So, you're ready to automate property management operations—congratulations! One of the primary benefits of property management automation is the ability to track and measure how well it is performing. Easily measured metrics prior to the digital age were the stuff of dreams: now, we take it for granted that metrics are based in fact and not easily altered. This transparency makes it simpler for you to identify issues in your operations and correct them, improving your business overall.
Every business is different—and there is no definitive list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you should be tracking—but here are some of the ones we find most useful.
What do you measure with tickets? Everything from work orders to daily team tasks—depending on how you have your ticketing system set up. We like to look at the following metrics for tickets:
If you start using property management automation for collections, for example, it is a good idea to track the reduction of monthly delinquent accounts so you can see the effectiveness of a collections pipeline through data. You can start to calculate how many more accounts you can take on without hiring more staff by looking at these numbers.
If your ticketing process is working correctly, it should create a reduction in overall emails. If your automation software is in the same program as your CRM, this should be easy to look into. In addition to this, track opens and clicks to see if your emails are effective—and optimize the ones that are underperforming to ensure you get the results you need.
Are your employees happier? What about your clients? Be mindful; implementing any new system comes with some growing pains—so this is a metric best measured after everyone is used to the new system, and it is running smoothly.
For employees, tenants, and owners, you can track satisfaction using Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys. An NPS survey is a simple question you pose to your audience: on a scale from 1-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend? This question is a very accurate predictor of satisfaction and is very useful for getting out in front of dissatisfied customers and employees to correct issues before they become bad reviews.
This one is a little harder to track because you may not have metrics from before—but it is an important one. Automation is supposed to reduce errors—not increase them. If there are more errors than there used to be, you need to look into why that is. Sometimes it comes down to training or a broken process; no matter the cause, identifying and correcting it is important.
Finally, automation is only good if your team adopts it. If only some of your team gets on board, it isn't going to work as well as it could—and you basically doom your efforts from the start. Measure adoption and use and keep an eye on it. Ultimately, staff that refuses to adapt to new processes may no longer be a good fit for the company—and tough conversations will have to be had.
Are you thinking about investing in property management automation? Geekly Media can help. All of our automation solutions include detailed reporting built into the system to help you see just how effective your new automation is.
If you are interested in learning more about how much automation can transform your business, download our case study showing real results from real clients—then book a discovery call with us to see if we are a good fit! We're excited to make this year your best yet.