Benchmark Your VaultWare Results Against Multifamily Industry Averages

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two part blog post.Be sure to subscribe to the MRI Watercooler so you don’t miss Monday’s post where long-time VaultWare alumna Tricia Ward will dive into best practices that some of the most successful VaultWare-powered portfolios implement to ensure they get more than their fair share of VaultWare’s highly qualified leads.

VaultWare Apartment Marketing Best Practices – Measuring Results

Published monthly, the VaultWare Market Index reports aggregated nationwide results for VaultWare Apartment Reservation customers, providing multifamily property managers with industry averages to benchmark their portfolio’s VaultWare results against. We frequently hear from customers that the reporting available to VaultWare Reservation System customers is tremendously valuable in identifying trends, strengths and weaknesses within their online marketing strategy. When used in conjunction with VaultWare’s “Availability Usage and Reservations Report”, the VaultWare Market Index is yet another powerful VaultWare solution in your marketing toolbox to help you better manage and measure your online marketing effectiveness.

If you’re not familiar with the VaultWare Reservation System, it’s important to understand that the solution serves as a lead-qualification point within your sales funnel. Because VaultWare leads are actual reservations for specific apartments and not just a simple guest card lead, these potential residents already know what apartment they want, the correct rental rate and concessions (if any),  when the apartment is available, and in many cases, whether they are qualified to rent from you. VaultWare Reservations should be considered the hottest leads you have and priority should be given to these leads when it comes to follow up from the leasing staff.

The diverse marketing strategies of apartment marketers that leverage the VaultWare Reservation System within their overall apartment internet marketing plans means the variance between minimum and maximum portfolio results contributing to the national averages is quite wide. Using December 2012 as an example, the average property saw 334.5 prospective residents check availability using VaultWare, while the top 10 performing VaultWare-powered property management companies averaged more than 1,300 availability sessions in the same timeframe.

Portfolios that tend to receive results at the top of the spectrum generally are more aggressive with their ad buys and SEO efforts on their own websites. These endeavors typically result in an increased volume of leads funneled into the VaultWare system. Properties or portfolios at the bottom of the stack generally report lower overall vacancy rates and consequently less potential inventory for VaultWare to promote, which in turn reduces lead throughput. A complementary factor that contributes to lower results is the tendency of properties with high occupancy to reduce their ad buys, further depleting the volume of prospects channeled into VaultWare. Properties in this scenario should take note of their “Availability Alerts Report” in VaultWare Tracking as the volume of interested prospects signing themselves up for the Availability Alerts automated waitlist service can be helpful in determining future demand for specific floor plans so you can adjust your sales and marketing efforts accordingly.

Curious about what kind of results you could realize from implementing the VaultWare Reservation System across your portfolio? Check out the VaultWare Market Index. Are you already a VaultWare customer ready to compare your own results against your multifamily marketing colleagues’? First make sure you have your login information and head on over to the VaultWare Tracking site. The VaultWare Market Index is conveniently linked on the main report menu.