The Housemark 2023 Tenant Satisfaction Survey showed housing association tenants report an average of 27.4 complaints per 1000 homes. Not only are complaints bad for the reputation of the housing association, they are time-consuming to manage for already busy contact centres.

Disgruntled tenants are always going to have problems, but it’s important to solve those problems before they become official complaints.

Creating effective tenant communication

Housing association contact centre agents and supervisors are under immense pressure to ensure high tenant satisfaction scores. At the same time, there is increasing pressure to adapt and adopt new channels for communication. So how do housing associations avoid communication chaos and use these channels to reduce complaints and improve tenant satisfaction scores?

Incredibly, the Housing Ombudsman 2022 Insights Report revealed that almost 15% of complaints are about how another complaint is being handled. This demonstrates how important it is to have the right tools in place to effectively manage complaints in a timely manner.

In this article, we take a look at some strategies housing associations can use to identify potential problems early, reduce complaints, and improve tenant satisfaction.

The 8x8 Guide to Reducing Tenant Complaints

1. Make it easy for tenant voices to be heard

Opening digital channels will give tenants choices in how and when they contact you. Having more channels makes it easier for tenants to contact you and prevents frustrations from building while tenants wait for an office to be open or for a call to be answered. AI-driven Intelligent Customer Assistant (ICA) provides tenants with 24-hour access to have their voices heard and receive the information they need, reducing frustration that leads to complaints.

2. Be proactive

Use contact centre analytics for real-time monitoring. Track communication trends and use alerts to identify changes in sentiment. Take remedial action based on this data to prevent a situation from building into a complaint. Set up prompts, prioritise follow-up actions and gain feedback to ensure service levels are being maintained. A little call to ask if an issue was resolved goes a long way to showing you care.

For each interaction, consider the following:

  • What is the nature of the enquiry?
  • How many times has the same tenant reported this enquiry?
  • Are we receiving the same complaint from other tenants?
  • How urgently do we need to resolve this issue?
  • Do we understand the emotion behind the request?

3. Improve response times

Delivering an instant response has become expected, whether ordering from a grocery shop or planning a luxury holiday, and tenants expect this level of service when contacting their housing association. Customisable tools and dashboards in Supervisor Workspace allow team leaders to monitor performance in real-time, allocate additional resources to handle unexpected changes in the volume of enquiries, and identify training requirements, for continuous improvement.

4. Train employees to be empathetic

There are a plethora of tools to help with training. One good place to start is to use Conversation IQ for keyword search, topic trend reporting, and AI-driven sentiment analysis. Active insights into the sentiments being expressed in employee-tenant interactions enable you to visualise and highlight conversation sentiment as a barometer of tenant engagement and employee empathy. Understanding empathy and providing scripted guidance allows agents to deliver the best possible service and reduce negative outcomes.

AI-driven ICA allows automated responses to demonstrate empathy and personalise experiences. Plus, giving your chat apps a name can add a personal touch and drive satisfaction.

5. Don't make promises you can’t keep

Complaints often come from expectations not being met, especially when appointments are not kept. The 8x8 Experience Communications Platform seamlessly connects agents, tenants and contractors allowing them to collaborate and share important information and deliver first-time resolutions based on real-time information.

6. Provide proactive feedback

It is important to get to the root cause of a problem to reduce complaints and avoid similar problems in the future. Call recording and speech analytics provide essential information to identify trends to prevent complaints before they happen. Historical interactions are analysed to build positive, proactive approaches to prevent a formal complaint in the future.

Summary

In essence, opening communication channels gives housing associations more opportunity to handle disgruntled tenants. Increasing accessibility reduces tenant frustrations by giving them more control over how and when they contact their housing associations. Using 8x8 Contact Centre empowers contact centre managers with customisable reports that highlight the status of critical performance metrics, driving insights needed to effectively manage teams and identify trends to improve tenant satisfaction and prevent unwanted complaints.

Find out more about 8x8 for housing solutions.