Why Savvy Property Managers are Abandoning WhatsApp

The world of property management is an ever-evolving landscape, where effective communication channels play an integral role in the successful execution of operations. With the modern shift towards digital connectivity, leading property managers and landlords are seeking efficient, real-time communication platforms. Traditional communication modes like emails and telephone calls have become obsolete in the face of more immediate, user-friendly alternatives.

Many property professionals initially turned to WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging app. WhatsApp offered a refreshing contrast to email's rigidity and the time-bound nature of phone support. Its ability to allow instant, real-time messaging seemed an ideal solution to keep up with today's fast-paced tenant interactions.

However, upon closer examination, property managers and landlords are discovering that WhatsApp's strengths may also be its weaknesses. The instant nature of the platform, while appealing, often creates an expectation of immediate responses. Such a requirement, as highlighted by Baron's study "Instant Messaging and the Future of Language", can be impractical and lead to tenant dissatisfaction when not met.

Moreover, the platform's structure presents additional challenges for scalable property businesses, especially Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). Team management becomes a cumbersome affair, with multiple participants reading messages, but no single individual taking responsibility to respond. Staff turnover, common in property management, exacerbates this issue, leading to constant addition and removal of team members from multiple conversations.

Critical messages risk being overlooked in WhatsApp's non-threaded message stream. The danger of missing an important tenant issue increases in such a single-stream message setup, resulting in potential business pitfalls. WhatsApp also enforces the use of personal numbers and identities for communication, preventing the possibility of maintaining a unified, professional business persona. In summary, WhatsApp is not designed for scalable property businesses.

When I first founded COHO, the problems of WhatsApp were shouted at me by some of the most forward-thinking property managers, and it quickly became an important focus for the application. But there is the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”, and many others who hadn’t recognised the problem were quickly in shock and agreement.?

A year of development late and enter COHO: the game-changing solution designed specifically for property management. Unlike WhatsApp, COHO's tenant app incorporates the convenience of instant messaging while addressing its shortcomings with features tailored to the needs of property management.

COHO offers context-based conversations, where each topic has its own thread, ensuring no issue gets lost in the shuffle. It also facilitates unified, professional communication, allowing all staff members to have access and reply under a single identity. Managers can see when staff and tenants have read messages, but tenants don't see the read receipt for managers, circumventing the pressure for immediate responses.

As with WhatsApp, COHO supports uploading images and files, making them accessible to all parties but without them automatically downloading to your gallery (we’ve all had that embarrassment). The messaging feature ties in seamlessly with the maintenance and onboarding processes, updating the conversation with status changes and automatically pulling in all relevant participants. What's more, you can send a mass message to all your tenants, and decide whether they have the ability to reply or not - great for sending reminders.

COHO's groundbreaking approach is already redefining property management. Its app has found favour with hundreds of property managers and landlords, fostering professional relationships with tenants and elevating service levels.

In the face-off between WhatsApp and COHO for tenant communication, COHO undoubtedly emerges as the winner. Its intuitive design, coupled with features specifically crafted for scalable property businesses, make it an invaluable tool for today's leading property managers and landlords. But then, I’m a little biased… At the very least your business should be looking for an alternative to WhatsApp’s “instant messenger”.

See for yourself the revolution COHO is bringing about in property management. Visit https://coho.life and experience the difference with a live demo of the conversations in action. With COHO, you're not just keeping up with the times; you're staying ahead.