How to Achieve 90% Resident Uptake in Your Retirement Village App
The Heart of the Village: Achieving Unprecedented Resident Engagement
As a village manager or director, you know that your role is so much more than just managing a property. You are the trusted leader for a community of people who have chosen to make your village their home. Your ultimate goal isn’t just to fill villas—it's to create a place where residents feel connected, valued, and truly at home. This is the cornerstone of resident engagement in retirement villages.
This is where a resident experience app can be a game-changer. But we’ve seen too many communities invest in senior living technology only to see it sit unused. At Pluss Communities, we believe the secret to success isn't just the app itself; it’s the human-centred approach to launching it. It's about empowering your residents, not just giving them a new tool. Our proven process helps us achieve over 90% resident uptake, because we focus on building trust and connection from day one.
Step 1: The Foundation of Community
Before you introduce a single new feature, you must lay a solid foundation. This is about more than just technology—it's about setting the stage for a truly engaged community.
Breathe Life into Your App: Think of the app as a blank canvas. Don't launch with empty spaces. Fill it with the heart and soul of your village. Populate the news with stories of resident achievements, not just administrative updates. Create an events calendar rich with photos and personal invitations. Showcase your services and facilities with visuals that make residents proud of their home. Each piece of content should feel like a warm welcome.
Create Pathways for Connection: Your residents have a wealth of knowledge and a desire to connect. Set up groups for hobbies, from gardening to book clubs. Enable chat to allow for spontaneous conversations. These features aren't just for convenience; they are the digital front porch where friendships blossom. This is how you effectively boost resident participation and foster a genuine community.
Empower Your Team: Your staff are the face of your village. Ensure they are not just trained on the app's functions, but are confident in how to use it to enhance their personal interactions with residents. This transforms the app from a helpdesk into a tool for building relationships, making it a key component of your retirement community management software.
Replace paper forms: Ensure you use the forms builder to replace paper forms you currently require residents to complete. Next time they need to complete the absentee form, they will be thanking you for the convenience of the form in the app
Step 2: The Personal Touch
Technology can feel impersonal. Our goal is to make it feel like a personal invitation. This is where your leadership shines, as you guide residents through the new experience with patience and care.
Eliminate Hurdles, One Resident at a Time: The fear of a new device or a forgotten password can be a significant barrier. By proactively offering personalised "tech checks" for devices and passwords, you show your residents that you care about their comfort and success.
Cultivate Your Champions: Identify those natural leaders in your community—the residents who are already organising coffee catch-ups or lending a hand to a neighbour. Brief them on the launch. Their enthusiasm is contagious and will serve as a powerful endorsement from within the community itself, which is vital for high senior resident engagement.
Make Training a Social Event: Instead of a dry, corporate-style training, schedule small-group sessions that feel more like a friendly chat. This provides a supportive, low-pressure environment where residents can learn at their own pace and help one another, fostering a sense of shared accomplishment.
The Launch Event: A Celebration, Not a Seminar: Frame your information session as a celebration of the community's future. A presentation that highlights the app's potential to empower them—to share stories, plan events, and support one another—will resonate far more deeply than a list of features. An app-exclusive RSVP to a launch party with free refreshments makes the first login feel like a celebration, not a chore.
Step 3: Launch Day—A New Beginning
Launch day is the culmination of your hard work. It's about being present, supportive, and celebrating the beginning of this new chapter.
Support, Not Just Instruction: Offer multiple sessions throughout the day to accommodate different schedules and learning styles. The goal isn't to get everyone logged in at once; it's to make sure every single resident feels supported and confident.
Encourage residents to be open to change: Remind residents that they have experienced change before in their lives and learnt new things, whether it’s looking after a new born baby, or starting a new job.
The Power of Small Groups: The small-group training sessions are where the magic happens (20-30 residents). Here, you can sit with residents, guiding them with a gentle hand and a reassuring smile. This personal interaction builds trust and makes the technology feel like an extension of your existing, caring community.
Celebrate Together: A launch morning tea or afternoon drinks transforms the day from a technical rollout into a shared moment of community building. Get festive, decorate a cake in the theme of the name of your app. We have seen some incredibly creative themed launch parties over the years.
Step 4: Nurturing Your Digital Community
High engagement isn't a one-time event; it's a continuous commitment. Your work after launch day is just as important as the preparation.
Keep the Welcome Mat Out: Use your Community Manager dashboard to monitor who has logged in and who hasn't. A simple, personal follow-up—a phone call or a friendly note—can make all the difference. It shows you haven't forgotten them. Resend SMS and email invites to those residents who have not yet logged in
Follow-Up is Key: Offer further training sessions and check-ins. Some residents may need a little more time and encouragement. Your patience and persistence will be rewarded with their trust and participation.
Keep the Momentum Going: Plan a follow-up event—a launch week party, perhaps—where booking is done exclusively through the app. This encourages residents to engage with the system and reinforces its value in their daily lives.
By embracing this human-centred approach, you won't just launch an app. You will launch a new era for your community—one where residents feel more connected, more empowered, and more at home than ever before. This is how you don't just achieve 90% resident uptake; you build the vibrant, thriving community that is the true measure of your success.
Ready to Boost Your Resident Engagement?
Learn more about the Pluss Communities platform and how our proven process can help you create a more connected and engaged village. Contact us today for a free demo of our resident experience app.
