In an effort to offer keyless entry to their residents, give managers the ability to remotely unlock doors and ultimately enhance their overall resident experience, Post Real Estate Group rolled out Sugar and Openpath across 3 properties in Los Angeles, CA . Openpath smart readers and smart hub controllers were installed at each building and integrated with the Sugar resident experience platform to create an all-in-one app where residents could unlock doors and engage with their community.
Sugar’s AREX (Average Resident Experience) score evaluates three categories property managers believe help attract and retain residents: (1) Personalization, (2) Operations and (3) Community building. Taking the AREX survey allows you to diagnose potential gaps and quantitatively benchmark performance in these areas to improve over time. After 6 months with Sugar we expect Post Real Estate Group will be able to observe several benefits of Sugar with Openpath that will increase their AREX score [1].
For buildings with Openpath and Sugar for 60 days or more, resident adoption of the integrated keyless entry functionality was quick and significant. Power users have been observed to use the keyless entry features upwards of 2.7 door unlocks/day [2]. In addition, there was a 25% month-over-month growth rate of the keyless entry feature amongst residents [3]. This adoption is facilitated by Sugar’s mobile app where residents can unlock doors inside the app or share keys with guests and delivery personnel. In a recent survey, Over 70% of Post Real Estate residents said “Key Sharing” or “Touchless Entry” was their favorite feature of the Sugar and Openpath integration [4]. This daily usage pattern enables daily opportunities for residents to consider and interact with other residents in their building, leveraging features like the Marketplace, Surveys and Polls, and engaging with Sugar sponsored engagement posts, games, and surveys.
“We have been really happy with the experience and appreciate you all working with us throughout the process. We just took the old intercom off yesterday and we didn’t hear a peep from the residents which we took as a great sign!” - Jacqueline Post - Owner Post Real Estate Group [5]
Sugar’s No-Hardware QR code directory experience was instrumental to the successful launch. Without any additional callbox hardware, Sugar is able to leverage the Openpath integration to facilitate entry door access requests for residents. Upon arrival, guests and delivery personnel scan a QR code that grants them access to the building’s directory on their mobile device. In this directory, visitors can request access to the entry door via video call or direct message to the resident. Alternatively, guests can call the front desk to reach building personnel. The ease of use and estimated cost savings from not needing additional hardware along with associated monthly license/maintenance fees (approximately $4,400 in first year savings) [6] makes the Sugar+Openpath No-Hardware QR code directory experience a valuable alternative to legacy call box options in the market.
Property managers from Post Real Estate have commented that the lack of hardware has helped protect the property from vandalism and break-ins. With the previous install, one property manager experienced a break-in when someone used a generic key fob and adjusted the wiring of the access control hardware to gain access to the building. They then stole residents’ packages. Since Sugar’s intercom is driven by a simple plaque posted on the building, managers appreciate that their properties are less vulnerable to these types of break-ins.
With the Sugar and Openpath integration, the Sugar Portal becomes the primary interface for property managers to interact with residents. Although some members of the Post Real Estate property management team are internationally remote, they are still able to receive calls from visitors, grant access to entry doors and easily communicate with residents from anywhere in the world with a reliable, secure internet connection. In addition to managing access control settings, property managers can view the latest Yelp and Google reviews for their properties, send polls and surveys to their residents and view detailed information about their community members including info on pets, vehicles, and birthdays.
The ability to collect direct feedback from residents early and often has historically been difficult in the property management industry. Oftentimes, residents are turning to Yelp or Google to leave a negative review only after several attempts to reach their management team. Creating resident polls and surveys is an effective way to learn more about resident needs and address concerns before they turn into a negative review. However, due to multiple communication methods (in-person, vs. text, vs. phone, vs. email), lack of incentivization for residents and the operational complexity and cost of adding a separate surveying tool, collecting this data is extremely difficult.
Sugar’s Survey and Polling feature allowed Post Real Estate to observe a 7.5x increase in survey response rate by addressing the above issues. Sugar is a centralized communication hub that allows property managers to communicate with engaged residents inside the app. Since residents are rewarded for responding to polls and surveys, there is an added incentive for providing feedback to managers. Whether a manager is looking to send a fun poll to their community or obtain actionable feedback on site operations, the Sugar+Openpath platform sends surveys to engaged users, maximizing the chances that poll and survey data can be collected from residents.
“The Sugar team has gone out of their way to invest in the community building side”[8]
“Being able to know who my neighbors are has made it easier talking to everyone around”[9]
- Resident @ Post Real Estate Property
At the core of any Sugar building is an overt culture of building community and improving the quality of life for residents. Sugar creates weekly community feed posts designed to increase resident engagement. In addition, residents can earn prizes and rewards inside the app for engaging with the community. Approximately 25% of Post Real Estate residents stated that “Community Contests” was their favorite feature of the Sugar app[10]. Most impressively, there was a 100% success rate of community participation in Sugar contests across all three properties [11].
References:
[1] https://www.sugarliving.com/arex-engagement-survey
[2] Internal data via Mixpanel, from Nov 2021 to Feb 2022. The top 5 door unlockers in live buildings for 60 days or more (power users) averages to 2.7 door unlocks/user/day or 20.5 door unlocks/user/week
[3] Internal data from Mixpanel, from January 2022 to February 2022; 25% month-over-month increase in keyless door unlocks
[4] Survey administered to Post Real Estate Sugar users February 2022
[5] Direct quote from property owner Jacqueline Post
[6] Estimated cost for popular call-box hardware company installed at x3 buildings; approximately >$3,000 in hardware and set-up and $120/monthly fees
[7] Controlled survey distribution experiment; response volume for the same poll distributed by Sugar and a none-Sugar distribution method compared February 2022
[8] Direct quote from property manager in testimonial interview February 2022
[9] Direct quote from resident in survey administered February 2022
[10] Survey administered to Post Real Estate Sugar users February 2022
[11] Internal data from Nov. 2021 to February 2022
