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In real estate, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) has become a go-to metric for gauging the satisfaction of residents, tenants, and employees. It’s quick to administer, easy to understand, and widely recognized across industries. For many owner/operators and property managers, it seems like a reliable pulse check: “How likely are you to recommend this building, community, or workplace to a friend?”
But here’s the problem — NPS doesn’t measure actual experience, loyalty, or satisfaction in context. And it doesn’t help you understand “why” your stakeholders stay, leave, or disengage.
In a business where high occupancy and layered relationships define success, relying solely on NPS is like navigating with a compass in the fog — it points somewhere, but it doesn’t tell you what’s ahead.
If satisfaction is your path to renewal, revenue, and reputation, then NPS is an incomplete roadmap. It’s reactive, not predictive. It may tell you that something is wrong, but it doesn’t tell you what’s broken, what’s working, or what to fix. That’s a dangerous position in today’s real estate market, where expectations are rising, competition is fierce, and silent churn is more prevalent than ever.
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- Silent Churn Is a Real Threat — And Expensive
- NPS Is a Starting Point, Not a Strategy
- Deeper Insights That Drive Real Improvement
- Proven Survey Program That Meet Your Business Needs
- When You Listen Better, People Stay Longer
Silent Churn Is a Real Threat — And Expensive
One of the biggest risks of over-relying on NPS is that it doesn’t warn you; it reports the aftermath. A single question can’t capture the full experience of a tenant or resident whose frustrations began with delayed maintenance, escalated during confusing lease communication, and peaked with a poor amenity experience. Additionally, it won’t alert you if a dissatisfied employee is “quiet quitting,” reducing their effort and disengaging, which severely impacts turnover and your bottom line.
Yet by the time they’ve decided not to renew or your employee has turned in their notice, it’s too late. NPS simply won’t show you the early warning signs, the moment they started to slip away.
This is what makes “silent churn” so dangerous (and costly). Tenants, residents, and employees may not voice their dissatisfaction directly, but it doesn’t negate the fact that their experience is declining. And the cost of losing an essential stakeholder is more than just a missed opportunity or an inconvenience; it’s a blow to your bottom line.
For example, according to Grace Hill’s Kingsley Index data, losing a 10,000-square-foot lease can result in a $427,000 revenue gap. Even more so, at $4,700 cost per new hire, the hidden cost of employee turnover can quickly snowball into a staggering $150,000 loss each year.
Multiply that across a portfolio, and you begin to see how expensive these blind spots can be.
NPS Is a Starting Point, Not a Strategy
To be clear, NPS isn’t useless. It can serve as a starting point, a general indicator of sentiment. But if it’s the only metric in your tenant, resident, or employee experience tool kit, you’re leaving critical signals on the table.
There are two key reasons NPS shouldn’t be your singular metric:
#1: There’s no “why” behind the score.
NPS lacks nuance. It doesn’t tell you why someone gave a high or low score. It doesn’t show how satisfaction varies over time or by property, team, or issue, which means your staff is left flying blind — guessing what to fix, what to replicate, and how to prioritize their efforts.
# 2: There’s no trendline visibility.
Even worse, NPS fails to measure the impact of operational decisions. If you bring in a new vendor, restructure your maintenance process, or change communication policies, there’s no visibility into how those changes are affecting stakeholder experience. That’s a huge miss in an industry where data-informed decision-making is the new standard.
While NPS provides a starting point, actually knowing what to do requires a more comprehensive, actionable approach. And that’s where engaging a proven satisfaction survey solution comes in.
Grace Hill’s Satisfaction Surveys: Deeper Insights That Drive Real Improvement
To improve satisfaction and retention, you need data that is actionable, precise, and property-specific. That’s where Grace Hill and the Kingsley Index come in with surveys and benchmarking tools built to gather accurate, unbiased data and turn it into measurable results.
Unlike static, one-dimensional scores, our surveys provide comprehensive feedback that drills into every aspect of the stakeholder experience — leasing, communication, maintenance, amenities, and more.
Here’s How Grace Hill’s Satisfaction Surveys Are Different:
- Granular insight for better-informed decisions.
Generic scores won’t help you improve what you can’t pinpoint. Grace Hill Surveys gives you detailed, property-specific feedback so you can identify exactly where to improve operations and satisfaction. Whether it’s a recurring maintenance issue, a gap in front-office communication, or an employee conflict left unchecked, you’ll have the clarity to make confident, informed decisions.
- Real benchmarks, not just sentiment.
You get more than numbers; you get clarity. Sentiment is subjective. Benchmarking is strategic. With benchmarks from the Kingsley Index, you can compare your properties against peers in the industry and see where you truly stand. You’ll know whether your performance is exceptional or underwhelming, and where to focus your improvement efforts.
- Action plans, not assumptions.
Data only drives change when it’s actionable, and with Grace Hill, you can move from assumption to action. Structured insights can be shared with property teams to empower managers; identify training needs, operational gaps, or service inconsistencies; and close the loop with residents and tenants. Instead of guessing, your teams get a blueprint for what stakeholders value and what will move the needle on satisfaction and renewals.
With Grace Hill Surveys, powered by the Kingsley Index, you gain detail and direction so that your teams aren’t just collecting data — they’re equipped to act on it.
Proven Survey Programs That Meet Your Business Needs
No two properties, or portfolios, are exactly alike, which is why one-size-fits-all feedback tools fall short. Grace Hill offers purpose-built survey programs designed to meet the specific needs of multifamily and commercial operations.
Whether you’re focused on improving resident satisfaction, tenant retention, or employee engagement, our survey solutions deliver the insights that matter most, so you can take meaningful action and drive real results.
Tenant Surveys
Generic property surveys simply don’t cut it. But with Grace Hill’s Commercial Tenant Surveys, you get a trusted survey solution that can be customized to fit your portfolio’s needs. Our industry-leading tenant surveys provide unbiased and honest feedback, enabling you to effectively address gaps, prioritize capital expenditures, highlight your competitive advantages, and reduce turnover costs.
Using Grace Hill’s Survey solution, Griffin Partners achieved a 14% increase in tenant retention over a two-year period, which equates to $14 million in retained lease value. Learn how they transformed tenant engagement, improved retention, and drove business success.
Resident Surveys
You might be capturing resident feedback, but are you gathering insight that actually matters? Grace Hill’s Resident Surveys help you improve performance by delivering actionable, data-driven insights on all aspects of the resident lifecycle, including prospect, move-in, work order, pre-renewal, and move-out processes. From securely transferring your resident data through survey setup and distribution to the final presentation and analysis of results, our experts have the tools and strategic recommendations you need to succeed!
Every time a resident moves out, the effort and expense of renting the apartment can drain your budget by nearly $4,000! Do you know how resident turnover is impacting your bottom line? Calculate your turnover costs now!
Employee Engagement Surveys
Don’t wait for unhappy employees to leave to question why. When employees leave, it’s more than just a hassle; it drains your budget and disrupts operations. Grace Hill’s Employee Engagement Program, now in PerformanceHQ, can help you measure what’s working (or not working) in your work environment, helping you proactively make changes that build employee loyalty, improve productivity, and protect your bottom line.
The cost of losing good people extends beyond the expense of recruitment and training. Every time an employee leaves, your residents or tenants feel the pain, and your reputation suffers. So what does employee turnover really cost? Calculate your employee turnover costs.
Investor Surveys
Your investors deserve a voice, too. Surveys aren’t just for your residents, tenants, and employees. The investor experience is just as critical to long-term performance, yet it is often overlooked. What if you could strengthen the investor experience that directly impacts capital to reap the benefits for your entire portfolio?
Through unbiased, third-party interviews and trusted CRE benchmarks, we also surface how investors perceive your real estate organization. See how to gain a more accurate perception study!
Grace Hill’s tailored survey programs provide comprehensive tools and trusted industry benchmarks, so you’re not just gathering feedback — you’re uncovering insights that help you strengthen your business from every angle.
When You Listen Better, People Stay Longer
The most successful real estate organizations know that true resident, tenant, employee, and even investor satisfaction can’t be captured by a single number. So, when it comes to truly understanding stakeholder experience, they are moving beyond generic metrics toward strategic, insight-driven approaches that deliver measurable results (and they’re reaping the benefits!).
The difference is clear:
- Retention improves when tenants feel satisfied. Research from a study conducted by MIT and Maastricht University shows that improving overall tenant satisfaction by just one point can increase the willingness to renew by 8.5%.
- Turnover costs decline when you stop relying on guesswork and proactively address real employee issues.
- Reputation and brand equity grow as resident and tenant experiences improve. And when they feel heard, supported, and satisfied, renewal rates rise.
These outcomes aren’t accidental; they’re the result of smarter data, sharper insights, and a commitment to prioritizing the resident and tenant experience. With the right tools, your team can turn feedback into a lasting competitive advantage.
Learn how Grace Hill’s tenant, employee, resident, and investor surveys give you the clarity NPS can’t, so you can boost satisfaction and outperform your peers.
