We all have a love/hate relationship with our apartment ILS’s. We love them for everything they do, and we hate them for everything they do. Yes, I’m talking about Rent.com, ForRent.com, Apartments.com, Move.com, ApartmentFinder.com – those are my big ones, but I’m sure I’m not mentioning dozens of other ones. I’m talking about ALL of them! Don’t get me wrong, I love all my providers! They bring me traffic. Traffic is king these days. The provider’s sales agents are great – friendly, helpful, a HUGE resource to apartment communities. But, the actual services all lack something EXTREMELY important - make it easy for the prospect! KISS! (Keep-It-Simple-Silly!*) (*I hate calling anyone stupid, so have replaced stupid with silly)
A recent blog post I did and two recent discussions on Multi-Family Insiders got me to thinking:
Give the prospect what they want. In the end, they are our customer.
To read the recent RENT SODA blogpost and discussions on MFI that got me to thinking, click below:
There’s a MARKET for THAT! (my RENT SODA marketing blogpost)
Advertising on Yours (and Others’) Good Names : an MFI discussion started by Mike Whaling
The ILS Conundrum – an MFI blogpost by Mark Juleen
Why can’t the ILS model be more simple, and cater to the prospect? Make it easier?
If they get THEY want, you get more traffic, and you drive more traffix to US, and we get WE want…everyone’s happy!
I’ve been a renter before, and as a renter, or anyone looking for a service for that matter, I love it when:
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…someone else has aggregated all the information for me into 1 BIG list. i love LISTS! I’m lazy, I have limited amount of time, and I need to find the RIGHT apartment without spending all my free time looking for an apartment. Come on, I have a life that I want to live. Being a professional apartment shopper is not my gig!
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…once I’m on your site, make it simple for me to find my dream home. (i.e. if I’m looking for Minneapolis, don’t give me all the listings out in the suburbs! REALLY? Do you think that providing me with listings all the way out to Timbuktu serves me in anyway?) The more time I spend frustrated on your site, the unhappier I become.
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Provide me with reviews. REALLY. Amazon does it, ebay does it, Best Buy does it – everyone and their dog allows for comments and reviews. I want to hear what other people like me who have done this before think.
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Link me to the property. Come on, I know you want me to stay on your website so you can provide a report to those that pay you on how long the average user stays on the website. But REALLY? Once I have narrowed down the list of who I want to visit, I want to VISIT them. Make it easy for me!
What do YOUR prospects and renters want from an ILS? As a renter, what do they want to make the experience easy and enjoyable? Please leave a comment with your thoughts. In the end, we should give the customer what they want, and they’ll continue to come back for me. Let’s see if we can get the attention of the ILS’s!
Dear Apartment ILS: KISS!
Don’t Get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!
-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota
CEO
Business & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry
Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com
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Couldn’t agree more with this one! Reviews would be a great component to the internet listing! So we have another perspective besides apartment ratings.com. In the end its all about the customer… a link to the properties public Facebook profile through all of the properties current internet listings would be amazing what a great way to get the vibe of the property. What a way to help narrow down the search=more free time! Point well made Rent Soda!
You bring up a great point. Links to other sites or social websites would be great. Those tools are already available, there’s not a need to re-build them, but give properties an opportunity to link to them directly.
Amen!
ILS’s are very important. They BRING traffic and are at the top of the search results. Why? Because they can afford to optimize, optimize, optimize! It’s crazy to put all your eggs in one basket. I recommend being on several of these sites.
However- the ILS’s are missing consumer reviews. They are missing key information that renters want. Think about it… When you travel to you review hotels on TripAdvisor.com? I wouldn’t travel without those reviews. The Web 2.0 phonomon changes the way we research, buy, sell, trade, etc. ILS’s haven’t caught up yet but hopefully they will. The first ILS to offer a “review” option will win big- $$. Hmmm- maybe I should create this site.
BTW- One ILS that allows you to link directly to your own property website is Move.com.