Fee transparency may have started as a compliance issue, but for multifamily marketers, the conversation is becoming much bigger than that. According to Jocelyn Quall, Vice President of Marketing at Engrain, transparency can ultimately help create a better renter experience.
On a recent episode of Optimized, host Janet Rosseth welcomed Quall for a candid conversation about fee transparency, the growing importance of data, lead quality and why transparency ultimately makes the entire renter journey better.
It’s Not About More Leads, It’s About Better Leads
For years, multifamily marketing has been driven by the need to generate more leads. But today’s marketers challenge that mindset.
Renters have access to more information than ever before. They can compare properties, research reviews, explore floor plans and check pricing prior to speaking with a leasing professional. AI is only accelerating that behavior.
Rosseth noted that prospective renters may be up to 80% through the decision-making process before they engage with a property. Fee transparency contributes directly to this shift.
“When renters can see the full cost of living at a property, including required and optional fees, they can make a more informed decision ahead of a scheduled tour,” Rosseth said.
The result may be fewer leads, but better-qualified ones. And that distinction matters.
While some potential leads may eliminate the property from consideration after seeing the total cost, the ones who do reach out are more informed and serious about leasing. That also impacts conversations. Instead of starting from scratch, leasing associates are meeting prospects who already understand the property and pricing.
Quall described how one of Engrain’s clients piloted transparency at a few communities and shared those findings at a recent conference.
“Although lead volume initially declined, conversion improved,” Quall said. “They’re [renters] showing up at your property and basically opting in. They just need to sign on the dotted line.”
Transparency Is an Organizational Responsibility
One of the strongest themes Rosseth and Quall discussed was the idea that fee transparency shouldn’t become the marketing department’s problem. Marketing may be responsible for websites, ILS relationships and making information accessible, but the information itself comes from across the entire organization.
Quall described transparency as a cultural shift rather than simply a compliance exercise.
“When an organization makes trust and transparency part of its operating philosophy, that can influence everything from how data is structured to how leasing teams interact with renters,” Quall said.
This explains why simply handing the project to marketing can create problems. Marketers are often left trying to extract fee-related information from multiple systems, standardize inconsistent terminology, ensure it displays correctly and verify that the information is syndicated accurately across different channels.
That’s a lot of responsibility for one department.
Data Is the Foundation
For the experience to work, the underlying information has to be accurate, making unit-level data increasingly crucial.
Quall emphasized the importance of centralizing information about individual units, including pricing, optional fees, imagery, floor plans and other content, and making that information available across a property’s technology ecosystem.
“A renter shouldn’t see one price on a website, another set of fees on an ILS and something different when they talk to a leasing associate,” Quall said. “The information should follow them throughout the entire journey.”
Data can also make the leasing process easier by giving associates a clearer way to quote units and calculate total costs.
Stop Chasing Perfect Attribution
Another familiar multifamily marketing challenge discussed was attribution. Quall’s perspective on this was straightforward: trying to identify a single source responsible for a lease doesn’t reflect how people actually shop for apartments.
A prospective renter may encounter a property through an ILS, visit the website, see social content, read reviews, interact with search results and return multiple times before ultimately leasing.
“I’ve always been a firm believer that marketing isn’t one source, it’s the sum of all of those interactions,” Quall said
Rather than obsessing over perfect attribution, Quall suggested marketers focus on identifying trends, understanding performance and looking at the broader renter journey.
The Bigger Opportunity
Fee transparency may have started as a regulatory challenge, but Rosseth and Quall pointed to a larger opportunity. Renters are demanding more information earlier in their search, and technology is giving them more ways to find it.
Transparency should be more than something companies do because they have to. It’s part of creating a better renter experience. Marketers must focus less on vanity metrics and individual leads, and more on qualified prospects and the renter journey as a whole. As Quall put it, trust and transparency are increasingly becoming table stakes.
“When the right data, technology and teams come together, transparency doesn’t just help companies comply. It helps them market, lease and serve renters more effectively,” Quall said.