A tenant satisfaction program isn't a single annual survey. It's a year-round listening system tied to the moments that actually shape how a tenant feels about you. This playbook covers the full lifecycle, the right metric for each moment, sample questions you can use as a starting point, and what to do when a tenant scores you low.
The four lifecycle moments that matter
Most tenant satisfaction shifts happen at one of four moments. Catch them and you catch the signal early. Miss them and you only find out at renewal.
- Move-in (first 14 days). Sets the entire relationship. A bad move-in is the single biggest predictor of non-renewal.
- Maintenance resolution. The most frequent touchpoint of the tenancy. CES here is the leading indicator of churn.
- Mid-lease pulse (annually or semi-annually). Catches drift while you can still fix it.
- Renewal decision window (60-90 days before lease end). Your last chance to intervene before the decision is made.
Recommended cadence and metric per moment
| Moment | Trigger | Metric | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move-in | 14 days after lease start | CSAT + open feedback | Email + SMS |
| Maintenance resolution | 24 hours after work order closed | CES + open feedback | SMS preferred |
| Mid-lease pulse | 6 months after move-in, then annually | NPS + open feedback | |
| Renewal window | 75 days before lease end | NPS + renewal intent | Email + SMS reminder |
Sample question banks
Move-in (CSAT, 1-5)
- How would you rate your overall move-in experience?
- Was the unit in the condition you expected on move-in day?
- How easy was it to get keys, parking, and access set up?
- Open: anything we should fix before your next neighbor moves in?
Maintenance (CES, 1-7)
- It was easy to get my maintenance request resolved (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- How would you rate the technician's professionalism?
- Open: anything we could have done better?
Mid-lease pulse (NPS, 0-10)
- How likely are you to recommend [Property] to a friend or colleague?
- What's the main reason for your score? (open)
- If we could fix one thing, what should it be? (open)
Renewal window (NPS + intent)
- How likely are you to recommend us? (NPS 0-10)
- How likely are you to renew your lease? (1-5)
- Open: what would make renewing an obvious choice?
KPI targets
- Move-in CSAT: 85%+. Anything lower means a process problem.
- Maintenance CES: 75%+. Repeat work orders are the biggest dragger.
- Mid-lease NPS: +30 or higher for stabilized properties.
- Renewal NPS: +30 with detractor rate below 15%. Detractors above 15% predict renewal trouble.
- Response rate: 30%+ for SMS, 15%+ for email.
What to do when a tenant scores you low
Detractor or dissatisfied responses should flow into a triage workflow within hours. The ResolveCX module in AwareCX does this automatically: the response becomes a ticket, gets assigned, and tracks time-to-resolution. A documented framework is in Closing the loop.
Setting it up in AwareCX
The companion guide How to schedule automated tenant satisfaction surveys walks through the platform setup step by step (triggers, audience filters, reminders, and cooldowns). For the question library you can copy and paste, see Tenant survey examples.