Communicate with Applicants

Timely communication with prospective tenants throughout the application process is critical to renting a unit quickly and efficiently, and keeping accurate and easily accessible records of communications is equally important.

Communicate with applicants directly through Buildium and track your communication history with each applicant. 

Note: Applicant communications is only available in the Essential, Growth and Premium plans. Click here to learn more about these plans.

In this article, you'll learn about:

• Types of applicant communications
• How to view the communication timeline
• How to compose and send an email
• How to log a call
• How to send and receive text messages

Types of applicant communications

Emails

Compose and send emails to applicants from within the Buildium platform.

• Email an individual applicant
• Email a group of applicants
• Select multiple applicants to send an email to
• Create email templates to send to applicants

Phone calls

Log a call with an applicant to keep track of phone conversations.

Text messages

Send and receive text messages with applicants from within Buildium.

• Initiate a text message conversation with an individual applicant
• Initiate a text message conversation with more than 1 applicant (up to 10)

How to view the communication timeline

A record of all communications with an applicant can be viewed in their communication timeline. To access an applicants communication timeline:

1. Navigate to Leasing > Applicant
2. Click the name of the applicant who’s communication timeline you would like to see
3. Select the Communications tab to view the communications timeline with a full history of your communications with an applicant.

How to compose and send an email

1. Navigate to the Communications timeline.
2. Click New and select Compose email.
   • The contact information of the selected applicant will automatically be included in the “To” field.
3. To add additional recipients, click Edit next to the “To” field. In the “Add recipients” window, select the additional recipients by checking the box next to their name. Once you’ve selected all desired recipients, click Done to return to the email editor.
   • You can also BCC staff, save selected recipients to a distribution list and maintain distribution lists by clicking the ellipses (…) to the right of the Edit button.
4. Next, choose the appropriate sender from the dropdown list in the “From”
5. To use an email template, select the template from the dropdown menu in the “Template” field and make any needed adjustments to the subject, content and format.
   • If you would like to create a new template, follow the steps outlined here.
   • If you are writing a custom email, enter the content in the open text field and format as needed.
6. When you are ready to send the email, click Send.

 How to log a call

1. Navigate to the Communications timeline.
2. Click New and select Log a call.
3. Add the information about the call, including the date, time, a descriptive header in the “Subject” field, and notes from the conversation in the “Body”.
4. When you are finished, click Save to log the call and return to the Communications timeline.

How to send and receive text messages

1. Navigate to the Communications timeline.
2. Click New and select Send message.
3. If the Applicant has not opted into text message communication, you will be prompted to Manage text message accounts.
   • Click here to learn how to manage text message opt-in/opt-out for applicants.
4. The contact information of the selected applicant will automatically be included in the “To” field.
   • To add more recipients to the message, click Add recipients, then find and select up to 9 more applicants.
     • Each message will be sent as an individual message, keeping each resident's contact information private.
5. Compose your text in the Message section. You may also optionally add images to your text message. 
6. When you are finished, click Send. The message will be delivered to the recipient(s), and will be logged as a text conversation on the Communications timeline.
7. If an applicant responds to your text message, you will find the incoming message in the conversation with the applicant by navigating to Communication > Messages.
   • You can jump quickly into text message conversations by clicking the messages icon in the top right-hand side of your Buildium account. A red notification count will tell you how many unread text messages you have waiting.