The self storage industry is fiercely competitive. But the good news is that customers don’t typically want to change their self storage company once they have committed. Still, if you want your customers to stick around, you should give them a reason to do so. In this article, we’ll outline some of the ways you can reach customers at every stage in the customer journey.
Awareness: Building Trust
A customer has landed on your website and trusted you with their contact details. The hardest part is over, now you have the chance to let them know what you have to offer.
At this stage in the customer journey, assume your audience knows nothing about self storage. Let them know what you have to offer and why they should trust you. Using social proof can help to increase trust, particularly for new companies. Quote some of your best user reviews, include your TrustPilot/Facebook/Google My Business ratings, and provide links to read more of your glowing reviews.
Personalisation is also key. If you know the user’s name, email address and the storage unit they are looking at, make sure you use this information.
Consideration: Initiate Contact
In our self storage industry research, conversion rates increase when you initiate contact. Offering customers the opportunity to arrange an immediate or scheduled callback could help boost reservations.
At this stage in the customer journey, the user is ready to bite. They might have narrowed it down to two or three units. If you can get in there with a friendly sales call and transparent pricing, you will nudge your company to the top of the list.
The most common reasons that people need storage units are moving, death and divorce. These are incredibly stressful periods, so you need to do everything you can to make the process as simple as possible. By offering a callback service, you remove one of the steps to conversion.
Purchase: The Video Email
Congratulations! You’ve made a booking. It doesn’t matter that you’ve already made the sale; your post-sales support should exceed expectations.
Assume that your new customer knows absolutely nothing about how to access their new storage unit. After you’ve sent their agreement and lease information, follow up with a personalised email explaining how to access the unit.
Things as Video content can help to make this more accessible and less intimidating. Offer easy directions to your self storage site (include a Google maps link), and then outline how to gain access to the site, including how to find their access codes. It’s typically safer to provide access codes through another channel, such as a text message, to keep your units safe.
Retention: Upsell, cross sell
Engaging with existing customers is often a neglected part of the email marketing process. You might only reach out to your customers when their contract is up for renewal. And if they’re on a rolling monthly contract, you might never contact them at all.
Instead, reach out to cross sell and upsell your services. You might also offer caravan storage or car storage, or you might offer moving services which could be useful for anyone using storage when they are between a house move. Think about the other services you offer and how they might be of use to your customers.
Advocacy: Share the experience
Customers are more inclined to leave a review when they have had a bad experience. It doesn’t matter if the situation is resolved and they are compensated, they still want to have their say. This can lead to a skew in your online reviews.
To keep the balance, it’s important to reach out to your customers to ask them to share their experiences. These same reviews will feed into your email marketing plan at the awareness stage and help to build trust through advocacy.
These tips form a great platform for any digital marketing for storage company to get their customers started on the email journey. Contact us today for any advice or how to take your email marketing to the next level.