We live in a review-centric world. Whether you’re deciding what to watch on Netflix, what hotel to stay at on your next vacation, or what to order for dinner, you put a lot of faith in the opinions of others. Our industry is no different—property management reviews help residents and owners alike decide where they want to live and who they want to work with.
Whether you like it or not, your success will be influenced by the reviews you receive. And, unfortunately, people are a lot more likely to leave unsolicited negative reviews than positive ones.
So how can you start generating more positive reviews? Read on to learn just that, and how to leverage positive reviews to attract business and improve your business reputation.
Why positive reviews matter
Just as prospective residents will check reviews when deciding where to live, prospective investors will do their due diligence when hiring a property manager. That means reviews impact your business from both sides, doubling their importance.
Influence on prospective residents
Renting a home is one of the biggest decisions a person can make. For most renters, it’s not just where they’ll spend most of their time, it’s also the single biggest bill they pay every month. So they want to be sure they’re getting it right.
Reviews are one of the most important ways that residents make that decision. In fact, according to a 2024 survey by Reputation, 81% of prospective residents consider reviews important when looking for a new home. On top of that, 55% require a property to have at least 4 stars to be considered, and 71% said negative reviews could deter them from even touring a property.
Boost your property management reputation
The good news is that reviews aren’t just a negative force. They can actually be a tremendous competitive advantage when they’re positive. Because so many prospective residents and investors are looking at reviews, they provide a single place to really boost your reputation. Focusing on obtaining positive reviews from happy residents can elevate your brand and help you stand out from the competition.
Excellent for marketing purposes
You can also take advantage of your positive reviews by spreading them across different channels. Yes, great reviews are an asset when people look you up on Google, but they should also be an asset across your website and social channels. Share positive reviews in your email newsletter, your pitch deck for new investors, your social media accounts, and more. Get the word out about how much your customers love you, because the more eyes you get on positive reviews, the better.
When to ask for reviews
Deciding to ask for reviews can feel like a big deal. You don’t want to feel like you’re pressuring anyone to do something they don’t want to do, and you want to make sure they’re truly delighted with you before they go talking about you publicly.
Here are some great opportunities to ask happy residents for reviews.
Move-in
Move-in is a hectic time. There’s a lot in motion, which means there are also plenty of opportunities to delight your new residents, whether that’s with a move-in concierge, a welcome gift, or just a perfectly presentable home.
Once you’ve gone the extra mile to help them settle in, consider sending a follow-up email or survey to see how their experience went. If they have good things to say, that’s a great opportunity to ask for a review. Catch them when they’re at their happiest to increase the likelihood of them singing your praises.
After resolving issues
Another great opportunity to ask for reviews is after resolving an issue or complaint that they had. Whether it’s a maintenance request, service issue, or something else entirely, you can ask for a review when you take care of it.
Make sure that you’re still going above and beyond, either by making it up to the resident or by being proactive and communicating clearly. You don’t get points for doing the bare minimum, so if you’re going to ask for a review, make sure you’ve earned it.
After making upgrades
Upgrades are the kind of proactive service that really delights residents. When you’re making their home better, they’re more likely to view you positively, so take advantage. Use these opportunities to ask for reviews on your business profiles.
During lease renewals
Lease renewals are another natural time to ask for feedback. If someone’s choosing to renew their lease, that means you’re doing something right. Take the opportunity to ask for a review of their time with you so far. It won’t feel out of place to the resident, and you can bake it right into your renewal process so it’s fully automated.
Move-out
Move-out is another natural point in the resident lifecycle where a review makes sense. At the very least, it’s a great opportunity to ask for private feedback in a survey. That way you can learn what’s working well, what’s not, and why they’ve chosen to move. They may be perfectly happy with you, but they’re relocating, moving in with a partner, or purchasing a home. When you’re parting amicably, it can be a great time to encourage them to leave a review. It always helps if you attach the request to a more altruistic thank you letter during the move-out process.
Running a review-generating campaign
Aside from these opportunities, it can be worthwhile to run the occasional dedicated campaign to generate more reviews. To do it right, you’ll have to set a clear goal, select what platform to use, and incentivize your residents to participate. And, if you want the campaign to be manageable and not take up all of your team’s time, you’ll want to automate as much of it as possible.
Set clear goals
As with any business project, you have to start with a clear goal. You want to be sure that your goal is specific and measurable so that you can objectively track whether or not it was successful. For reviews, you may set your goal a few different ways:
- Gather 10 new 4- or 5-star reviews
- Shift our overall average score from 4.5 to 4.7
- Double the number of reviews on our page
Your exact goal and how you structure it will depend on your individual business needs, so make sure it’s specific to you.
Choose the right platforms
Next, you need to decide where your customers will be reviewing you. Yelp is synonymous with business reviews, but Google Reviews plays a more important role than ever, and Facebook is important to reach key demographics.
- Yelp: Established in 2004, Yelp is a pillar of the internet. While it may be less popular than it once was, it still ranks highly in search results and serves certain geographic areas well. However, Yelp has a strict no-solicitation policy, so it may not be a good option for a campaign asking for reviews.
- Google Reviews: Google Reviews’ strength is its integration with Google Maps. That means that when someone searches Maps for a local property manager, they’ll immediately see your Google Reviews. You can also integrate your reviews into ads, and gain organic search benefits on the world’s largest search engine.
- Facebook: Facebook has a very useful review tool as part of its business pages. Because users can find your page—and therefore your reviews—organically, this can really help increase visibility. However, Facebook serves a changing demographic. Younger people are less likely than older generations to use Facebook, so if you’re targeting young first-time apartment renters, it may not be a great option. But it still holds up if you’re targeting families for single-family home rentals, for example.
Incentivize participation
Some—including Google themselves—may not find it ethical to offer incentives for positive reviews. In fact, Triple Win Mentor Mark Brower strongly agrees that you should never bribe someone for a positive review.
However, you can offer perks or rewards for honest, sincere reviews, even if they aren’t perfect 5-stars. You don’t want the process to feel transactional, so incentivize participation, not specific opinions. If you do run an incentive program, make sure to disclose that on review sites, or else risk violating terms of service.
Incentives can be as simple as gift cards or entries into a raffle. For example, you can award one lucky winner a discount on rent or free perks. Just make it abundantly clear that the contents of the review won’t dictate who wins the reward.
Automate requests
Finally, in order to keep your program scalable, be sure to automate as much of it as possible. Set up automatic email or text message notifications at the key moments we outlined earlier. Bake review requests into your move-in, move-out, and maintenance processes so that you maximize the chances of getting those sweet, sweet positive reviews.
Leveraging positive reviews
As outlined before, reviews have maximum impact when you leverage them across different platforms. Let’s take a look at some of the different ways you can put reviews to work.
For marketing
The customer voice is marketing gold. Leveraging reviews in marketing activities like social media, email newsletters, and your website can help get more eyes on your customers’ positive words. Social proof is vital to building trust with a prospective resident or investor, so use it liberally. When a reviewer sings your praises for you, that’s less work for you to do yourself.
For advertising vacant properties
Rental listings are another opportunity to get your reviews out into the world. A five star review on a vacancy listing can help you stand out and catch the eye of a prospective resident. Plus, when someone visits a listing, you know that they’re actively looking for a place to live, so you’re catching them in a moment of decision. This can make all the difference between a top resident submitting an application or scrolling right on by.
To attract new investors
Residents aren’t the only ones looking at reviews. Prospective investors want to see that you’re running an effective, high-quality business, and that you’re selecting great residents and treating them well. Why would they entrust you with their investment if your own residents don’t like you? Positive scores on Yelp, Google, and Facebook can actually boost the perceived value of your business, making owners more likely to hire you.
Best practices for asking for reviews
If you’ve never done it before, asking for reviews can seem intimidating. In reality, there are a few key steps you can take to simplify the process and get great results.
Ask for feedback
Gathering feedback is essential, not just because it helps you understand your business better, but because it helps you build a better resident experience. You should make this very clear to your residents; if they know your feedback surveys and reviews are actually put to good use, they’ll be more incentivized to provide their opinions. Show them specific changes you’ve made in the past based on resident feedback, from improving customer service to adding amenities. This will increase the likelihood that they’ll give their honest perspective.
Make it easy
No matter how incentivized a resident is, if the process isn’t easy, they’re not going to follow through. That’s why you have to streamline things as much as possible, and remove roadblocks to participation.
If you have an office or are using printed materials, make sure to include QR codes so that residents can quickly access your survey. If you're reaching out via email or text, use direct web links. Either way, make sure that the survey is mobile-friendly. Over 40% of all U.S. web traffic now happens on mobile devices, and that’s higher among young people. If you aren’t offering a mobile-friendly page, you’re going to fall behind.
Follow up
It’s also important to know that just one request may not be enough. While you don’t want to pester your residents, it’s worthwhile to follow up with them if they don’t leave a review. There’s a good chance you caught them at a bad time the first go-around, or that they just got busy and forgot. Make sure you’re giving them another chance to give their feedback.
To avoid feeling like a bother, make sure to set the expectation upfront that you’re going to be following up. When you send your initial request, let them know that you’ll check in if you don’t hear from them, and be specific about the timeline of events.
Respond to reviews
Responding to reviews is also key. Not only does it show readers that you’re paying attention and taking feedback seriously, it also creates opportunities to generate positive outcomes. If someone leaves a positive review, thank them sincerely. If they have negative feedback, show honest concern and offer to make things right by improving your service. That might require following up to get more information, but it’s worth the extra effort to delight a previously-unhappy customer.
Get glowing reviews with Second Nature
If you want to delight your residents and generate positive reviews, a Resident Benefits Package from Second Nature can go a long way. From credit building to pest control and identity protection, our RBP provides a better rental experience for residents.
If you’re interested in learning more about how an RBP can elevate your business reputation, request a demo and hear directly from a member of our team.
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February 27, 2025
