More About PayHOA
Why do HOAs seek out PayHOA?
The HOA treasurer realizes that the manual bookkeeping practices are not sustainable and has set out to find a digital solution. These users have already bought into the idea of a tech solution, and they are challenged with pitching it to the board and homeowners.
The board has decided it needs a digital solution to fix its messy bookkeeping and has assigned the HOA treasurer to find one. These users may be a little unfamiliar with technology and may not know where to even start.
An HOA is managed by a third party, and is considering switching to a self-managed model. This can be triggered by a soured relationship with the company or dissatisfied homeowners. These users are weighing the cost/benefit of switching to a self-managed model.
Helping homeowners realize that third-party companies aren't a cure-all, and in fact can be troublesome in their own right, is a key thought we need to deliver to PayHOA prospects.
Volunteer Vanessa
A retiree, Vanessa has little experience making a software purchasing decision. She has been performing her treasurer role for years, but homeowners have been bugging her about online payments.
Her typical day consists of tracking information on spreadsheets, manually reconciling delinquent accounts, reviewing accounts payable, issuing checks to vendors, and gathering dues.
Her biggest challenge is the lack of organization around dues collection, violations, and maintenance requests. Current bookkeeping records are out of date.
Vanessa gets information from Google, Facebook, maybe a local CAI group, and by word of mouth from similar-sized organizations. She prefers to talk through phone or email, and would like in-person demos and walkthroughs.
Techie Travis
A young professional with a job and family, Travis has been thrust into his role by the board because he is young they assume he is tech-savvy. He may have a background in tech or accounting. Likely, his board knows their processes are out of date, and they expect Travis to bring the HOA into the 21st century.
Travis only puts five hours per week into his treasurer duties. He wants to automate everything and spend as little time possible worrying about HOA duties. His biggest challenge is convincing the board and homeowners to adopt a software solution (even if they charged him with the task of doing so).
Travis gets info from social media and tech blogs. When searching for information, he will exhaust all options before resorting to a phone call. He is more likely to email a support team with a list of questions than call for a full demo.
See the full persona and message map
PayHOA_Persona Map.pdfphoa-message-map (1).pdfBuyer Journey
Top Funnel
These people are trying to see what options are out there for running their HOA better. They may be considering QuickBooks or a third-party company, or they may be looking for general advice around HOA management.
To speak to this group, we are advocating HOA software in general. Most of our writing will be aimed at this part of the funnel.
They don't know what they don't know. The software can help them accomplish goals in ways they haven't even considered.
Middle Funnel
These people have decided that a software solution is the way to go—now they're just weighing the options.
To speak to this group, we point out PayHOA's prime differentiators: auto pay, built-in website builder, physical mail feature, industry-knowledgeable support.
We rarely write a full blog directly to this crowd. A good rule of thumb is that we only mention PayHOA by name when talking about these differentiators.
Bottom Funnel
These people have decided that PayHOA is it, or they are deciding between PayHOA and a very limited number of other options.
We don't really write to this crowd. At this point, they have all the info they need to make their decision.
More info - Pillar pages
Who are PayHOA's competitors?
QuickBooks
Most HOAs use QuickBooks to manage their HOA's accounting. However, QuickBooks was built on the basis of businesses and individuals. Quickbooks isn't built for mass invoicing, and it isn't built to assign data to a particular unit or property. See a more complete QuickBooks comparison here.
Buildium
Though Buildium is another software platform that enables many of the same functions as PayHOA, Buildium is more suited for landlords and rental properties, which abide by a completely different set of laws and rules.
Third Party Management Companies
Third-party companies remove the managerial burden of bookkeeping, vendor management, and issuing violations. However, they are usually overkill for most HOAs and they don't have a vested interest in the betterment of the community. When an HOA terminates a relationship with a third-party company, the HOA has a tough time getting all their data and info back.
Broader benefits
Expert Support
PayHOA's support staff are HOA experts. They know the challenges of running an HOA and work with users every day to craft solutions to meet their needs. Often, these custom solutions go on to become a standard part of the PayHOA platform.
A Holistic Platform
Self-managing an HOA consists of more than just accounting and bookkeeping. PayHOA enables the broader mission of running an HOA with community volunteers. The industry-specific nature of PayHOA is a huge plus.
Increased Transparency
With tools like surveys, polls, message boards, mass texting and emailing, you can increase transparency and help homeowners feel heard. This leads to a greater overall level of satisfaction with the community.
Forecast the Future
The day-to-day management of an HOA can prohibit the board from long-term planning. By streamlining short-term tasks, the HOA board can focus on broader initiatives and goals, like budgeting for new amenities or building its reserve funds.