faster.
As technology continues to evolve to allow more targeted marketing (without the hassle or complicated algorithms) you can continue to refine your approach over time, helping you keep up with the ever-changing multifamily landscape—but you have to have the right tools.
With the Respage Smart Leasing Platform CRM, you can ensure that your team has the latest AI capabilities and the most dynamic email segmentation options to continue to establish meaningful connections with your prospects and residents.
To learn more about the Smart Leasing Platform, ResMate AI leasing assistant, and our all-in-one AI leasing and marketing platform, click the button below to schedule a demo.
PS: Sometimes coming up with the right words can be difficult. That’s why we’ve created a number of customizable email templates for leasing follow-up (that’s already proving successful for onsite teams). Click here to check out our free email templates that can help improve conversions, re-activate cold leads, and foster a stronger relationship with your residents.
