Customer satisfaction is essential for Real Estate companies. I would say there is a direct link between satisfaction and the internal case management processes. You can offer great lettable areas within the right location and at reasonable cost, but one of the things that really make an impact in the customers’ experience is how you interact with your tenants and how you are handling their questions and complaints. I believe that you can improve satisfaction if you trim your internal processes. To set up the best processes, my advice is that you use your data. In other words, you need to make your case management process data-driven!

Why customer satisfaction is important.

It is common knowledge within the Real Estate industry that it is cost effective to focus on the customer experience. We all know that happy and satisfied customers are more loyal. Loyal tenants keep your costs low because movements drive costs and administration. Loyal customers also tend to care about the local residential area and make sure to report error cases to you, which gives you the possibility to act immediately. If you keep the area in good condition, the ripple effect is that your tenants will be more careful, and you will reduce wear and tear. This is in itself cost-saving. And if you play your cards right in your case management process, you will keep the satisfaction level high.

How can the customer satisfaction improve, by a data-driven case management process?

One of the ways to increase customer satisfaction is to handle customer service cases with focus on the tenants’ expectations. It is a fact that customer expectations have changed with e-commerce actors that handle interaction with self-service functionality, in a seamless way. You will need to be up to date with the latest technology to meet the demands of your tenants in a professional way.

To be able to manage the cases, I would advise you to set up a proper case management process, with different identified steps. A process will make it possible to move individual cases forward, as well as get an overview of the progress of all cases. When you have control, you can also be transparent with your tenants of the progress of the individual cases. And for this, you will need data.

Nowadays the tenants will demand not only quick and correct answers, but also the possibility to communicate in different channels and always being able to access the latest information regarding the case in question. Also, your tenants expect to find the relevant information by using self-service tools when it is convenient for them. Long are the days when they accepted to sit in telephone queues during your opening hours. The customer also expects to be able to track the history of the case, and an update of the status as soon as there are any changes.

You will have to make the data accessible and also you need to present the data in an understandable way. Not only your tenants, but also your employees will need to have the same view of the cases, with the possibility to both catch up with the history and being able to add information. Because, if a tenant is contacting you, your internal processes must be properly aligned with the customer’s. With a proper case management process, you will excel in your contacts with your tenants and create the best experience available.

To summarize:

• The tenants’ experience is key to customer satisfaction.
• When tenants are asking questions or making complaints, they expect digital self-service tools as well as a variety of channels.
• The tenants expect to have access to the progress of the cases and that the landlord have the same information available, when in contact.

Reflection

Now I am interested in some information from you. How do you handle this today? Do you have a data-driven case management process? Do you know how many new, ongoing, and closed customer service cases you have right now, and do you know how efficient your flow is compared to last month or last year? Do you know what is the average days handling cases and what type of cases brings the most administration? Do you know in which channels the tenants contact you and do you see any differences between different customer segments? Many Real Estate companies do not have access to data or the processes, but it is possible to change this and move from not knowing, to get proper insights. And it is possible to give the tenants access to the status of the cases at the same time (win-win).

If you need some help in getting started with setting up a proper process. Besides case management there are many other parts to becoming data-driven. Do you want to know where you are in your journey? Do the short quiz on our website and receive a suggestion of next steps directly after completing it.

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About the author

Pernilla Klein is a Business Consultant working at Stratiteq and specialized within Real Estate, where she facilitates workshops to fulfil the needs of the client’s data-driven solutions. She is passionate about combining strategy with a technical solution and the link between customer satisfaction and data-driven case management processes within Real Estate. Extracurricular; she loves takes ice-cold baths regularly during wintertime and is often seen attending live concerts with some obscure post-punk band (that no one has heard of).

Pernilla Klein

Industry Lead Real Estate

pernilla.klein@stratiteq.com

+46 73 661 21 35