so i have set up auto-response in my open rent listing, i find that the majority of tenants after sending their initial enquiry don’t respond to the auto-reply message.
those that do respond, about 20% respond in a manner in which they have ignored the instructions in auto reply message (and some respond in a manner which indicates that they think i haven’t responded to their initial query and that my auto reply message doesnt count)
should i be looking to follow up my auto-reply message with a more personal response? or is this on the tenants?
here is my auto-reply for reference:
“hello, please would you mind providing a bit more information: how many people will be in the property for any person who will be responsible financially on the tenancy: what their job is, their salary, how long they’ve been employed, is it a contract or something else. do you have a rental record and could you provide references? what is your current residential status - if you’re renting, how come you’re looking to move from current property? if we were to proceed, would you be willing to supply 3 months worth of bank statements and be willing to credit checked?”
No need to follow up until you get the responses from tenants. The initial queries there are likely a lot who either can’t meet your requirements or aren’t that interested in your property and just mass enquiring.
Those that respond should give you a manageable group who are more likelyto be decent prospects to consider proceeding to viewings.
yeah that has been my approach so far, i just wasn’t sure if i was doing something wrong as there were so many enquiries like this - it makes you doubt yourself if you’re actually doing something wrong!
To be honest, I think your autoresponse is offputting. It’s dense and asks questions that I think are awkwardly worded.
Here’s my autoresponse for comparison
Hello. Thanks so much for your enquiry. Before arranging a viewing, we’d like to chat with you briefly to find out more about you and to make sure the property suits you. Please call [name] on [number]. Please note that we don’t pursue enquiries unless we hear from you by phone first. Many thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
This puts the ball firmly in their court. If they don’t call, they don’t waste my time.
If they do call, I ask my list of screening questions.
I have screening questions. I find it saves me a lot of time. The one’s that don’e respond aren’t going to get through your checks. I met someone who gave all the right answers. I arranged a viewing. At viewing I told her she needed at least seven days for me to get a full credit reference. This morning she declined. Watching their facial reactions is priceless.
I would word it differently .’ would you mind’ ‘ willing to be credit checked’
This is your business and these are your terms and conditions. They need to respect that. If they see you are a soft touch they will take advantage.
i’m a bit wary of giving my contact details as i’ve had bad experiences over this in the past, i’ve had people become very persistent messaging/ringing who are a bit desperate and i’d rather just avoid that situation. in any case, i find it much easier to think my way through things where everything is written down as i’m not the quickest thinking on my feet!
regards it being dense, yes that was partially why i asked the question, i wasn’t sure if my questions were too much at the initial stage. my initial screening auto-reply was quite short but over time i’ve found i am repeating the same follow up questions and have just been adding gradually to my iniital set of questions so its grown quite large
yeah i might put it through chatgpt to get some suggestions to make it more welcoming, but i do think if someone is genuinely looking they would invariably answer the questions
Formatting it differently might make it easier for people to interpret your requirements and respond. This is mine…..
Thanks for your enquiry about this property.
This is an auto reply to help me gather further information about you to help me consider your
enquiry.
Could you please reply to answer these questions;
What source of income do you have available to pay for the rent?
What is your annual income, or combined annual income if you intend to rent jointly with
another person.
Have you rented a property before, and if so will your previous/existing landlord be able to
provide a reference?
Do you have a guarantor available if necessary to support any rental contract?
When would you want to move in?
Who would be living at the property if you were to move in, and how are you related to
them?
Do you plan to keep pets in the property, and if so, please provide details?
Has anyone who will be living in the property got a CCJ, IVA, Bad Debt, or subject to
bankruptcy proceedings
Have you tried using another email and account to enquire about your own listing as a prospective tenant? You might discover something you’re not aware of.
True, but that’s not what I mean. OpenRent sneaks in with its own messages offering tenant services, and the landlord can’t even see them. So before they have even read your auto-reply — boom — they’re already asking them for a tenner. Looks like a landlord reply, right?
so I asked a friend to request a viewing so I could view from the tenants side
She didn’t reply to the questions or respond d to my emails .. she said ‘they haven’t come up ‘
I looked at her emails that advised her of my response and what I found was it shows the previous message and then tells you to click to see latest message !
She had totally missed this .. so I assumed from that other potential tenants were making the same mistake .. seeing the previous message and believing they had already read it didn’t read on or realise they had to click through to site to see the most recent message .
I then added a foot note to my initial message advising they needed to click on the emails in order to view latest messages ..
my response to messages increased over night .,
When I did viewings I discussed the issue with the viewers and they almost all said they had not realised they had to do this when they first used openrent .. and it had caused them issues in the past .
I reported to open rent ..
until i added the foot note I could not believe how many seemingly serious applicants just never came back or responded to messages
thanks for this, i re-sent the the auto-reply as a normal message and started to get response, if its the case that applicants are not responding to auto-replies because of the way the system is designed, that is seriously annoying and needs to be fixed immediately!
If you are getting unsuitable people applying maybe look again at your listing. Maybe add “Applications will be subject to affordability, credit reference, employer and previous landlord checks as well as Right to Rent checks” to the listing
Why would you expect people to respond to an auto reply? And why would you not reply properly to their original enquiry if you are allowing them to send it?
That’s a lot of very personal info to ask people who must think they can afford it as they’ve seen the rent and deposit amount in the ad. It’s very off putting.
Why not just use the automated screening questions and have a much shorter friendlier auto reply
“Thanks a lot for your enquiry I’ll reply soon. Meanwhile if you haven’t already told me please let me know a bit about your interest so we can see if we will be a good match
How many occupants you propose, their names ages and occupations (please include any children)
why you are moving from your current property and how long you want to rent for, from when
Any issues I ought to be aware of before these come up in credit reference, affordability, employer or previoys landlord checks.”
but best assume not everyone reads emails carefully so if they don’t reply to it, ask these questions as part of your subsequent reply to their original enquiry.
