J Turner Research's Joseph Batdorf

Joseph Batdorf is CEO at J Turner Research, a Houston-based company that tracks customer service and resident satisfaction scores for multifamily clients nationwide. The company gathers information from prospective and current residents about their attitudes, traffic sources, satisfaction levels and management in order to establish benchmarking tools to identify property strengths and weaknesses.

GlobeSt.com: Is technology making it easier to perform these measurements? If so, can you explain?

Batdorf: Technology is easing the time associated with conducting research and decreasing the reporting time. The use of Web-enabled e-mail surveys has simplified the process and respondents have accepted this vehicle for surveying. Respondents like the privacy of answering questions on their computers at work or at home. Since they can quickly and easily share their perspectives, response rates increase. Increased response rates provide owner/operators with more information. Technology also makes it possible for us to provide owner/operators with real-time feedback, allowing a community to make immediate adjustments to improve operations.

GlobeSt.com: What's the J Turner Score?

Batdorf: The J Turner Score is a proprietary statistical model that measures the responses of residents and establishes a score to track their satisfaction levels. The score enables owners to evaluate its properties and leasing agents across markets and regions. J Turner Research uses the Turner Apartment Loyalty index (TALi), to provide its clients with resident responses to questions about value for money, willingness to refer, sense of community and interaction with staff. The set of questions is generic, enabling management to establish benchmarking goals through evaluating strengths and weaknesses between properties and regions.

GlobeSt.com: Just recently, you entered a contract with Paradigm Properties, a market-rate multifamily and student-housing owner and operator, to measure prospective and current resident views through a Web-enabled survey program. I understand that gauging staff performance through resident feedback increases profitability in most multifamily communities. But students are captive audiences. Why is customer service an issue in this market sector?

Batdorf: Students have many choices for their housing needs and will migrate toward well run, resident centric communities. Measuring students' attitudes to determine their satisfaction enables management to adjust to properties to increase the demand to live there in turn improving profitability and long-term stability in a market. In a separate survey, when we asked more than 7,600 students about renewal 53% of freshman through juniors said they were not going to renew their leases. Identifying and accommodating the student's needs can decrease lost opportunity and the chance of poor word of mouth.

Many student housing companies who measure customer service at their properties are also looking to evaluate the move-in and move-out process. Because of the regular and predictable turnover associated with student housing properties, companies find it useful to find out what makes the process easier for the student as well. By doing this, a company can begin to increase the brand loyalty a student feels which can improve resident retention. Many companies that provide student housing also provide conventional housing. Satisfied student residents may target conventional housing of the same brand after graduation.