Lead-to-lease conversion is one of the most important metrics for landlords. The faster you can turn leads into signed leases, the better your conversion rate will be.
If your conversion rate is low, you might have ineffective lead management. Even a high volume of leads doesn’t guarantee a healthy conversion rate. Lead-to-lease conversion is also influenced by your marketing strategies and how easily interested renters can navigate your applicant pipeline.
There are many ways to improve your lead-to-lease conversion rate and start turning your vacancies into occupied, revenue-accruing units. To start, you’ll want to analyze your digital marketing assets, including your listings, website, and social media.
You’ll also want to rethink how you communicate with interested renters and consider different ways to speed up the process.
Here are six tips for improving your lead-to-lease conversion rate in your rental business.
1. Digitize Listings
Many renters look for housing exclusively online. If your listings aren’t already digitized, this is your first step.
Newspaper ads and paper flyers are unreliable in our current digital climate. You must post your listings on popular listing sites like Zillow, Innago, and Apartments.com. This will put your properties on many more renters’ radars as they scroll through competitive options on their phones or computers.
Remember that you can post one listing to multiple sites simultaneously with listing syndication on your property management software.
2. Improve Your Company Website
While you’re online, check on your company website. Is it well organized and designed? Is the menu easy to navigate, or are some pages improperly linked? Is the most important information easy to find?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it’s worth devoting some extra thought to your website. Getting prospective renters to visit your website is one thing. However, if your website doesn’t display the information they need in an easy or engaging way, renters might stop there.
Persuade renters that your business is worth investigating by including the most important information exactly where visitors expect to find it and being transparent about prices and options.
3. Automate Follow-Ups
If you’re receiving a lot of messages from interested renters but few signed leases, your communication might be the issue. Consider automating the process so that prospects never miss out on a follow-up message from you.
Modern AI is more than up for this task. By customizing your applicant pipeline, you can designate the specific times prospects should receive a message (e.g., after a day, three days, or a week of no response).
Not only does this solution reduce your burden to maintain communication, but it also makes prospective renters feel valued with personal attention.
4. Respond Quickly
Response time is a significant factor in lead-to-lease conversion rates. In the time it takes you to respond to a renter inquiry, your prospect is already browsing other properties and considering your competitors.
If you wait too long to reply, it’s almost certain they will hear back about another property and forget yours altogether.
To prevent this scenario, respond to interested renters as quickly as possible, preferably within a few hours or a day at most.
5. Develop Virtual Showings
Many prospective renters may live far away from your properties or have busy schedules. It may take a while for them to make it to your properties for a showing.
This extra time can lower your lead-to-lease conversion rate significantly.
To solve this problem, consider developing virtual showings. A virtual showing can be asynchronous or synchronous. Asynchronous tours are always available for viewers and could be pre-recorded videos or 3D-designed explorations. Synchronous virtual tours can occur over Zoom or another video calling platform.
If you have a virtual tour available on your website, tenants don’t have to wait to see your properties. They can explore your units virtually and reach a decision faster, improving your lead-to-lease conversion.
6. Advertise on Social Media
A final strategy is to advertise your properties on social networking sites like Facebook Marketplace or Instagram. If you know how to design appropriate content for the site, social media can be extremely effective at engaging viewers and increasing applications.
Before you start posting, be sure to research what kinds of posts are typical of your target platform. By building a solid profile with creative posts, you can use social media to give interested renters an easy way to get in touch.
From Leads to Leases
In an uncertain market, managing a perfect rental business with consistently filled units is an impossible task. However, by using property management app and digitizing your marketing assets, monitoring your applicant pipeline, and developing virtual content, you can improve your lead-to-lease conversion and capture more of your total prospects.