How Rentping Got Started
2011-08-23 06:00am
Author: David Watson
Topic: Metrics
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In July 2007, the month before I got married, my wife and I began our apartment search together. I remember painstakingly looking at just a few pictures in magazines and on websites that showed various apartment communities. I was able to see beautiful pools, fitness centers, business centers, basketball courts, and even flowers.
Something was missing, though. I was not able to see the actual apartment. Maybe we saw a picture of a kitchen or bedroom, but we did not know which floor plan it belonged to. In most instances, all that was shown was a 2 dimensional floor plan. The online content was pathetic.
To further complicate the situation, both my wife and I worked full time Monday - Friday during business hours. We could only visit apartment communities when they were open on the weekend. Our apartment search wasted two full weekends in a row driving all over Omaha!
In June, 2008, I had the opportunity to give prospective residents a better experience. I was leading the marketing for a property management company with around 1,700 units under management. The portfolio was made up of some larger apartment communities with 100+ units and lots of smaller property (1-50 unit buildings). The first thing I did was begin to measure our marketing cost per lease for every marketing source. As we looked at the results, we recognized a huge need for more cost effective marketing than the standard ILS portals, print guides, and newspaper ads were providing. Embarrassingly, I found the newspaper was costing over $1,000 in marketing expense for every lease generated and print guides were running between $600 and $800 depending upon the apartment community.
So, we began to experiment with walkthrough video technology, professional photography, web distribution, search engine optimization, online ads, and much more. Professional content - particularly our walkthrough video technology - quickly became our centerpiece because better content improved the performance of all our advertising.
Our walkthrough videos would allow somebody to feel like they were walking through an actual apartment online. It wasn't a distorted 360 degree tour or a video just showing community amenities. People could actually walk through their apartment and see amenities. This was the game changer.
Over the following year we began to see the number of apartments rented from our own web presence increase from less than 10% to about 30% of our total applications. Another interesting thing happened: Our leasing agents started leasing more units per hour they worked. We paid for fewer labor hours and reimbursed less gas mileage (our agents drive all over town) for every lease. We were finding that potential residents came to our company knowing what a particular apartment looked like, and this consumer knowledge made our leasing agents more efficient. We knew we needed walkthrough videos and professional photos for all our floor plans to maximize our results.
Unfortunately, our technology was not at a professional level due to the astronomical cost of technology (web development, cameras, computers, editing software, videographers, programmers, etc.). So, in October 2009, Rentping.com was born. We created Rentping in order to serve more companies with a more professional product.
Today, less than 2 years later, my same property management company now receives around 70% of their applications from Rentping technology. From call tracking numbers we have discovered that we convert a minimum of 1 out of every 10 visits into a lead for our various clients - a conversion ratio unmatched by anybody in the industry. How did we do this?
We understand that content is king.
Everybody focuses on traffic - and so do we. What makes us different, though, is that we focus on converting that traffic into leads and leases too. We invest significantly more into onboarding a client to shoot a walkthrough video and professional photos of every floor plan. We also make sure to film amenities and other important information. Once we create good content, we use it to improve the conversion ratio of a client's website(s), Facebook listings, Craigslist presence, other ILS's, and even physical marketing materials like brochures. How much more effective would your website be if one out of every 10 visits converted into a lead? Not to mention, our leads are the most qualified leads that exist.
Rentping got started because prospective residents want better content and information to guide their apartment search.
I know my wife and I did.
About David Watson
David Watson is the Founder and CEO of Rentping, LLC. His background includes an entrepreneurial managment degree from TCU where he served as Student Body President. He also spent 3 years working for Gallup leading their sales efforts in the area of leadership development education. He continues as an owner of a property management company in Lincoln, Nebraska that manages over 2,000 apartment units. This ensures he keeps Rentping relevant to the industry trends.
David has been successful at creating a unique and superior internet presence for Rentping. He is most proud that Rentping's websites now generate 1 lead for every 10 visitors - a conversion ratio unmatched by anybody else in the industry. He is married with one child and resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.