Switching to digital rent payments during a pandemic
The “new normal” has been an adjustment for all of us and has created new routines, which may incorporate more take-out and less face-to-face interactions. COVID-19 has affected how we all connect with people and businesses on a daily basis. By now we’re well acquainted with the changes we’ve had to make adjusting to this new reality with a widespread pandemic and how it’s impacting the multifamily rental industry. For that reason, with rent week approaching, we wanted to share our insight with you on how to remain on top of it while adapting to these rapidly changing times.
Safety first
Many of you have been following the advice of the CDC by working remotely to reduce risk to you and your team. We’re here to help by offering a platform that allows you to remain fully operational during rent week, no matter what your current “(home/garage/shed) office” looks like.
Digital payments offer the safety of paying remotely, fully contactless, with the security of our top tier PCI Compliance. As we navigate this situation together, we want to offer you some tips on how to increase resident adoption when remaining apart is a top priority for all.
Preparation for rent week — take it online
New to online payments
Is your property new to digital payments? Digital payments offer your residents convenience. Did you know that 8 out of 10 US residents prefer to pay with a credit or debit card? That’s why RentPayment offers various payment solutions to give tenants what they want. Not only does it benefit your residents but it also helps you, the PMC, reduce administrative time on paper checks and streamlines your rent collection process.
With various payment methods available, it makes it easier to comply with this wide range of preferences. RentPayment’s digital payments processing system reduces time spent on paper trails and operations and helps streamline all important information to one place. It’s the easiest way to accept rent online and offer the payment options now demanded in the market.
Expand your experience
If you’re a current RentPayment customer, you can always learn more about what RentPayment has to offer. We support a variety of integrations to include to create a seamless experience for your managers onsite. We’re happy to assist you with anything from a question about our platform to setting up a new payment method.
Back to basics
Let’s talk about the basics of RentPayment. With our platform, residents can pay online via ACH, Debit, or Credit Cards from anywhere via our mobile app or website. These features can be enabled on existing accounts to help your residents continue practicing social distancing.
How your residents can help you
First things first, how do you get the message out about moving to digital payments?
Get their attention
You can have marketing materials available and accessible at your properties to inform residents about online methods of paying rent. Having a visual reminder will help increase adoption by getting physically in front of the resident, and there are a number of ways to do so in order to entice residents to sign up.
We love a reminder
Sending electronic monthly rent reminders is another great way to inform your residents about their online payment options. These reminders can feature a general message along with a link to sign up. This creates an interactive experience for your residents. Rent reminders don’t always have to be strictly business!
Ways to motivate
Another idea is to approach this from the property by incentivizing your property staff to keep residents signing up and well informed. This can be done by:
- Setting a goal adoption rate (such as 60%) for each Property Manager.
- Offer incentives for Property Managers to receive once that goal is reached (i.e. a gift from management)
- Encourage utilizing our available marketing materials to assist them in this initiative. This could include our door hangers, magnets, and marketing print-outs.
Get in front of the resident when they’re thinking about rent most. Using a lease insert is a great way to introduce digital payments. It’s a relevant way to let your residents know about all the benefits from the start of their relationship with you.
Our goal is to assist you in making paying rent simpler for you and your residents during this time.
Why does this matter to my company?
Save time, paper, and money. Digital payments mean:
- Convenience for you and your staff
- Reduce chances of theft
- Real-time transactional data
Demonstrate the value of digital payments
Overall, digital payments mean funds get to your properties more efficiently. Communicating why this matters to your staff is an important step in promoting digital payments. Our playbook can offer you a variety of tools and promotions to better equip staff when speaking to residents about our digital payments platform. It gives key information to speak to and collateral to offer, all in one place.
Whether you send an email campaign or deliver print materials for inside use (such as a flyer in the elevators and common areas) we have the options to have a flexible solution to your preference. Not to mention, these will certainly grab the attention of your residents to sign up! If you’d like more information, get in touch with your Relationship Manager or contact us to receive a copy of the available collateral.
Increase adoption
As touched on above, incentivizing your property managers is a great way to promote increasing adoption. But what about also incentivizing the resident? We can provide door hangers to individually reach out to your residents highlighting the benefits of online rent payments. They also feature more exciting news on how they can have a chance to win prizes just for signing up.
A Sample of Our Adoption Initiatives:
- Sign-Up and Win. Offer residents a chance to win a number of prizes. For every resident that signs up for RentPayment, they are entered into a random drawing for an exciting prize (e.g. free dinner via GrubHub, Postmates, groceries/instaCart, or Apple Airpods – for all those Zoom calls).
There are a variety of ways digital payments can support your team and their hard work during a time when being apart from people is best. On the bright side, the benefits of utilizing digital payments can extend to when (a version of) “normal” life has returned. Paying rent online leads to more on-time payments, increases cash flow, reduces time spent on payment processing operations, and increases portfolio value.
Severn Management Company Uses RentPayment to Improve Payments Experience
Learn about how Severn Management Company, a real estate development company based in Annapolis, M.D., uses RentPayment to reduce the time and workload of processing payments and improving the payments experience for residents.
