Ron Kinkade
According to a recent report, text messages are opened at a rate of 98% and 90% of those messages are read within three seconds. Knowing these statistics, it’s no surprise that many companies are turning to text messages to inform their employees, customers, and clients.
As a manager of a property, whether it be an apartment complex or a single residence, using text messages can be a huge benefit to your business and make for happier tenants as well.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at how a mass text messaging service can help form better communication with renters and employees.
What Can You Do With Text Messaging?
In big cities and small municipalities, text messages are becoming the go-to way of getting vital information out. Whether it’s emergency alerts, notifications about weather or boil orders, people get the information much quicker via text message rather than seeing alerts on the news or via radio.
Tenants will appreciate getting timely information too, such as being informed before they get home from work that the water will be off due to a water break or repair.
It’s much quicker and easier for the landlord to text this information to everyone at the same time instead of making phone calls or visiting each person individually.
As a property owner, you too can better inform your residents and staff about upcoming events such as a tenant meeting or a building holiday party or the aforementioned maintenance. Anything that affects the residents can be communicated instantly via a text message, which saves you money from having to print up flyers, or time from having to go door to door.
Sending out text messages can also improve your cash flow by sending out friendly reminders that rent is due, and to let tenants know when their lease is up.
Another great benefit to texting is keeping in touch with potential tenants. Many people these days prefer text messages over phone calls, which they see as an intrusion. With a text message, they can choose to act on it immediately or set it aside to deal with at a later time. If you have a potential tenant, who’s interested in your property, sending them a friendly text message to remind them or offer them a perk that might change their mind is a great way to nudge them without being heavy-handed.
Enter The Text Messaging Service
Sure, text messages are an easy and convenient way to get vital information out to people, but it can still be a chore if you have a building with hundreds of people. It could take hours to text each person one after the other, and even then, can you be sure you didn’t forget anyone?
Having a text messaging service takes the hassle out of the equation and leaves you free to do more important things.
One of the first things a text messaging service will do for you is to create a database of the contacts. Users have the ability to either import Excel (xlsx and xls) and Comma Separated Files (csv) or enter them in manually. The database enables the function to send a text message to one, all, or just a few of your contacts.
Another service a text messaging company can provide is setting up URLs to embed into the messages in case you need to direct a tenant to a website with additional information.
In addition to saving you time, a text messaging service can save you money as well. Take, for example, the issue of having to do maintenance on a property that requires the presence of the tenant. A text message sent, and a reply to confirm, can save you from having a repair team waiting and ready to go, but not being able to do the work.
Lastly, text messaging services are versed in all of the rules, legal rights, and privacy laws that come with storing customer information, and they can take that worry off your hands.
Text messaging is the preferred method of communication for most people these days, and it will make you a more efficient landlord. However, getting everything set up can be a challenge and requires quite a bit of technical know-how, which is why it’s a good idea to see just what a text messaging service can do for you.