Property Solutions’ Redesigned Online Applications Demonstrate 41 Percent Completion Rate

Property Solutions International Inc., a provider of property management websites and payments, announced performance results for its usability-optimized online applications, including a 41 percent completion rate for all applications started. Released in October 2011, Property Solutions’ redesigned rental applications feature a simplified interface and a streamlined navigation with response-dependent fields. The new design is characterized by flexible navigation to maximize data capture, and includes a user-friendly email invite system to facilitate the co-applicant process.

Property Solutions created their redesigned applications to allow users to move freely between various steps, and withholding prompts to correct missing or incomplete fields until the very end of the application. This feature also helps performance at the site level by allowing personnel to access real-time information at multiple data capture points. So as a prospect navigates through each step of the application, valuable information is collected piece by piece, allowing staff to monitor how far the individual has progressed through the form and follow-up on any incomplete applications.

Property Solutions also brought broad enhancements to the functionality and workflow of the application itself while still emphasizing customizability for clients.

Within the flow of the application form itself, the questions displayed are now response-driven, and auto populate according to the answers which users select. The new applications also feature a straightforward, user-friendly system for facilitating submissions by co-applicants. The application prompts users to either provide information for their co-applicants or invite them via email to supply their information separately. And companies have full capacity to customize applicant types and associated fees, according to the relationship between applicants (e.g. spouse, roommate, child over 18). A similar online process is also used in requesting information of an applicant’s guarantor, if applicable.

In a 2011 study, Property Solutions identified that less than 25 percent of all rental applications were completed online, compared to printed PDFs, fax and scan, and onsite forms. Beyond the commonly held operational benefits associated with the transition to digital records (i.e. reduced supply costs, environmental impact, and manual data entry, among others), online applications include field requirements—for example, a social security number must be nine digits long or a birth year must be within a specified range.