It’s more important than ever that housing associations continue engaging with their residents in a positive, effective way that drives results. But how does this really happen?
It’s time to review your communication strategy!
There is no time like the present for housing associations to review their communication strategy and how this best supports their different audiences and raises engagement all whilst keeping resource costs at a minimum.
Customer service is vital for housing associations and positive customer service experiences start with driving engagement where it matters.
Positive engagement encapsulates all types of communications through consistency, different media formats and relevant content that supports, guides and connects audiences, to bring forth meaningful interactions that drive organisational outcomes.
Driving engagement not only benefits housing associations in relation to the association-tenant relationship but ‘it's leads to cost savings and better service satisfaction’ (Inside Housing, 2020), helping both the bottom line strategies of the organisation and the overall goal they are working on to achieve.
This makes driving engagement a core part of communication strategies within housing associations, with media formats working together to deliver key messages, updates and important information.
With increased resident expectations, driving positive engagement is becoming harder and harder to maintain and thus the communications that housing associations send need to be easily accessible, contain relevant content and be delivered at the right time for positive engagement and experiences to take place.
Finding the right balance for your audience is key to its success. One media format no longer works to maintain the engagement levels required, that’s why a multichannel, hybrid mailing service works best, bringing together channels that cohesively deliver messages whilst driving responses.
From social media updates, hybrid communications such as postal letters, digital communications and website updates, offer the perfect blend of communications to drive content to residents in a relevant, interactive way.
Utilising this blended approach offers a streamlined way of managing different resident expectations whilst offering formats that can connect with every resident.
Many housing associations are taking this approach and digitalizing it so that all communication management (when considering end-to-end communications such as email, post and text) are managed within one account.
Hybrid technology enables organisations to seamlessly communicate with their audiences in an effective cost-efficient way, regardless of whether employees are working from home or the office allowing for agile working whilst offering their audiences the same standard of service and saving time and money.
This provides a streamlined, digital-first approach to sending a variety of communications and can result in both times and cost savings when compared to traditional mail whilst retaining the high impact and visibility benefits of the post.
It’s all about taking the hybrid method and cross-communicating in a way that provides choice and generates outcomes, providing a detailed understanding of audience requirements as well as needs and wants.
This provides housing associations with control over the communications sent, as well as increased time efficiencies and cost savings that can be used to help drive their bottom-line goals. Whether the approach contains one or all media formats available, these services are being adopted at a rapid pace, since COVID-19 so that communication is managed, regulated and can be produced securely no matter where staff are working.
With a proven history of supporting housing associations to increase resident engagement, CFH Docmail is the approved supplier of delivering secure hybrid communications.
From online digital delivery to printed and posted communications, CFH work with you to scope out your communication requirements, creating a bespoke solution helping you to achieve your goals.
Through industry-leading accreditations and the latest technology, we can support your challenges, enhance your processes and help you increase your resident engagement.
To find out more or for a free communication review please get in touch, we’d love to talk to you about your communications objectives and how we can help you achieve these.
References:
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/understanding-and-unlocking-the-power-of-resident-engagement-60291
CFH ensured a seamless transition from manual mailings to the innovative online Docmail system – with plenty of benefits for the client.
Beyond Housing has sent over 65,000 documents through the managed service and over 84,500 documents through Docmail hybrid mail.
Citizen, a West Midlands-based group, provides social housing and supports community initiatives. Aiming to consolidate communication services, they sought a single provider to handle extensive resident interactions via post and email.
