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      Templates and communication best practices to increase resident engagement

      Strong communication throughout the campaigns makes all the difference in encouraging resident engagement.

      In this article, you'll find email templates and best practices to promote resident engagement and participation for the following phases of the survey:


      Before the survey

      Once your feedback campaign is created, it's time to begin communicating the upcoming survey to staff and residents. Starting communication early ensures that your residents are aware that they'll soon be responsible for filling out a survey, helps them understand why it's important for them to participate, and helps improve resident engagement rate - so your management will have access to accurate and in-depth results following survey completion.

      Best practices

      • Announce the survey to both your residents and staff using the pre-written emails and templates included below to send awareness "from the top"  highlighting why your organization is introducing and implementing WYL and why it's important for residents to participate in the surveys. 
      • Add posters and place WYL-branded marketing materials around the property (e.g. gym, elevators, mail room, front desk) to create awareness.
      • Recruit your managers and staff to promote to their residents — ask staff and teams to promote the resident feedback campaign whenever appropriate (e.g. in meetings, emails, community newsletter, in passing to residents) and throughout the week prior to campaign launch. 

      Templates

      Flyer: General overview of WYL for residents of property

      1. Download the flyer template here
      2. Open the flyer template for editing and add in the requested details. Find the edit fields for [HOME PROVIDER NAME].  Once these details are added, your flyer is ready to PDF and print! 
      3. We encourage you providing this physical handout to every resident prior to the survey launch.

      Email: Announce WYL to Residents

      Use this template as a communication tool to introduce residents to WYL via email.  Edit and send this out as an email to residents to introduce the platform and why it's important to participate in the surveys. 

      Dear residents, 

      Welcome to the beginning of your WYL experience!

      As an organization, [HOME PROVIDER NAME] wants residents to be a part of building a living experience that focuses on you, the resident, first. We genuinely want to make this a comfortable community for all.

      That is why we are incredibly excited to announce our usage of WYL, a resident experience feedback platform empowering residents to provide anonymous feedback about what they love (or don’t love) about the quality of the property, their living experience, or service of management.

      You are probably wondering what this means for you, and since your participation is crucial to the success of this, we have listed a few things you need to know below.

       

      What’s in it for you?

      By answering WYL Surveys and sharing feedback on a continued basis, you are providing timely and valuable information - contributing directly to improving the living experience for you and others.

      Your participation will mean responding to a few simple questions every few months. The survey questions will prompt opportunities to leave written feedback, as well, if you choose to provide further detail.

       

      Is this really anonymous?

      WYL prioritizes anonymity to help create a safe space to share honest thoughts.

      To preserve your anonymity, your answers about the quality of the property, maintenance, and management are aggregated and then converted into a score. These scores and responses are presented to us, the home provider in WYL Action Reports. It is important that you know that your written feedback will be anonymous by default. We’re not able to identify the author of anonymous feedback.

       

      Next steps?

      On [LAUNCH DATE], you will receive an invitation by email requesting your feedback. Upon accepting, you will be asked to complete a quick survey.

      Once you have completed the survey and left your feedback, your job is done…until the next easy survey comes!

      We will make [HOME PROVIDER NAME/PROPERTY] an even greater place to live and your participation will be crucial to achieving this goal! 

      Thank you,
      [NAME OF HOME PROVIDER]

      Email: General overview about WYL for staff

      Use this template as a communication tool to announce WYL usage to staff of the community. 

      [Community Name] Staff,

      [Community Name] is excited to announce a research collaboration with WYL, a resident experience feedback platform. This research partnership seeks to identify the benefits of a resident experience score, with the overall goal of establishing a reasonable standard that all owners and operators in the housing industry can agree upon.  

      Through this study, we hope to gain a clear understanding of how resident feedback can directly impact the decisions we make for our communities. The insights derived from resident voices will guide us in optimizing operations, enhancing satisfaction, and ultimately, fostering exceptional resident experiences.

       

      Benefits for [Community Name]

      • Become a leader in resident experience: Participation in this study positions [Community Name] as a pioneer in prioritizing resident experience. It allows us to provide input on how a resident experience score is defined and utilized across the entire housing industry.
      • Data-driven decision making: WYL's comprehensive reports provide unparalleled access to resident sentiment, enabling us to pinpoint areas for improvement and prioritize initiatives that deliver the greatest impact.
      • Benchmarking and recognition: The resident experience score serves as a quantifiable metric for showcasing our commitment to excellence. Positive scores can attract new residents, and solidify our reputation as a top-tier housing provider.

      Things that WYL needs to complete the study

      • Resident contact information: To facilitate the study, WYL will need access to a spreadsheet containing residents' first and last names, addresses with unit numbers, email addresses, and telephone numbers. WYL adheres to strict data privacy protocols, and all information will be used solely for research purposes. WYL will reach out directly to residents over the next several months for their feedback.
      • Resident awareness: WYL will distribute a set of marketing materials to the property in the coming weeks. It is important to place these items in the high foot traffic areas across the property to raise awareness about the study and WYL’s role.
      • Communication: Communicating to your residents throughout this study will be important. Your support will ensure we achieve our feedback goal so that we can utilize this data effectively when it's time to present our findings.  Also,  WYL may reach out to different team members with questions or requests. It is important to respond to these communications promptly.

      Flyer: Promote the survey around the property and community

      1. Download the flyer template here
      2. Open the flyer template for editing and add in the survey details. Find the edit fields for [Start of survey date - End of survey date], [Last date of survey], and [Home Provider logo here]. Type or add in the appropriate details in the edit fields for the Resident Survey. Once these details are added, your flier is ready to PDF and print! 
      3. Place the flyer in communal spaces such as the elevator,  community bulletin boards, or other high traffic areas.


      During the survey

      The survey is out and responses are rolling in. To ensure that as many people as possible participate, it's important to continue communicating the survey to residents.

      Templates

      Email: Communication post launch of first campaign

      Use this email template to provide reinforcement to residents about WYL. You should send this out as an email to residents a few days after the 1st campaign is launched. 


      We have now officially started our feedback campaigns with WYL, you should have received these requests in your email already!

      Please remember that WYL is designed to increase resident engagement and contribute to improving the living environment for all at [PROPERTY]. This is an opportunity to have your voice heard and give feedback to management anonymously. Your voice is an important contribution to this community. 


      What is expected of you?

      Please complete all the necessary steps, which should not take longer than 2 minutes. You’ll be taken to a set of questions once you click the link in the email. If you have not received a request to review, or if the link expired, please reach out to [NAME OF WYL CONTACT]. 

      Please make sure that you regularly answer the surveys that are sent out to you [INSERT FREQUENCY HERE]. This is your opportunity to voice any concerns, dissatisfaction, or satisfaction with your experience here. 

      Management will make sure to promptly respond to the feedback and work with the WYL team to action the responses, as the team is here to support us in creating a better community for residents to thrive in. 


      Should you have any questions/concerns or encounter any issues while using the platform, please reach out to [NAME OF WYL CONTACT]. 


      Thank you,

      [NAME OF HOME PROVIDER]

      Email: Final day of resident feedback survey communication

      Use this email template to to increase survey completion rate before the end of the campaign. You should send this out as an email to residents on the second to last day of the active benchmarking campaign


      [Greeting],

      Hopefully, most of you have already received and participated in the resident feedback survey WYL sent you last week. Tomorrow is our last day to participate and we need your help! We need to understand what you love (or don’t love) about the quality of the property, your living experience, or service of management. Perhaps we have some blind spots, but knowing these will help us create an environment where you and your fellow residents can thrive. 

      Remember:

      • The survey is short: It takes around 1 minute to complete.
      • It is safe: Surveys are conducted and controlled by WYL to ensure trust and 100% confidentiality.  Your written feedback will be anonymous by default, as we’re not able to identify the author of anonymous feedback. 
      • We will act: This is not just an exercise. We intend to share result trends as well as prioritize and act.

      Thank you for your willingness to give us your input and help us all have a better experience here at [property].

      [Sign-off]


      After the survey

      Now that the survey is complete and you've analyzed the results, it's time to communicate the results to your residents. Doing so helps ensure that residents understand their voices are heard and that management is acting on insights gathered from the survey. When you take action on results, you let your residents know that you're listening and committed to centering their insights and people will be more likely to participate in future surveys.

      Templates

      Email: From property manager to share results with residents

      Sharing your results of the survey to residents shows your commitment to change and transparency and improving their lived experience. Use this email template to send the results of the survey to your residents upon conclusion of the first campaign.

      [Greeting],

      Thank you for taking the resident experience feedback survey conducted by WYL in [Month]. As promised, I’m writing to tell you what we found and what we are doing about it.

      • Top scoring components include [driver name and driver name] showing that [what it means]
      • Lowest scoring components include [driver name and driver name] showing that [what it means]
      • Here’s how these results made me feel: [insert feelings, something vulnerable].

      As promised, we are acting on these results. Since this is our first round, we are targeting the one high-level action that we believe has the best chance to improve the living experience for most residents: [insert action].

      I will update you on the progress of this action, and we will finish it. While we get better together, we will proceed with additional WYL surveys during the year. Questions will be similar each time because trending allows us to see “ripple effects” so we know if we are on the right track.

      Thank you for your continued trust and commitment,

      [Sign-off from housing provider]


      Before additional surveys

      As your organization prepares to send out a new engagement survey, use the template below to refresh residents on the results of the past survey and encourage them to participate in the upcoming survey.

      Templates

      Email: Announcement of additional surveys

      Use this email template to announce to your residents that you're committed to receiving and implementing the feedback you've received from the first survey. Send this email  to promote participation in the upcoming survey. 


      [Greeting],

      Thank you for taking the resident feedback survey conducted by WYL in [month]. The qualitative feedback was crucial to understanding more about our identified weaknesses and strengths, and I read every single comment. Here’s how we are acting on your collective feedback:

      • [Action #1]
      • [Action #2]
      • [Action #3]
      • [Action #4]

      Some of these actions take time to do well. We will finish them. While we work them out, it’s time for our next survey! We will build a habit of doing this multiple times per year so we can continue to measure the impact that our actions are having, as well as to understand if anything else comes up. I’m asking you to stick with us on this and complete this survey, no matter if you feel things are going well or poorly. If you don’t, we won’t know how to help and get better together. We’re paying attention.

      Much like the first, survey [#2] is coming from WYL on [date] via email, so please watch for it. Please direct any other survey-related questions to [Email of WYL POC]. 

      Thank you for your continued trust and commitment,

      [Sign-off from PM]