In S1 E7, Dana Hill uses customer feedback to drive growth, transparency, and team alignment at Rangewater Real Estate.
In Season 1 Episode 7 of Feedback Fatigue, Dana Hill, Director of Customer Experience at Rangewater Real Estate, shares her strategy for turning feedback into a key marketing asset.
By focusing on transparency, efficiency, and team alignment, Dana highlights online feedback’s direct influence on both daily operations and long-term reputation management.
For Dana, feedback isn’t about seeking perfection; it’s about fostering genuine connections with customers. “I find [feedback] to be extremely valuable. I think it is a driver for performance and for connectivity,” she says. This approach aligns with a growing preference among younger consumers who prioritize authenticity over polished perfection. According to Dana, “Nobody's looking for perfection, but they are looking for authenticity.”
Interestingly, research shows that businesses with a 3.82-star rating are often more trusted than those with perfect 5-star reviews, underscoring the value of honest, transparent interactions. Dana says, “To see that [trust] dropped to a 3.82 actually was surprising to me.” This reinforces the idea that consumers today value realism over unattainable ideals.
At Rangewater, Dana has implemented a structured approach to managing feedback. Her day begins with reviewing key data points, such as resident concerns, online reviews, and performance reports. This routine helps her identify which properties need attention or celebration based on their feedback trends. “I start my day with taking an assessment... and then dig into analyzing my reputation data,” she says.
Daily check-ins keep her approach proactive. She and her team address issues before they escalate and recognize those communities that are actively performing well. Dana’s approach highlights how vital it is to create consistent systems for assessing feedback. Without consistency, you don’t have the necessary context for implementing feedback effectively.
As Rangewater experienced rapid growth, Dana recognized the need to scale their feedback processes. Initially, the team relied on manual responses, with an associate answering each negative review individually. However, as the volume of feedback increased, this approach became unsustainable. “There was no way to keep up with it and [our review response associate] was really overwhelmed,” she says.
The solution was to implement a combination of AI and human oversight to manage reviews efficiently while maintaining a personal touch. Rangewater developed a system where responses to reviews are vetted by both AI and community managers, ensuring that the final replies are both thoughtful and relevant. This blend of automation and human oversight helped Rangewater scale feedback management without sacrificing the quality of responses.
Dana emphasizes the importance of partnering with the right technology providers, noting that it’s critical to “vet multiple partners” to ensure that any tools used align with your company’s values and goals. By automating certain tasks while retaining human control where necessary, Rangewater found a balance that allowed them to manage feedback at scale without losing the personal connection with their residents.
A key strength of Dana’s strategy is the way feedback is shared across departments, ensuring it drives improvements throughout the organization. Data collected from reviews and surveys isn’t confined to a single team; it’s distributed to development, training, and senior leadership to ensure all aspects of the business benefit.
“We are making sure that the feedback we're pulling from surveys and reviews is put in a format that is shared across the portfolio...so that we can take action that is seen as a benefit to the consumer,” Dana says. This transparency ensures that everyone from property managers to corporate leaders is aware of what’s working and what needs attention.
This collaborative approach ensures that feedback influences decisions across all levels, from property improvements to staff training. Whether it’s increasing the number of maintenance staff based on resident requests or adjusting service offerings, Rangewater uses feedback as a guide to improve the resident experience across the board.
Dana has also implemented a strategy that ties feedback directly to employee performance, incentivizing staff to prioritize customer satisfaction. At Rangewater, bonuses are linked to key performance indicators (KPIs) related to feedback and online reputation. “The key factor to getting this buy-in is tying it to bonuses; no question,” she states.
This connection between performance and rewards ensures that employees have a clear motivation to act on the feedback they receive. By aligning staff incentives with customer satisfaction goals, Dana has fostered a culture where feedback is not just collected but acted upon consistently.
The results of this strategy have been significant. Dana notes that since introducing these KPIs, Rangewater has seen steady improvement in both customer satisfaction and employee engagement. “We are watching the positive momentum on our overall scores increase,” she says.
One of the key strengths of Dana’s approach is the transparency she has fostered within Rangewater’s feedback management system. The company developed a business intelligence tool that gives all employees access to detailed performance metrics for their respective properties. “We have a scorecard for each community, measuring the KPIs that matter most to us as an organization,” Dana explains.
This system promotes transparency by ensuring employees are aware of their performance and have the tools and information to improve when needed. By setting clear expectations and goals, Dana has helped create an environment where feedback encourages meaningful change across the organization.
Dana Hill’s approach to customer feedback shows how businesses can use this resource to strengthen both operations and marketing. From automating responses to sharing insights across teams and incentivizing action, feedback goes from a passive data point to a strategic advantage.
Dana’s focus on transparency and collaboration ensures that feedback is integrated into Rangewater’s everyday processes. The result? Improved resident experiences, higher satisfaction scores, and a more engaged team.
Subscribe to Feedback Fatigue on Apple and Spotify, and explore all available episodes here.
.png)
U3GM Blog Post Comments