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Do People Want a High-Touch Experience? I'm Not Convinced They Do.
Do People Want a High-Touch Experience? I'm Not Convinced They Do.
A lot of talk right now about whether we are a "people business", in that prospects and residents want to connect with a real person. I am not convinced that's necessarily true.
Imagine you have a maintenance issue – the ideal scenario is akin to magic. I walk out of the room, walk back in, and it's fixed.
Granted, that's silly, but nowhere in my ideal scenario did I think, "I really want to chat with someone about this."
Similarly, when I'm touring an apartment, fundamentally I want to see and experience the place I may be living, and get my questions answered.
But if through magic I already have all the questions answered, do I really want someone tagging along the ride with me watching me as I evaluate the apartment and property?
According to HRC Retail Advisory, 95% of shoppers want to be left alone while shopping. That doesn't mean they don't want assistance at some point – it just means they want to evaluate alone first, and then get help if needed.
Similarly, if I walk into a hotel, do I want to stand in line and talk to someone, or do I just want to walk directly to my room and unlock the door with my phone?
Magic isn't real, but through different technologies, I can get incredibly close to a seamless, frictionless experience, with only the edge-case questions needing a real human response.
Granted, there are still loads of people who want a hand-held experience, but that changes over time as people get more used to (and comfortable with) interacting with AI. And I truly think there is a tipping point to all of this.
Once it becomes the norm to not have an in-person guide leading you through the process, having someone in that process can actually be a negative to some people.
To understand this, we have to stop thinking about our own understanding of what is "normal", and imagine a younger person who has increasingly become used to frictionless experiences where they don't need the human component.
Now, imagine they are looking at cars – All of the dealerships just give them the keys and let them take a test drive on their own. But the last insists on having someone sit there with them. Which of those experiences do you think that young person enjoys the most, and which do they feel is most awkward?
All that said, I don't think that this removes the high touch experience from property management – instead, it makes it more intentional. In our current state, communities are high touch because they already have on-site teams there, so it's a natural extension to focus on high-touch experiences.
But when a high-touch experience isn't needed, it either goes away or it becomes an intentional operational choice. In other words, some operators will lean into that high-touch approach, and the prospects and residents who prefer that will gravitate towards those communities.
Prospects and residents who want a more pared down experience will be able to find that as well.
Ultimately, I think that is very good for the industry, where true differentiation can happen.
Comments 2
Trust me, I hear every word you’re saying, and in theory, I understand why people might prefer to tour alone and do everything independently. However, being on-site and interacting with prospects—both young and old—I can tell you they still come in wanting assistance with the application process. They want someone to walk them through it and reassure them that they are completing each step correctly. Ironically, the younger they are, the more assistance they tend to need.
While touring the property, we take opportunities to reinforce important community standards. For example, when prospects comment on how clean the community feels or how quiet it is, we use that moment to discuss patio rules and community expectations. When we pass a maintenance technician or another resident, we stop and introduce them so prospects begin to feel at home. They won’t get that same “warm and fuzzy” feeling by touring alone.
Maybe that’s exactly why our community has such a strong renewal retention rate. When residents make friends here, they attend resident events, and when they attend events, renewal retention increases. We learn their pets’ names during the first visit and greet them by name when we see them around the property. AI can’t do that.
And don’t let AI write your article—it will always recommend a “no-touch” experience where people are left alone.
Bottom line: we lease to a lot of people because a real person answers the phone. Meanwhile, the property down the street has an AI answering service, an AI bot responding to emails, and AI scheduling tours where no actual person is present. People come here because we are REAL.
Thank you for replying, Sherri! My approach is to understand the underlying preference of people, and meeting them there. Like you mentioned, no matter how seamless the solution is, some people will just prefer the hand-held experience. But I think a lot of our industry's decision-making process is not necessarily based on what prospects/residents would prefer in a perfect world, but rather what they prefer based upon today's limitations.
For example, I went to Taco Bell about a year ago and used their AI drive-through experience. It was clunky and frustrating. But what if it wasn't clunky? Would I like it? Would I like it better than the normal experience?
So I might say, "people don't like AI in the drive-through experience", but that may be the wrong analysis - It might be that people just don't like AI because AI isn't quite there yet, but if it was, they might actually prefer it.
If I nail down what the core preference is based upon multiple seamless solutions, then the approach I take may be different. So some properties may lean in to high-touch scenarios because their target audience prefers that, while others lean the other way.
I appreciate you chiming in on the discussion!