Both your current and future prospects are mobilized: 95.2% of the millennial generation will have mobile phones by the end of the year (a vast majority will be smartphones); the 35-44 and 45-55 age groups also strongly embrace this technology. How’s a multifamily community to keep up?

Appealing to the increasingly mobile apartment hunter will take more than a website, ILS posts and social media presence. If you really want to connect, it’s smart to embrace their “right here, right now” mindset.

One Community’s Approach

A mobile mindset approaches everything from an online perspective, from conversing to completing paperwork. Mobile consumers want to make the most of every second, too. Paperwork, emails, sometimes even phone calls may seem too time-consuming (yet they spend untold hours on Pinterest, Instagram, etc.). If you can offer them online options—convenient ways to get everything squared away—you could be that much more appealing.

There are numerous technologies out there to help. One that’s growing in popularity (with both on-site staff and prospects) is live chat. “It’s a fun way to build rapport with prospects and get them the most up-to-date information on your property, ” says Amber Crudele, property manager for Platform 14 in Hillsboro, Ore. She also told me that Platform 14 makes it easy to do more online (like completing applications) because they “don’t want to lose a lease.”

The combination of online processes and apartment chat works. Amber points to an apartment she leased by chatting with both roommates  “By the time the first prospect sent me her online application, the other roommate was chatting with me,” Amber recalls. “They sent everything I needed within minutes.”

How Chat Helps

“I think it’s easier for most people to chat or text as they research housing in between everyday tasks; some even prefer it to calling,” says Amber. Mobile consumers may also respond well to apartment chat because it helps you...

• Provide the instant gratification they expect - Amber admits to wanting answers now herself. “Even when I’m the customer, I feel the same. Plus, being able to answer questions on the spot means I’m not wasting anyone’s time.”

• Qualify leads as you go - “I like being able to chat and see if someone is really interested or just a lookie-loo. All it takes is digging a little deeper by asking questions of our own.”

• Build rapport with out-of-towners - Chat’s more conversational flow makes it “easier to ask personal questions compared to an email.” Adding your photo to the chat invitation gives another personal touch.

• Offer solutions - During chats, you can uncover prospects’ issues and offer instant solutions. Ever tried to set up a tour but couldn’t find a good time for both roommates? Amber once set up a FaceTime tour, showing the property to the husband while the out-of-town wife watched from her iPad.
  
  

Will It Work for You?

Amber’s experiences are not phenomena. As we all get more used to living in the online, mobile world—where you can bank, shop, book tickets and watch movies all on your phone—people are going to expect this kind of instant, convenient access from everyone. Including you.

You should, of course, look at your own residents and ideal prospects to see if this approach might work...but they are probably heavy mobile users too. (Smartphone penetration even doubled for Americans aged 55+). In fact, Amber’s found that most people don’t come into the office until it’s time to sign the lease. So if you want to influence their decisions, you first need to connect with them when, how and where they want.

What are some other ways your community appeals to these mobile apartment hunters?