The Donaldson Group delivers thousands of resident messages digitally with Zego Mobile Doorman
About The Donaldson Group
Donaldson provides clients with a full range of asset, construction, financial, and property management services, tailored to fit each client’s unique needs. With over 150 years of real estate management experience on the executive team alone, their seasoned professionals focus on maximizing the value of their client's assets.
- Portfolio: Multifamily
- Units: 10,000
- Zego Products: Zego Mobile Doorman
- Accounting Software Integration: MRI Software
- Location: Mid Atlantic
Results Highlights:
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Resident Communication
Optimized resident communication with digital messaging.
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Building Community
Encouraged community connections through the Bulletin Board feature of the Mobile Doorman app.
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Resident Engagement
Engaged residents with events shared and RSVPs managed through the Mobile Doorman app.
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Maintenance Requests
Streamlined maintenance requests with work orders submitted via app and automatically integrated with MRI.
The challenge and goals
With an eye toward maximizing value for their clients, resident experience is a priority for the team at Donaldson. “Resident retention is one of our biggest goals,” shared Bridgette Paiva, District Manager. “We measure retention as well as resident experience in a variety of ways, including tracking reviews and making sure they are positive.” Additional key initiatives for the Operations team at Donaldson include customer service, employee coaching, and engagement.
With their key priorities in mind, the Donaldson team needed to improve the way they were communicating with residents throughout their properties. This would not only impact the resident experience but also reduce manual work and give time back to staff to focus on customer service. “We needed a better way to notify residents of important updates and to promote events and amenities more effectively. We also wanted to let residents communicate with each other if they wanted to sell an item for example.”
As users of MRI Software for over 11 years, integration with property management software was an important piece of ensuring the resident experience management solution that Donaldson selected was easy to use and seamless for staff. “Before Zego Mobile Doorman we were sending manual emails and letters to residents. None of it was integrated with MRI. If a water heater broke, we had to write up a letter and then have the maintenance team deliver it to residents’ doors. We had to improve communication.”
The approach & solution
The Donaldson Group began using Zego Mobile Doorman for resident experience management around 2018. Mobile Doorman empowers residents to manage their activities of daily living through their modern and intuitive app, while staff saves time thanks to the integration with MRI Software. Primary internal users of the combined solution include Operations, Marketing, and Accounting team members. Mobile Doorman has allowed Donaldson associates to improve resident communication, simplify maintenance management, streamline amenity and event marketing, and build community.
Improving Communication: One of the most important benefits of using Mobile Doorman has been reaching residents through their phones. “Mass communication to residents was really difficult for us prior to Mobile Doorman. We needed technology to get mass information out very quickly, especially when it came to the pandemic and our offices closing. With Mobile Doorman our staff could reach out to residents on their phones. Everyone has a mobile phone now, so it helped us make sure our communications were received.”
Simplifying Maintenance: Another key benefit of Mobile Doorman has been simplifying the maintenance request process for both on-site staff and residents. Prior to launching the app “Residents would walk into the office, call or email us with a maintenance request. There was no direct way for a resident to input a work order. When someone walked in or called we would enter the information manually into MRI. This was time-consuming for the resident and for our staff.”
Now residents are able to use their Mobile Doorman app to quickly create, submit and track the status of their maintenance work order requests through their phones. These are automatically integrated with MRI, making it an easy process for both residents and staff. “The work order piece goes right into MRI and that’s perfect” shared Bridgette, saving staff from countless hours of manual data entry.
Promoting Events and Amenities: The Donaldson Group has also benefited from empowering their properties to more effectively promote and market amenities and events through Mobile Doorman. Properties invest in events and other resident benefits to drive satisfaction and retention but communicating their availability and driving engagement can be difficult without the proper technology.
Thousands of events have been shared by Donaldson properties through Mobile Doorman. Residents receive invitations and details on events through their app and are able to RSVP right from their phones. In addition, Mobile Doorman’s “Content Tiles” feature allows properties to customize key “tiles” that are promoted front and center when a resident opens their app. This is a unique and powerful feature, driving additional engagement on the items that are most important for each property.
Building Community: The ability for residents to connect with each other and share posts if they wanted to sell an item for example, or start a book club, is another valuable feature for the team at Donaldson. Mobile Doorman’s digital Bulletin Board fits the bill nicely. Hundreds of Bulletin Board posts have been created by residents. Neighbors are able to respond and connect, furthering a sense of community.
The Results
Donaldson staff and residents have benefitted from the modern communication capabilities of Mobile Doorman, as well as simplified processes around other day-to-day activities such as maintenance requests. The integration with MRI is a key lynchpin of the Zego solution, saving the staff hours of manual data entry and allowing them to focus on resident experience and retention. App interactions continue to climb as staff and residents grow in familiarity with Mobile Doorman.
Let's talk resident engagement
Talk to a Zego rep to learn more about how Zego Mobile Doorman can help improve the resident experience at your properties.