The Benefits of Cost-Effective Turnkey Solutions for Tenant Communication in Student Housing

Today’s college students are the first generation of digital natives. As the owner or community manager of an off-campus student housing facility, you’ve likely answered endless questions about various property technology (proptech) solutions, like internet speed, keyless entranceways, and multiple forms of digital tenant communication. 

Since today’s Gen Z tenants consider modern technology essential to their personal and educational well-being, property management teams are taking advantage of one of the most cost-effective resident communication solutions available to connect with them—digital screens with engaging content and important information that residents come to depend on.

In off-campus student housing communities nationwide, college and university students rely on the screens installed in lobbies, recreation centers, and other high-traffic common areas for maintenance alerts, safety reminders, invitations to hosted activities, and more. Whether the property you manage is at the center of the action or further afield, maybe it’s time to consider a simple turnkey solution that converts just about any HDMI-capable screen to a high-value amenity that makes it easy to keep every student in your residential community well-informed and streamline workflow for your community management team.

Why Student Housing Decision-Makers Are Investing in Turnkey Tenant Communication Solutions

Turnkey communication solutions provide everything needed for full functionality. To qualify as a “turnkey” investment, a product or service must be ready for immediate use from the moment it’s purchased or installed. They’re hassle-free, created by experts, and usually cost a lot less than custom-built hardware, software, and services.  

Today’s off-campus student housing decision-makers are using a wide range of turnkey communication solutions to keep pace with the rapidly evolving expectations of their residents while also ensuring their investments are well-developed, user-friendly, and cost-effective. They’re providing wireless network access to ensure digital connectivity, offering cloud-hosted payment portals to help ease the burden of managing student accounts, and using AI-enhanced chatbots to answer FAQs.

The turnkey proptech solutions transforming HDMI-capable screens into high-value amenities provide a cost-effective way for management teams to create and publish location-specific alerts, reminders, and notifications in a way that gets noticed. 

But not all companies offering turnkey communication technology offer the same capabilities. Some allow end-users to use their screens as little more than a digital bulletin board. This isn’t enough in today’s digital, always-on environment. The most effective technology must display property messages alongside an attention-grabbing programming mix.

How Turnkey Proptech Enhances Communication with Student Housing Residents

Effective communication is essential for building and maintaining positive relationships between management and tenants. Although many community managers assume email notifications and alerts are the best way to ensure they’re keeping their residents informed and involved, the average person receives up to 120 emails every day—and adults between the ages of 18 and 24 send and receive nearly 4,000 text messages per month. 

With each resident’s attention pulled in so many directions, it’s easy for management email notifications and reminders to be buried, overlooked, or forgotten in the digital clutter. For off-campus student housing managers and their teams, high-impact digital signage offers one of the most cost-effective ways to break through the noise and ensure that important tenant communication reaches those who need to see it.

With the right turnkey communication solution provider, community managers have everything they need to transform the HDMI-capable screens installed in their residential common areas into an eye-catching digital display. All they need to get started is a simple plug-and-play device and a content management system equipped with user-friendly tools and customizable templates. 

Managers who understand that students may need a bit of motivation to engage with the messaging screens installed in their lobbies and common areas are taking their technology to the next level by publishing their tenant communication messages alongside expertly curated content college students appreciate, enjoy, and look forward to watching. 

How Managers Are Using Turnkey Communication Solutions to Elevate the Student Housing Experience 

There will always be students who choose accommodation based on price alone. Others weighing their options are far more selective. They want (and expect) certain perks and amenities attractive to student tenants. But the amenities that were desirable a few short years ago may no longer be enough to ensure maximum occupancy from one semester to the next. 

Many students vacate dorms to move closer to retail shops, movie theaters, and quick-serve restaurants but still want to feel that all-important sense of belonging to a vibrant college community. At the same time, most are also experiencing the realities (and challenges) of living on their own for the first time.

Managers displaying tenant communication messages on digital screens are striking a balance between providing the autonomy their twenty-something tenants crave and offering the up-to-date engagement opportunities they need to feel included, involved, and connected. As you contemplate some of the many ways investing in digital signage technology could help improve communication with your student population, consider the many other ways that turnkey communication solutions can elevate their residential experience.  

Promoting & Achieving LEED & WELL Certification

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the most widely known (and recognized) green building rating system. The organization provides a framework for creating sustainable, efficient living environments by helping building owners reduce carbon emissions, conserve water, and minimize waste. To achieve certification, off-campus student housing facilities must meet specific criteria for air quality, water quality, and lighting.

Related: WELL Certification – Your Questions Answered

Developed by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), buildings that achieve WELL certification are designed, built, and operated in ways that create a healthy living environment. There’s an emphasis on promoting physical activity and reducing stress. Property managers are harnessing proptech to achieve certification, raise student awareness of their initiatives, share the results of their efforts with their environmentally aware population, and build goodwill.   

Announcing Community Events & Resident Activities

Students appreciate having occasions to gather and socialize that won’t cut into their limited budgets. Student housing managers are building favorable management/resident relationships, boosting resident engagement, and creating an environment that encourages lease renewals by hosting activities and events that can include anything from movie nights or card game tournaments to casual mixers and holiday-themed parties. 

Displaying Essential Safety Information 

In student housing facilities, resident safety is an essential priority. Managers with the ability to display important notifications on digital screens are taking full advantage of the technology to ensure everyone in their building knows what to do in an emergency. They’re creating and publishing evacuation instructions and other essential resident protection protocols to give their residents the opportunity to review potentially life-saving information multiple times per day.

With proptech that allows the ability to create and upload customizable templates in minutes, community managers are also using their screens to alert students of hazardous road conditions, dangerous weather conditions, and warnings from local (and campus) authorities of potential security threats.

Providing News & Entertainment from Respected Sources

Digital screens elevated to amenity status can display repair and renovation notifications and other important management messages alongside world news, lifestyle content, health tips, entertainment reports, sports scores, and more. 

Related: How Student Housing Property Managers Can Engage with Residents More Effectively

The best turnkey proptech technology providers also offer a robust editorial calendar to ensure their programming is always relevant and engaging. When expert curators fine-tune that programming to a residential property population, it ensures the content is relevant, meaningful and engaging to their residents. 

When you’re enhancing your digital screens with valuable, interesting content from the type of established, reputable sources today’s college students value, there’s no need to worry about your rotation of tenant communication and property messages getting lost in the shuffle.

Choosing the Best Turnkey Tenant Communication Solution for Your Off-Campus Student Housing Property

Every generation is raised in a unique environment that shapes their values, expectations, and the way they interact with their surroundings. Gen Z students, often referred to as post-millennials, were born into technology—meaning they have little to no memory of the world as it existed before the invention of broadband internet and smartphones. They also have a reputation for tuning out information they don’t consider particularly relevant to the moment.

Off-campus student housing community managers are overcoming the challenges of reaching these tech-savvy tenants by investing in proptech that provides cost-effective, turnkey, tenant communication by transforming just about any HDMI-capable screen into a high-value amenity Gen Z students respond to. Captivate’s user-friendly ScreenCenter™ content management software provides everything you need to create large format screens in minutes. Your reminders, invitations, and alerts will be published in rotation alongside the type of expertly curated content college and university students engage with and value. An impressive 92% of residents surveyed find Captivate-powered screens informative, and 83% would be disappointed if the screens were removed. To get started, submit a contact form to book a demonstration.