In its ASX statement, Rent.com.au has announced a surge of user engagement in the rental property portal, with its Renter Resume product hitting the milestone of 150,000 profiles created. The milestone coincides with the release of a new suburb profile feature, specifically geared at renters.
According to Rent.com.au, the success of the Renter Resume product reaching 150,000 resumes in the 10 months since its launch has outlined the power of tools designed for users of the site, specifically the needs of renters.
“Renter Resume continues to be a real focus for us because it is a logical product to understand and every day it is used by our customers to help secure their next home,” said Rent CEO Greg Bader.
“I feel we owe it to our customers to keep innovating and driving the adoption of Renter Resume because the combination of simplicity (enter your information only once) and functionality (stand out, incorporate other services) is unmatched in the industry, but there is much more we intend to do to enhance this product.”
In launching its new suburb profile feature Rent.com.au says that it has drawn upon its existing features to give renters the information they are looking for in choosing a rental property. The portal already includes a ‘try before you buy’ association with Airbnb, walk scores and NBN status information.
“The latest innovation in this space is our Suburb Review feature that was only launched two weeks ago. Already we have had renters complete more than 12,500 reviews, covering more than 2,000 different suburbs, and we expect this to quickly become one [of] the country’s richest sources of data for the suburbs we live in,” said Mr Bader.
The suburb profiles are directed at the potential renter with a list of the three most desirable features of that suburb – things like ‘I feel safe here’; ‘Great for families’ or ‘Cafes and Restaurants’ – the median rent for the suburb and its local area, plus information about transport and accessibility.
The suburb profiles invite user engagement via a ratings forum, allowing users to rate the areas where they rent so that other potential renters have a peer-based tool for comparison that is independent of market rent price.
“Naturally everyone has different expectations and different needs, so building a model that could be used to compare across suburbs and be independent of cost was important for us,” continued Mr Bader.
“The feedback we were getting was that our customers wanted a way to share their experiences about suburbs with others. That point really resonated with us; we are a community that revolves around people moving to new areas, so providing the tools for customers to be better informed was a no-brainer.”
Rent.com.au are also reporting significant increases in visitors to the site and the time spent on site over the past twelve months.