We are excited to introduce “Threaded Reviews!”
What are Threaded Reviews?
Prior to today’s update, renters and managers alike had no way of determining if multiple reviews were written by a single renter. With Threaded Reviews, any renter who has written multiple reviews for a single community will have those reviews, as well as any corresponding manager responses, grouped together on the community’s page on ApartmentRatings. For those renters who have only written a single review, there will be no change unless they return to write an additional review for the same community.
What does it look like?
On a community’s page on ApartmentRatings, Threaded Reviews will show the most recent review in the “thread”, but will then also show an icon beneath the review text (and the manager response text, if applicable) that indicates that there are previous reviews from this same renter. If a page visitor clicks on that icon, they will be taken to a new page that show all of the reviews and ratings provided by that renter. (see provided image or visit community pages on ApartmentRatings)
How does this benefit me?
By providing the ability to view all reviews written by a single renter in one group, or “thread,” we make it possible for prospective residents to see how a renter’s experience has changed, for better or worse, during their time as a resident of particular community.
Community Managers have an all new ability to showcase their customer service through their responses to each review in the thread, which indicates to prospective renters that management is attentive and quick to act on residents concerns.
Which reviews are impacted?
Only those new reviews posted as of July 14th, 2020 will have the potential to be grouped into threads. All other historical reviews will still be available on the website, but will be treated as a single review from a single renter.
Both reviews from verified residents (those who provided a review as part of a qualifying survey at their community) as well as those who visit ApartmentRatings and post a review directly on the website, will have the potential to be grouped into a thread.
How will it impact my epIQ Index Grade?*
Prospective renters are most concerned with recent reviews and, as such, we only count the most recent review toward a community’s epIQ Index Grade. For example, if a renter writes a negative review and rates a community 2 out of 5 stars, management has the opportunity to reply to that review and resolve the author’s concerns and then ask that they provide an updated review, which would likely also have an improved rating, thus having a positive impact on the “Renter Ratings” epIQ category.
Anytime a new review is posted to an existing thread, the clock that tracks that thread’s manager response time is reset. This gives managers an opportunity to respond quickly, improving their “Manager Review Reply Time” epIQ category. For example, if a manager waited 14 days to reply to the most recent review in the thread, but then the reviewer writes a new review, the manager now has a chance to not only respond more quickly, which is beneficial to epIQ, but additionally, the response time to the older review will no longer be considered in the epIQ calculation.
Speaking of editing reviews…
If a renter wants to edit an existing review, they have a 7-day window to do so, in which case the edited review would replace the original review. If the reviewer waits beyond the 7-day period, the original review will remain on the community page and a new review will be posted.
*For more information on the epIQ Index, please visit our epIQ-related blog posts or contact your dedicated ApartmentRatings & SatisFacts Salesperson or Account Manager.