Topic: Advertising: Are we still measuring cost per lease per ILS?

Today's renters shop for apartments on multiple ILSs and as a result, one prospect may find your property on several different sites. In that case, who do we give credit for that particular lease? Is it possible to credit any ONE source for a lease when a prospect has visited your community on more than one site? Please share! Thanks in advance!

It's possible, but you bring up a debate we've been having for years. I know my school of thought is that people view many sites. While we may give credit to the one they mention, I don't believe it's fair to think they only used one. For example, I don't believe it's a good practice to use a pay-per-lease model as that one source (that likely gives a $100 reward) is the only source someone uses to influence their decision to rent. I'd rather see someone pay a flat rate or in some cases pay per lead for an ILS.

All said, I do measure based on the source someone tells us or the source they use to contact us with to measure the success of the platform. Those results still tell a story, but obviously do not show an exact science for anything.

Thanks for the question!

There is no such thing as a 1 site loyalist anymore. A prospective resident is going to shop around all of the sites and do their research before calling or visiting.

Measuring ROI therefore becomes almost impossible. The prospect is going to tell you the last site they happened to be on when most likely they originally found you on a previous site and then googled/researched your community further and called from either your site or any another internet listing source.

The main message I think is to be on as many top listing services as your budget allows so you are in front of the prospect no matter where they start or end their search.

It's no longer about 1 source=1 lease. 3 sources can contribute to 1 lease. Now the focus needs to be on overall branding and placement of your community online.

I like your answers. Thank you! I'm glad we're all on the same page!

... and to further complicate the issue is having to pay a Referral Fee when someone stops in, says they found you on the internet - yes, which one? you ask - and they say, for example, Apts.com. After they move in, you get this really neat email claiming I need to pay them $389 or whatever is the going rate nowadays for the referral for the new Resident who just - GUSH - signed a lease at my community. Then it either becomes a fight or awkward when you have to call the Resident to explain that their Guest Card lists a different internet source.

This ia the one reason alone that there should perhaps be a combo source on my software system. I hear Prospects naming a couple of different sources because they can't remember which exact site they were on.

Yep! 3 years later it's still an issue.

Nice, Mark! I think I might start making videos! Haha.

Isn't the only source you have to pay per lease Rent.com? But yes, studies have shown renters on average use 4 different sources when searching for an apartment, does that seem correct?

Currently, both Rent.com and Mynewplace.com offer the pay-per-lease program.

But I'm also referring to instances when one tries to determine ROI based on leases. Today's renters use multiple sites in their decision-making process. This makes it difficult to give credit to only one source for one particular lease.

I have had the same experience with rent.com which has increased in disputes the last year.We include the question of how the prospect found our community on their application which means they have to write in the source themselves (only 1 is allowed) and yet when I include both the Guest Card & the application source written by the new resident I still have to fight to maintain the denial. Unless rent.com requires exclusivity of their customers (which will never happen)a prospect will look at ~3 sources. What would they tell their customers? "if you sign up at rent.com then you cannot look at any other internet sites in your search". I am hoping that Primedia might look at the existing model & make some revisions and allow for their customers to deny an invoice if a marketing source we pay for such as Apartments.com is cited by the resident.
Enjoyed the video Mark!

Mark wrote:

It's possible, but you bring up a debate we've been having for years. I know my school of thought is that people view many sites. While we may give credit to the one they mention, I don't believe it's fair to think they only used one. For example, I don't believe it's a good practice to use a pay-per-lease model as that one source (that likely gives a $100 reward) is the only source someone uses to influence their decision to rent. I'd rather see someone pay a flat rate or in some cases pay per lead for an ILS.

All said, I do measure based on the source someone tells us or the source they use to contact us with to measure the success of the platform. Those results still tell a story, but obviously do not show an exact science for anything.

Thanks for the question!

Well said Mark! My clients ask me about this all the time and I wish I came across your clear consise answer years ago....

Great Answer...

Probably the best video I have seen on this subject......EVER