These days, a storage facility having online rentals is a modern customer's expectation. It's no longer just a luxury.
But this also means it becomes harder to set your facility apart just because you have online rentals. So, how do you take the online rental experience from "available" to "excellent"?
If you're ready to learn, our very own Tommy Nguyen and Melissa Huff had a chance to speak with a variety of self storage software providers. During the chat, they dove into online rental optimization.
Question: "Which online rental features matter most?"
Check out the video clip below to hear their answers:
In this Gabfocus Session: The Next Generation of Self Storage Software, Tommy and Melissa sat down with a whole panel of self storage software experts. Guests included Jack Colemanzo of Storeganize, Alyssa Winkelman of 6Storage, Steve Smith of Storage Commander, and Jason Palmer of Storable. The topic? All things self storage software.
Check out the full Session to dive deeper!
Don't want to watch the clip? Here's what our guests had to say:
We want to drive occupancy, right? But we also want to have a good customer experience.
So I think simplicity is key, you know, and it's really interesting to look at other industries that are e-commerce industries, verticals that are, you know, airline bookings, hotel booking platforms, people that are really kind of pushing that kind of urgency to get the sale as well.
I think it's quite important for the operator perspective, but then also we have to look at the generational shift, right? I mean, who are going to be booking self storage boxes, facilities, units within the next ten years?
They're going to be on their mobile.
They're going to be expecting a certain type of experience online. So I think it's important to kind of review that and find a software and feature set that's going to give them those options, right?"
—Jack Colemanzo
"Yeah, I think that, you know, as we look at the online move-in workflow, and I think one of the things that is interesting as you map that out is you've got an experience that can start on the website and then it can end up in the call center. You've got an experience that can start on the website and then end up in the facility.
And ensuring that whatever that experience, whether the tenant is going all the way through that workflow online or they're going through the call center, understanding what that conversion looks like. Ensuring that that customer has a strong experience all the way through.
And so it gets back into ensuring your inventory is synced up, ensuring that you're able to merchandise and market your facility well through that online move-in process.
And then as you're doing conversion funnel tracking to understand how they're converting and seeing where people are dropping off, that you've got the ability to customize that experience, to be able to address that information, to optimize that experience. And so the more hard-coded it is, the harder it is for you to make sure that you're maximizing that experience.
And so I know as we, not to sound like an ad, but as we introduced tiered pricing here a few months ago, being able to have good, better, best and be able to communicate with the customer or the prospect on the website, to be able to understand and what units might best fit their needs. You know, those are some of the things that make sure that that experience is good and that they're getting the right unit, that they're going to be most happy with.
One, understanding what you're trying to store, understanding, you know, giving them the option if you're charging a little bit more because it's close to the elevator or it's climate controlled. Making sure that you have those options to be able to merchandise that unit, to be able to maximize the space.
I was looking at reports yesterday, and we did our webinar yesterday for our install base and we were talking about just the continued growth within climate-controlled units. And so we're seeing that continued growth and we know that that's a feature that's important to a lot of customers. And so making sure that as they're going through that online process, it's not just, "Hey, I'm renting a five-by-ten," it's, "I want a five-by-ten, I want it close to elevator, and I want it climate control," that you're giving those options so that that experience is seamless.
Because if they have in their mind they want a climate controlled unit and they're going through one website process versus another, and you have that option, they're going to feel much more comfortable checking out, knowing that they're getting what they want."
—Jason Palmer
