Providing a great tenant experience allows commercial real estate (CRE) leaders to differentiate themselves from the competition while also building brand and tenant loyalty. As property owners and operators, you may have several clearly defined goals to help break through competition and set your buildings apart. And while meeting those tenant experience goals, you’re also working to find the best tenants for commercial properties.
Improving tenant experience in your buildings can mean many things. However, most CRE landlords have the same goal in mind: to improve brand loyalty and foster a collaborative, safe, and unique space for tenants.
Here’s how you can accomplish those goals.
Goal #1: Finding the Best Tenants
You want to find the best tenants for commercial properties that are both high-quality and long-lasting.
How to accomplish your goal
Tenants are at the center of every CRE property. As CRE leaders we understand that a property cannot be successful if the tenant’s needs and expectations are not met.
Focus on providing a great workplace experience for your tenants. To woo employees back, your tenants need to provide a workplace employees want to come to every day with amenities that will help them attract and retain talent. And they’re looking to CRE owners and operators as partners to meet those goals. Simply put, your building must provide a better experience to win workers away from the comforts of home.
Goal #2: Increase Tenant Satisfaction
You want to offer the best brand experience to your tenants to increase overall satisfaction.
How to accomplish your goal
Connect amenities! For example, activate your building or office community with industry-leading order-ahead, delivery, and convenience services. Or, address commuter pain points with an app that connects them to their preferred public transportation, micro-mobility, and parking solutions. Give tenants an easy way to access gym waivers, hours, and schedules, or obtain discounted health benefits.
Each property is unique, as are their amenity needs. Data extracted from a tenant experience app is the key. It comes down to accessing real-time data on tenant preferences and behaviors to help CRE property owners know what amenities their tenants are looking for.
Goal #3: Drive Premium Leases
You want to drive premium leases that will build upon your property and brand reputation.
How to accomplish your goal
Increase your building’s desirability and brand recognition. When you provide a great workplace and tenant experience, you’ll grow loyalty. Loyalty leads to the ability to increase rent for current tenants. And in that same vein, brand recognition helps to attract new, high-quality tenants.
As inflation increases and rent skyrockets, tenants will look for quality spaces that provide better workplace experiences. Make it worth the extra dollars. It’s up to you to provide spaces tenants want to return to.
Goal #4: Grow Tenant Engagement
You want to foster a community of happy and engaged tenants that fill your spaces.
How to accomplish your goal
Implement digital tools that allow tenants to engage with you and their colleagues all in one place. Look for tools that allow you to create content, event programming, and take advantage of out-of-the-box, pre-built tenant engagement programs. Enable users to communicate updates, share details on local events, or request services from other tenants through an easy-to-use mobile platform.
Note: 52% of property teams say they are planning to increase the role of digital programming in their workplace strategy via building apps.
Attracting & Retaining the Best Tenants for Commercial Properties
Priority number one for CRE landlords is to build tenant loyalty by investing in the end user’s, or tenant’s, experience. As a brand, you will also need to support your tenants while they work through the major challenge of connecting employees amid remote and hybrid work. And they’re looking to CRE teams as partners to provide that in an engaging and thoughtful way.
Finding the best tenants for commercial properties requires a lot of work from CRE leaders. If you’re willing to put in the work, your tenants and buildings will thank you. To continue learning more about improving tenant experience and brand loyalty at your property, check out our interactive eBook, “How to Create Commercial Buildings that Attract and Retain Occupancy.”
