Drive more leases with data-backed multifamily tour strategies

Which marketing source drives the most apartment tours — and tour-to-lease conversions?

We love answering these types of questions for apartment marketers. Thanks to a year’s worth of data (from 1,400 multifamily properties), we know which sources are the power players.  

Is SEO in the lead? PPC? ILS? Keep reading to find out, then get data-backed multifamily tour strategies to try next.

About the study

To figure out which source drives more tours and leases, we looked at 239,611 tours in total. The data was collected from 30 multifamily clients, covering 1,409 properties, from January 1 through December 31, 2024.

Kudos to Derek Johnson, strategic marketing lead at REACH, for leading the charge on this impactful study.

Check out the infographic

SEO brings in more tours

Organic search takes the lead, driving 47.03% of tours (112,698 tours, to be exact). And compared to the best performing ILS, organic search had a 6.04% higher prospect-to-tour conversion rate.

That means renters who find your website via organic search — compared to other sources — are more likely to book tours.

What about leases?

Ok, we know SEO wins when it comes to driving tours. But which source has the highest tour-to-lease conversion rate?

SEO wins again:

• 48.41% for REACH SEO
• 39.69% for REACH PPC
• 27.74% for RentCafe.com

3 things to think about

• Organic search had an 18.26% higher tour-to-lease conversion rate than the highest ILS
• PPC ads saw a 9.54% higher tour-to-lease conversion rate than the highest ILS
• RentCafe.com got the second highest tour-to-lease conversion rate of any ILS

Here’s a fun fact

According to the data, 50% of all social media prospects booked a tour. So, when renters go from your social profiles to your website, they’re motivated. It’s likely because they’ve already seen photos and videos of your community.

The catch: Social prospects accounted for less than 1% of all tours (1,501 tours).

The takeaway: While social converts at a high rate, the volume of traffic is low.

The tip: Use social to support (not substitute) other marketing sources.

The action plan: Stay active on social and keep your tour links up to data.

Bonus data

Did you know virtual tours are proven to convert renters? According to LCP Media data, virtual tours drive 72% more net leases.

Explore the data here.

More study details

We’ve talked about where the data comes from — and what we found — but what inspired this study? And what results did we expect? We reached out to Derek to find out.

What inspired you to look into this specific data?

Derek: Getting traffic to your property website is the first step, but our clients want to understand how qualified the traffic is that they’re attracting. In other words, they want to know which sources are bringing in the most high-intent traffic. One way we can gauge this is by seeing if the prospect scheduled a tour. We knew it would be helpful to have some real data to share.

Did any of the results surprise you? Why or why not?

Derek: We know how important SEO is, and how much traffic it can drive, but seeing that almost 50% of all tours came from organic traffic was interesting. I didn’t think that number would be quite so high. This really drives home the importance of doing SEO well. It was also fascinating to see which sources had the highest prospect-to-tour conversion rates, including the unexpected, like social media.

What’s your biggest takeaway, as someone who reviews a lot of multifamily data?

Derek: SEO is the foundation for successful property marketing. It allows you to get the quantity of traffic you need, and when done right, the quality of traffic you need. Also, the importance of giving the option to schedule a tour on your property website. Today, people want to do everything at their own pace … without roadblocks like having to call the property. If you don’t offer the option to schedule a tour, you might be missing out on qualified prospects that would convert.

Want help with your leasing strategy?

Here’s the big takeaway from this study: Organic SEO is the best foundation for tours that lead to leases, but other sources perform well too. Having a balanced strategy is a smart move for winning renters.

Want to discuss the data or get a free tour optimization consultation? Send us a message! We’re here to guide you.