November 2, 2019
9 Minute Read
When property managers think about resident surveys, often their first step is to hunker down in their office and hammer out a list of questions to ask residents why they stay or move out. But writing a survey is the last step. To find out how your residents really feel about where they live, you first need to ask yourself about why you’re doing a survey in the first place and what you’ll do with the feedback you receive.
Why conduct resident surveys?
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating resident satisfaction surveys.
The first step in conducting a resident survey is to identify your objectives and what you want to learn. Ask yourself:
Once you identify a clear objective — and a plan for what to do with the data once you’ve collected it — you can identify potential ways to gather insights into renter satisfaction.
Based on your objectives, who is the most relevant group of “customers” to best answer your questions? Current residents? Former residents? What about prospective residents who applied to any building — what actionable feedback can they provide?
Additionally, how will you identify and reach these customers for your survey: move-out cards? Online surveys? In-person interviews?
The why, what, how and who of your resident survey drives everything. Nail these down before you put pen to paper.
Drafting your questionnaire is the hardest part, so don’t work alone. Brainstorm with your team to break down your objectives into individual questions that will capture what you want to know.
If you’re not sure what questions to ask in your survey, consider doing in-person interviews (or simply one-on-one via phone or video chat) first. What do they like and not like about where they live? Make sure your conversation goes beyond rent questions; there’s always more to the conversation than just one aspect.
After a few interviews, you’ll start to see patterns that will help you identify key issues to explore in your resident survey. For example, did you hear feedback about residents wanting more amenities and services, or were their concerns centered around the overall condition of their units and the buildings? Design your survey around what you learned from your qualitative interviews.
Don’t try to get answers to everything in a single survey. Your objectives (and qualitative interviews, if you did them) should give you a good idea of areas to target. Pick one and write your resident survey around that.
When you’re ready to write your resident survey, break it into four parts for flow.
Thank residents for taking the time to complete your survey. Remind them of any incentives you’re offering for their participation. Give them an idea of how long the survey might take to complete.
Warm them up by asking them to tell you a little about themselves. Easy warm-up questions are noninvasive and easily answered to start building trust; for example, “How long have you lived in your apartment?” or “What’s your favorite way to spend downtime?”
These are the behaviors, perceptions or attitudes you are hoping to change with your resident survey. Using the high turnover example, our hypothesis might be that turnover at X community is high because residents don’t feel acknowledged or appreciated by on-site staff.
Dependent variable: Low resident retention
Dependent variable questions: How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the service X community’s on-site staff provides you? How likely are you to renew your lease?
Those who respond that they are unsatisfied with the service or unlikely to renew signal that satisfaction might be a factor in the residents’ intent to stay or not.
Always ask at least two dependent variable questions (no more than three) in your survey because resident satisfaction is never dictated by a single issue.
These are things you think might impact your dependent variables. In the high turnover example…
Independent variable: Poor on-site staff interaction
Independent variable questions: How easy does the on-site staff make it to contact them? How satisfied are you with the on-site staff’s overall speed of response? How satisfied are you with the on-site staff’s ability to resolve your issues? How satisfied are you with the on-site staff’s communication while resolving your issues?
Limit your independent variable questions to 12 or fewer to keep residents engaged with the survey. Using a grid and subsections helps with the flow:
These questions include age, income, gender, marital status, household composition, pets and education. Collecting this information gives you the ability to create targeted messaging and marketing programs that will resonate with your residents. For example, if you find that most of your residents have dogs, you could consider partnering with a grooming service and give residents discounts. Collecting demographic data also helps you segment your audience to create specific programs for different subsets of residents — say, a wine tasting event for single residents of drinking age and an afternoon picnic for parents with children.
Be mindful that demographic information is personal information. Ask yourself, “What would I do with this data?” and only ask questions that help meet your objectives. Make sure your questions do not violate fair housing guidelines, and consider explaining to residents why you’re asking for demographic information: to help you understand residents better so you can best meet their needs. Save resident demographics for the end of your survey, as these questions can be sensitive and therefore risk a resident exiting the survey before completing it.
The response scale you choose depends upon how you want to use the data later: Do you want to describe an answer or to quantify one? Each scale has its pros and cons, but the best one to use is the one that residents clearly understand and your researcher easily interprets.
Here are a few different scale types and when to use them:
For example: Yes/No, True/False, Agree/Disagree.
For example: 3-, 5- or 7-point scales. A 5-point scale (recommended) would be labeled as Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided/Neutral, Disagree and Strongly Disagree.
For example: Which credit card do you have? Select all that apply.
For example: Rank the following building amenities in order of preference: Pool, gym, theatre, hot tub.
For example: What can we do to improve the touring experience?
Bias often occurs when the survey sample does not accurately represent the population. Common sources of survey bias include:
You’ve got this! Prioritize your efforts and start small: When it comes to resident surveys, the shorter the better. You’ll quickly find out what their top concerns are so you can focus on them going forward.
Free versions of online survey tools such as Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey are easy-to-use sites that can help you generate your survey. To get the best understanding of your residents’ feedback, consider using the paid versions, which don’t have to break the bank.
Whichever tool you use, be sure it includes a way to download and share your results for reporting purposes.
You should also know how you’re going to analyze and report on the data before you even launch your survey because it’s all based on your objectives. Bringing in a professional to help you with data analysis ensures the information you capture is informative and actionable.
Include these key sections in your reporting:
When you know how to ask residents the right questions — and effectively use the data they give you — you’ll have a much better idea how to keep your renters satisfied and renewing their leases.
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