AppFolio Tutorials - Ep. 15 Automatic Communication Settings

Hello everyone, and welcome back to APM Academy. In today’s video, we’re going to cover automatic communication settings in AppFolio and how to manage tenant, owner, and vendor communications effectively.

Accessing Automatic Communication Settings

1. Click your name at the top-right corner → General Settings.
2. Scroll down to Communications → Automatic Communication Settings.

Automatic Communication Options

Here are the key automated communications you can enable:

• Birthday Emails – Automatically send birthday greetings to tenants to encourage positive tenant relations.
• Automatic Responses to Guest Cards – Respond to online questionnaires immediately.
• Pre-Qualification Questions – Require prospects to complete pre-qualification before moving forward (found under the Releasing section).
• Rental Application Completion Email – Automatically notify tenants when their rental application is received and complete.
• Work Order Updates – Send automatic emails or texts to vendors, tenants, and owners when a work order status changes.
• Showing Confirmation Emails – Notify prospects automatically after property showings.

Tip: Always click Save after making changes to retain your progress.

Texting Settings

1. Under Communication Settings → Texting Settings, configure your texting preferences.
2. The default text number comes from Manage Company Settings → Texting Phone Numbers.
3. Options include:
   • Accepting inbound text messages from tenants, vendors, and owners.
   • Forwarding texts to a specific team member’s email.
   • Creating portfolio-specific numbers instead of using the generic company number.

Rent and Unpaid Charge Reminders

1. Enable Continue Sending Rent and Unpaid Charges Reminders to ensure tenants receive emails if delinquent.
2. If reminders are not enabled by default:
   • Go to Communication → Letters → Tenant Unpaid Charges.
   • Select the portfolio or property and click Search.
   • Send reminders to all tenants with unpaid balances.
3. Bulk options:
   • Enable Reminders or Disable Reminders.
   • Send reminders before grace periods end to prevent late fees.

Bulk Communication Options

You can communicate with multiple tenants or owners simultaneously in several ways:

Option 1 – Bulk Portal Communication

1. Go to General Settings → Communications → Bulk Communication Settings.
2. Click Edit → Enable Bulk Portal Communication.
3. Select:
   • Recipients: Tenants only, owners, or both.
   • Property Group: Specify a property or leave blank for all properties.
4. Type your message (e.g., fire alert, outage, or maintenance notice) and send.

Option 2 – Letters

1. Go to Communications → Letters → New Letter.
2. Create your message template (e.g., rent reminder).
3. Send in bulk through the portal.

Option 3 – Property Attachments

1. Go to the specific property → Attachments.
2. Upload an existing letter and select Share with All Tenants.

All three methods deliver communications to tenants through their portal if activated.

Tenant Page Communication

• Email: Click the tenant’s email box to compose and send messages directly.
• Text: If enabled, use the texting box to send/receive messages.
• Audit Log: Track all sent emails and automated letters with timestamps.
• Text History: Scroll through the tenant’s texting box to view past conversations.

These features make it easy to maintain a full record of tenant communications.

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