Over the past few years, the process of earning and maintaining a customer’s trust from a business standpoint has been flipped upside down by digital mediums. It’s clear that your self storage facility can no longer rely on foot traffic to draw in the bulk of your new customers.
In a recent study done by Accenture, data showed that shoppers are now more inconsistent with brands than they’ve ever been in the past due to the ability to directly compare price, products, and services online. In fact, 78% of the respondents claimed that they turned to information found online when searching for a service provider. Since this information is so easily accessible at the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen, there’s hardly room for brand loyalty—especially in the self storage industry, where price completely determines that loyalty.
So how can you bring in new customers and hang on to your current customers when your brand has little to no effect on their purchasing decisions? All signs point to a strong online presence being absolutely mandatory.
Unfortunately, waiting for potential customers to physically seek out your facility on their own just doesn’t work like it used to. If your self storage business isn’t online already, it’s crucial to do so in order to remain a viable competitor in your market.
Without a presence online, you’re not only missing out on customers who are actively searching for services (like the ones offered at your facility), but you’re also missing out on the customers who could be led to your site from a competitor’s website while comparing pricing options. Basically, not having a website means your business doesn’t exist to these potential consumers. Is there anything worse than that?
But it’s not enough to simply exist online. Remember: You want potential customers to be able to find you in the search engines and be wowed enough to pick you over the competition.
Here are a few tips to follow for making sure your website is up to par from the start:
- Your site’s design should be easy to navigate and clean with major conversion areas front and center (like a click-to-call button).
- Post content that’s lively, informative, and to the point to help consumers decide if you’re the right business for them. Also, include video content with or in place of written content for relevant topics.
- Keep your facility hours of operation, contact information, and directions to your specific location in plain sight.
For a more in-depth guide of how to develop your facility’s online presence, check out these tips to get the ball rolling.
