Education

The beginning of each new year is ushered in with numerous announcements of awards, ranking reports and the like recognizing the hard work accomplished by management companies and their communities. In January, our epIQ Index (Experience and Performance Intelligence Quotient) Bi-Annual Report will be among them and we are eagerly anticipating the results! Knowing that a variety of KPIs are measured when it comes to organizational goals and incentive strategies such as employee bonuses, we set out to design an authentic, transparent and fair measure of performance.

The epIQ Index accomplishes just that and here are 5 Reasons why your organization should look to it as the most relevant industry metric:

1. Verified data – we can tell you exactly where your epIQ Index is coming from. There is no need for us to mine, scrape or aggregate data from multiple review sources because we own every piece of data that makes up the epIQ Index. Sure, we can easily incorporate other online reviews beyond those on ApartmentRatings, but the epIQ Index would be worthless if tainted by unverified data. Ratings and reviews became the #1 most trusted source in 2017 and year over year that has not changed. For this reason, it is important for us to take every possible measure to ensure the epIQ Index and resulting rankings are reliable and trustworthy.
2. Leveled playing field – each epIQ Index is calculated in the exact same manner. Because reviews can be written on ApartmentRatings, Google, Yelp, BBB, ILS sites, social media, etc., it is nearly impossible to demonstrate parity when comparing one company’s online reputation to another. And when attempting to rank the best of the best, an apples to oranges approach just doesn’t cut it. When teams do the work, make the right decisions, and dedicate themselves to providing an exceptional living experience, how demotivating is it to be ranked impartially! If every epIQ Index was derived from inconsistent data sets, there would be no way to substantiate its overall legitimacy, which is why we focus on and maintain consistency.
3. ZMOT – the epIQ Index is aligned with national consumer trends. Although Google’s “Zero Moment of Truth” campaign launched in 2011, many digital marketing strategies have yet to catch up. Renters today are more pragmatic in where they go for information and now focus mainly on sites they consider to have honest and verifiable content. Online reviews scattered here and there, some verified…some not, can do more harm than good; and slim are the chances a potential renter is going to visit all of the sites where a community has been reviewed. If you still believe (or have been told) it’s necessary to have a presence across multiple sites, independent studies regarding online shopping behaviors along with our data have long ago established the exact opposite to be true. As a consumer, would you visit 5, 15, 20 sites when researching a particular product? When searching for a new home, renters are using a similar way of thinking as they would for just about any purchase.
4. What matters most – renters helped us refine the epIQ Index. With over 20 years of industry experience, we’ve gotten to know renters pretty well. What we’ve learned is that their decisions to lease and renew go far beyond a community’s 5-star rating, so we’ve made sure the epIQ Index is a comprehensive representation of what a renter can expect should they choose a particular community. Each of the four epIQ Index components offers a glimpse into team performance and overall resident satisfaction: renter ratings (wisdom of the crowd), review count (social proof), manager review engagement (sense of community) and reply time (quality of customer service). The epIQ Index puts it all out there to help renters make better decisions, which can ultimately lead to lower attrition and higher rent growth.
5. Cost-free guidance and support – every day is a new day to improve your epIQ Index. Updated daily, our rolling 365-day calculation can result in significant changes to your epIQ Index. When the goal is to move up in the rankings, whether with the epIQ Index or any other, the best way to get there is with proven (as opposed to theoretical) action items, delivered by experienced educators. Collecting and analyzing feedback from millions of renters has given our Education Team clear insight into what it takes to deliver an epIQ living experience and is available to any organization, even if you’re not a SatisFacts survey client!

As the adage goes, “knowledge is power”. Knowing why your organization is #500 versus #5 and the steps you can take to improve will empower your teams to perform at a higher level. There is zero ambiguity when it comes to the epIQ Index and we are committed to keeping it that way for the betterment of all renters and the multifamily industry.

Whether you attended epIQ Week, registered but couldn’t attend, or were unable to do either, we want to make sure every company and community on ApartmentRatings has access to all of the information they need to have a successful (aka epIQ) 2022. So we’ve created a quick and efficient recap to give you all of the most important tidbits without the fluff. Let’s get started:

Day 1: All About epIQ

Key Takeaway: Not all components of the epIQ grade are weighted equally. All components are housed in the Exchange platform, along with reports, trends, competitor analysis, and more. Make sure all team members have access and know where and how to login.

Best Practice: Use the epIQ Report tab in Exchange to see each of your components individually, find out which need improvement, and use that as your roadmap to improve your overall epIQ Index.

Pro Tip: Complete your competitor analysis in Exchange to keep track of how you’re performing against your competitors in each of the four components.

Watch Day 1 to learn more about any of the above (you can get all of the above info in the first 8 minutes of the video).

Day 2: Improve Renter Rating

Key Takeaway: The renter rating component makes up 40% of the epIQ Grade. It includes the 6 key categories from ApartmentRatings (noise, safety, maintenance, grounds, office staff, neighborhood) + ratings for SatisFacts Insite Surveys (if you have them). The total score is calculated using raw data – by adding up every single star from all of those scores and ratings.

Best Practice: Use the scores from each of those individual categories (that can be found directly on your ApartmentRatings page) in the renter rating to find your specific area(s) of opportunity, dial into the specific issue(s), and get your whole team together to brainstorm ways to resolve them and improve the categry needing extra attention.

Pro Tip: Go to your ApartmentRatings page under the Search Review Content bar (in the Reviews section), and search for keywords that pertain to the topic/ area of opportunity. IE if “noise” is under a 4.0, type “noise” or maybe even “loud” etc. into the search bar to drill down into specific reviews to get better details. You can even sort by the Review Rating and then filter by Star Rating to get only the negative reviews to more efficiently get the details you’re searching for.

Coming in 2022: Sign up for an epIQ Education Session with Melissa or Lia to make sure you know how to login, how to access your company and/or community reports and trends, and how to research and evaluate your epIQ Index and compare it to others. *Education sessions take place at the portfolio level, so please reach out to your corporate team/marketing dept to contact us for a company or region-wide session.

Watch Day 2 learn more about any of the above (you can get all of the education details in the first 9 minutes of the video).

Day 3: Get More Reviews

Key Takeaway: Review count makes up 30% of the epIQ Grade. It is calculated by number of reviews per unit over a rolling 365 day period. It’s important to remember:Once a review reaches day 365, it drops out of the calculation. If there are no new reviews to replace it, that may affect your grade, so always keep new ones coming in.

1. Once a review reaches day 365, it drops out of the calculation. If there are no new reviews to replace it, that may affect your grade, so always keep new ones coming in.

2. It is important to keep a steady flow of reviews coming in throughout the year for renters to be able to make good buying decisions based on a sufficient amount of reviews.

Best Practice: The FTC is cracking down on deceptive online review practices. When asking for reviews, it is more important than ever to make sure you’re adhering to their regulations. While best practice is not to incentivize for reviews, IF you do, you must make sure to disclose (either the reviewer discloses in their review or the responder discloses in their response) that the review is part of a contest or incentivized program. For more information on review best practices, check out our free webinar with the FTC and article with helpful links.

Pro Tip: Use touchpoints to spread out your reviews to get them all throughout the year, as opposed to 10 in 1 month followed by little to none for months at a time. The SatisFacts Insite Surveys + Verified Resident Program package is a great option. It provides residents with a variety of feedback opportunities/touchpoints throughout the year that additionally include a request for review, which takes the work off your team.

Watch Day 3 for specific examples of the Dos and Don’ts of asking for a review.

Day 4: Review Reponse & Engagement

Key Takeaway: Manager review response (do you respond to your reviews) makes up 20% of the epIQ Grade followed by Manager reply time (how quickly do you respond to your reviews) at 10%. Based on our 2021 Online Renter Study (full report to be released early 2022), 76% of renters expect a response to their review within 2 days at the latest (45% within 1 business day, 31% within 2 business days), so it is KEY that your teams know where to respond and do it in a timely manner.

Best Practice: Put a reminder on your calendar every 2 days or create an org chart with a weekly review response task for all team responders to check your review platforms and ensure reviews are being responded to, or hire a company to respond to reviews to take the work off your plate.

Pro Tip: Utilize the Response Trends Report in Exchange to see your review and response data. It will show your community’s average response time, which can be used to start putting practices in place to get your reply times up and make it to the A+ response timeframe (see Coming in 2022 for an update on this).

Coming in 2022: Effective November 1, 2022, we will be changing the Reply Time to a day range and aligning it with renter expectations. To get:

• A+: reply time must be within 1.99 days
• A: reply time must be within 2.99 days
• A-: reply time must be within 3.99 days

Also effective in 2022: we are adding a Rate the Response feature to the reviews section. This will allow the reviewer, as well as other renters reading the reviews and responses, to rate the helpfulness and overall quality of the review response.

The Day 4 video offers tons of educational tips and valuable data. We suggest watching the video to get all of the information regarding Review Engagement & Reply Time.

Day 5: Prepare for 2022

Key Takeaway: Sign up for the monthly epIQ Index Reports at info@satisfacts.com to stay updated on your company/community’s epIQ Grade as well as everything you need to know about the epIQ Index.

Best Practice: Set epIQ Goals in 2022 for your team, community, and/or company to achieve, and celebrate the successes. This will keep epIQ top of mind and help provide touchpoints for your team to evaluate their individual components and review areas of opportunity to continuously improve their overall epIQ Index.

Pro Tip: Complete the competitor analysis report in the Exchange platform so you can easily view and keep track of how you’re performing against your competitors. You can keep track of up to 20 communities and 20 companies.

Coming in 2022: The epIQ Live Ranking Announcement (and awards) will take place on January 19th at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Stay tuned for an email to register and join the live watch party!

Watch Day 5 to learn more about any of the above (you can get all of the above info in the first 8 minutes of the video).

If you missed epIQ Week and want to hear about everything that happened (even though you can no longer participate in the daily challenges), head over to epIQ Week to watch all 5 videos.

The epIQ Index is composed of 4 primary variables, measured over the most recent 365 day period and updated daily – meaning that every day is an opportunity to enhance your community & portfolio epIQ results. Improving any one or ALL of them results in an increased score, leading you to become a Most Improved Community!

The variables to focus on include:

1. Renter Ratings: The average ratings from renter reviews and surveys
2. Review Count: The # of reviews per unit compared to other communities
3. Manager Review Engagement: The % of reviews with community responses.
4. Manager Review Reply Time: The average community review response time compared to other communities

Our Top 5 Most Improved communities increased their epIQ ranking by raising one or more of our 4 main epIQ components. So how can you make the Most Improved List, Top 10 List, or even improve your overall epIQ grade?

Start with the basics:

1. Make sure you have a process in place to receive and respond to all reviews on apartmentratings.com. Whether a review is positive or negative, it needs attention in a timely fashion.
2. Encourage residents to write reviews. Good or bad, we want to hear what they have to say to find out what they love about your community (to share with other potential renters), and what could use improvement (to use as trainable moments for team members, for potential future capital improvements, or for marketing opportunities).

One thing to always keep in mind is that it is highly discouraged in most industries (including multifamily), as well as against FTC and most reviews sites’ policies, to incentivize your customers to write a review. For more info, check out our webinar on this topic.

Identify additional opportunities to assist you in achieving the basics listed above:

1. Responding to reviews and questions or comments is essential to building trust and loyalty with both potential and current residents. How can you improve your response engagement and time?
   • Use the SatisFacts Review Responder Program. Our team will monitor and respond to all reviews for your community, taking the work off your plate so you can focus on resident issues, requests, and overall satisfaction. We can also offer webinars and training documentation to help your teams if your company prefers to handle review responses onsite.
   • Designate a person or multiple people in your company or community to receive and regularly respond to all reviews as part of their daily responsibilities.
2. Building a rapport with your prospects and residents will make it easier to ask them to share their experience at your community online. You can then use notable events to request a review, such as after a work order or resident event, or after renewal paperwork is signed. How can you get more reviews?
   • Let SatisFacts do the work for you. Utilize the SatisFacts insite surveys along with the Verified Resident Program to engage with residents at a multitude of touchpoints and then encourage them to leave a review regarding their experiences. Our surveys combined with the VRP program have a known track record of helping to increase reviews and boost apartmentratings.com review scores (and potentially on other review sites as well).
   • Create business cards with a QR code that links directly to your apartmentratings.com community page for your whole team to utilize – place in new move-in folders or gifts, attach to renewal paperwork, leave in an apartment with a completed work order form; the possibilities are endless.
   • Create customized review emails and designate a team member a week to send personalized emails to residents who recently engaged with your community or a specific team member in a positive way. Examples could include residents who sent a thank you note, gift or treat of some kind, or mentioned a positive move-in or maintenance experience, etc.

Take a moment to review your epIQ score card and compare it to our benchmarks to see how your community or company compares to the overall average. Where might you be able to improve? Reach out; we’d be happy to help you meet and exceed your goals so we can see you on the next Most Improved Community list!