Lease up case study

How Rentsync helped Fitzrovia launch an industry nominated lease up marketing strategy for The Waverley, a boutique rental community, in downtown Toronto

The Project

Help Fitzrovia meet their leasing goals and achieve above-market rents by executing a comprehensive go-to-market strategy and produce eye-catching creative, marketing collateral, digital assets, and more, that highlight the history and cultural significance of The Waverley.

The Property

Location: 484 Spadina Avenue

Property Type: Residential

Website: https://www.thewaverleylife.ca/

100%

of units rented in first 5 months

250

average conversions per month (PPC)

$30

average cost per lead (Google Ads)

2 million+

social media impressions

About The Waverley

The Waverley, is a 166-unit boutique rental community in one of Toronto’s most exciting neighbourhoods, and comes laden with a unique history. Formerly the Waverley Hotel, a four-story low-rise hotel in downtown Toronto, The Waverley originally opened its doors in 1900. In 1959, it became home to The Silver Dollar Room – now a registered heritage landmark – which served as a cocktail lounge for guests of the Waverley Hotel. Over the years, it underwent several incarnations – with live music being the common theme that would see it become one of Toronto’s most beloved music venues, hosting incredible live talent like Bob Dylan.

The Waverley aimed to embrace the rich history of the Waverley Hotel and the music scene at the former Silver Dollar Room in its architecture, interior design, and marketing approach.

The boutique rental living experience at The Waverley includes captivating artistic interiors, thoughtfully curated common spaces, and stunning unit finishes. Plus, amenities that go above and beyond, such as a fitness centre designed by professional strength coach Matt Nichol, a custom art collection featuring works by Toronto-based artist Thrush Holmes and birdO (Jerry Rugg), and an integrated Boxcar Social café and Greenhouse Juice in its double-height lobby.

“Rentsync has challenged us and we have challenged them and as a result it has pushed both of us to deliver some of the best marketing strategy and creative that the industry has seen in a while.“

- Ryan Funt, Director of Marketing at Fitzrovia

Challenge 1

Create a lease up website that challenged the status quo

Attention to detail was the overarching theme for The Waverley lease up, and the website was no exception. The team at Fitzrovia tasked Rentsync to create an online experience that mirrored the feeling of stepping into The Waverley itself and highlighting the distinct arts and culture-driven community where it is located in downtown Toronto, ON.

“Prospects have responded favorably, particularly to our website which is the central component of The Waverley’s digital strategy. We have met our desired conversion ratios, timelines, and continue to drive qualified traffic to our website. We look forward to continuing our relationship and challenging the status quo even further.” – Ryan Funt, Director of Marketing at Fitzrovia.

The solution

By leveraging the brand guide and direction provided by Fitzrovia, Rentsync’s design team expanded on their initial vision to create a website that truly “WOW’d” prospective renters. Each page and element was carefully designed with an immense attention to detail that reflects The Waverley’s brand and positioning.

The UI of the website was designed to help guide visitors through key pages using thoughtfully planned out section layouts. For example, the delayed loading of each section "greets" prospects as they scroll through each page, asking them to stop, read, and engage with the content. The prominence and accessibility of calls to action throughout the website also ensures that whenever a prospect decides to convert they have several options right in front of them. For instance, stylish hover effects were incorporated to highlight key calls to action such as the “Book A Tour” button – which lights up like a neon sign, a nod to the neon Silver Dollar Room sign, and those that line the neighbouring Chinatown restaurants.

Every corner of the website is infused with style and care.

Site visitors are instantly welcomed by the prominence of art, an important inclusion, as The Waverley has a notable art collection. The site’s high-res photography and renderings are backdropped onto vivid and engaging artworks, and most pieces featured on the website are housed in The Waverley, making their presence extremely relevant to prospective renters.

Importantly, Rentsync made media management on The Waverley website flexible and custom to fit Fitzrovia’s unique visuals. When prospects view the photo gallery, it is completely dynamic. This means that photos automatically adjust depending on whether they are portrait or landscape.

Finally, the website aims to deliberately distinguish between key information, providing a tailored experience whether the user is exploring curated media, browsing amenities, or learning more about the history of the community. For example, Rentsync designed The Waverley blog so that it is easy to navigate posts with key information about the neighbourhood, partnerships, and the unique amenities at The Waverley.

Challenge 2

Develop an end-to-end virtual leasing experience

Due to continued restrictions and having to go completely virtual for The Waverley lease up, it was vital that the website provided a seamless leasing experience for potential prospects. The website had to be easy to navigate, full of impactful information to educate potential prospects and guide them through an end-to-end leasing experience, in order to achieve above-market rents during a time when in-person leasing was on pause.

“Renters are prompted to “Book a tour” at several different touch-points including but not limited to the website’s initial pop-up and main menu. This intentional move has helped to raise tour conversion ratios (lead-to-tour), and ultimately leasing conversions,” says Ryan Funt, Marketing Director at Fitzrovia

The solution

The Waverley’s website embraces technology to its fullest. Prospects are able to see real-time unit pricing and availability that syncs automatically with Fitzrovia’s property management software (Yardi). By leveraging Rentsync’s “Floorplan Navigator” tool, The Waverley is able to provide prospects with an interactive site plan giving them the ability to view and engage with each individual floorplan on every floor. The website also includes the ability to explore the suites using a traditional floorplan layout in order to ensure maximum usability and comfort.

The Suites page also allows prospects to download a high-res PDF of the floorplans they are interested in. To further illustrate the actual in-suite experience, prospects can also view the actual window view(s) from their preferred suite. When the prospect is ready to convert, they can easily begin the application process for their chosen suite right from the same page.

Prospects also have the option to view 360-degree virtual tours by going to the “Virtual Tour” page. These features serve to ensure prospects receive a complete and transparent experience of life at The Waverley.

Finally, an integrated chatbot allows potential residents to book a tour, request to text a leasing associate, have FAQs answered, and more.

Overall, The Waverley’s website provides a contact experience that is easy and appealing at each website touchpoint, and provides a comprehensive virtual leasing experience for prospects to truly envision themselves in the community.

“The Waverley’s website is integrated and conveniently offers prospects an end-to-end leasing solution – application to lease,” explains Ryan Funt, Director of Marketing at Fitzrovia

Challenge 3

Attract qualified prospects & achieve above-market rents with a custom digital marketing plan

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had rippling effects on Waverley’s lease up initiatives. With initial plans to do an in-person pre-leasing experience, the team instead pivoted their initiatives online.

In order to educate and attract potential residents to The Waverley, and achieve above-market rents, a customized digital marketing plan with a strong focus on quality creative, was needed to overcome this challenge.

“To date we have achieved above-market rents and met our leasing and absorption targets. This is particularly notable given that Toronto’s downtown core had been negatively impacted by COVID-19 from a rental perspective; furthermore, Class-A product took a further hit.” – Ryan Funt, Director of Marketing at Fitzrovia

The solution

Fitzrovia worked with Rentsync to execute a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that fully captured The Waverley’s Class-A boutique feel. This included Rental Listing Sites, Google Ads, Social Media Marketing, SEO, and e-blasts. All were instrumental to The Waverley’s success. The following digital marketing strategy was coordinated by Rentsync’s client services team:

Rental Listing Sites

Rentsync focused on a tailored utilization of key Rental Listing Sites, and leveraged featured ads on the best performing sites, allowing The Waverley to reach more renters and drive more leads through these sources.

Google Ads Campaign

The team developed a comprehensive Google Ads campaign, which included an intricate keyword strategy, focused on relevant long-tail keywords to bring in qualified leads. The approach was to present tailored messaging to unique audiences while sharing the history of the former Waverley Hotel and Silver Dollar Room.

In addition to Google Search ads, the team utilized Google Display advertising, including running a series of animated display ad sets targeting distinct audiences at different periods of the lease-up. The creative focused on re-engaging existing audiences as well as identifying new ones, all while featuring promotions and keeping prospects up-to-date with changing messages and milestones. Google Video ads were also used to maximize brand awareness and introduce The Waverley to new and relevant audiences.

Social Media Marketing

By utilizing Social Media Marketing, Rentsync was able to drive brand awareness and acquire new relevant audiences, boosting organic and direct traffic to thewaverleylife.ca. Social ads on Facebook and Instagram were tailored to specific target demographics and were updated over time to focus on those audiences who were most likely to convert. The social media campaign included unique and inspiring creative ads spanning from animated Instagram and Facebook stories, in-feed carousel posts, and video ads. The campaign included placements on Facebook Marketplace, which aided in attracting audiences using this network to search for apartments for rent.

On-Page SEO (Content Writing)

Rentsync also facilitated content writing as part of The Waverley’s on-page SEO strategy. This included maintaining the thewaverleylife.ca blog, to help engage new audiences, provide details on promotions and amenities, and re-engage existing audiences. By revealing fresh content on the home page and by using tailored keywords, Rentsync helped to improve the website’s search engine ranking, seeing movement to the first page of Google for certain keywords within weeks of launching the website. Rentsync also aided in drafting web copy for The Waverley’s website - using The Waverley’s brand tone.

E-blasts

Finally, the Rentsync team leveraged e-blasts by creating curated messages aimed at re-engaging The Waverley’s existing audiences. The e-blasts featured quality and engaging copy which encouraged lease conversions. E-blast copy included information on exclusive partnerships, the perks of living at The Waverley, top places to eat in the neighbourhood, and more.