How to Motivate Residents to Pay Online

For over a decade, electronic payments have been commonplace in the auto, utility, insurance and cellular industries. Unfortunately, the property management industry is at the tail end of the curve. And management companies that do have an e-payment solution in place often don’t see a huge utilization of the service. Why? Simply because residents aren’t aware they can pay rent online. A little communication goes a long way, so here are two crucial tips for marketing your rent payment service:

1. Get Your Property Managers on Board: Property managers are the front line to your e-payment service. But realistically, property managers won’t tell residents about it if they aren’t comfortable with it themselves. Make sure they are completely trained on the system and understand the benefits of using it. It is especially important for them to understand the time savings and the ROI of converting paper checks into electronic transactions. Once they use the service, they will have a good comprehension of the time savings, but it would also be good for them to know that the average cost to process a paper check is over $4 per item. Once a property manager realizes the savings and ease of electronic payments they can undoubtedly market the system better to their residents.
2. The More Ways You Market, the Better Your Results: Any marketing is good marketing when trying to raise awareness amongst your residents. Universally, email marketing seems to be the clear winner in terms of cost and effectiveness. However, any and all outlets you choose; web buttons/banners, print, signage, newsletters, statements, social media, etc., will reach a different resident in a different way. So feel free to experiment with the ways you market and always be sure to give them instructions on how and where they can make their payment.

Since marketing is such a critical element in a successful e-payments program, PayLease offers a wide variety of marketing options to help you increase utilization. Clients will receive a custom marketing plan to fit your management company and your resident demographics. Contact PayLease for further information on how we can help you market e-payments to your residents.