StoragePug is a modern marketing company for self storage. We create intelligent marketing websites that allow you to rent units & take payments through your facility's website.
Storage operators use many different vendors to keep their self storage facility operation running smooth. As you evaluate different vendors, make sure they meet your expectations and values. Your values should be incorporated into the practices of your business so that your customers have a great experience.
Most managers and storage operators do not have degrees in coding or search engine optimization (SEO). For this aspect of your business, you will have to find an outside vendor to help you build a website and any online systems that need to communicate with your self storage operating systems.
Currently, many customers do online searches to find self storage. Modern customers expect to rent units on your website. To compete with large REITs, you need to find a vendor that will create a great online user experience including a smooth checkout process.
“The typical shopping cart abandonment rate for online retailers varies between 60% and 80%”
Cart abandonment is when an online shopper goes through some or part of the process of purchasing an item or a service and does not complete the transaction. There are many things you can do to reduce potential renters from abandoning your site or the purchasing process.
Below are four tips that will help you find the right vendor to make sure your website provides a great customer experience and reduces cart abandonment.
You've built a great website that looks and feels great and has built trust with your customer but then at checkout time you redirect them to a different website. That redirection reduces the trust and confidence a potential renter has in your site because of having to go to a different website to rent a unit.
To the customer, it can appear as though they are not renting a unit from your storage facility but another business. If online shoppers get redirected from your website to a pay site on a different domain, it disrupts the customer experience. It visually disconnects them from your brand and can prompt them to stop from completing the checkout processes.
PayPal is an excellent example of this. It is a very secure way to purchase items online; however, when it comes time for the checkout process, they direct you away from whatever site you're on to theirs.
Approximately 27% of cart abandonment is from the checkout process too long or too complicated. Approximately 18% of those who abandon the cart do it because they don't trust the website with their credit card information.
Creating a website that allows the customer to check out seamlessly will build customer confidence in your business and your checkout process. Taking a customer away from your site will affect your SEO due to the fact you are moving them to a different website.
A company with ample experience building websites will understand the importance of a seamless rental process on your site and increase your SEO structure to make you more prominent online.
To have a smooth checkout process for your customers, post accurate rates on your website. Make sure they understand exactly how much they're going to pay for a unit and what the expectations are. Don't have your fees, insurance costs, or any other add-ons surprise them at the end.
Surprises are frustrating for the customer who has gone through the checkout process and now finds that they're paying more than what they initially thought.
61% of those who abandon their cart do so because of unexpected fees.
Having the exact cost for the customer up front before they put in their address and credit card information will reduce the number of customers leaving the site without renting a unit.
You want navigation on your site to be natural and the checkout process to be smooth for your customer. There are a couple of things you can do to make sure you have a smooth checkout process.
One is to have a process indicator. If checking out is a four-step process and it takes you to four different pages, your site should show a number for each of those pages, so the customer understands where they are in the checkout process. It also lets them know how long it could take.
It creates trust with the customer because they know that they're not going down a rabbit hole or having to divulge more and more information without knowing when the process ends. A process indicator helps the customer feel like they are in control and eliminates any confusion they may have.
Another detail for a simple checkout process is having contact information readily available. Many online businesses can help customers in real time.
Having a phone number handy will let the customer know they can talk to someone if they have any issues. If necessary, your manager can walk them through the checkout process.
According to Visual Website Optimizer, e-commerce conversion rates drop 7% for every one-second delay in your page loading. Customers want instant gratification, and if your site is taking too long to load, the customer is much more likely to move on. Customers abandon the checkout process at about a 20% rate because of website issues.
Visitors will spend more time on your site if the site loads quickly and they can get to the information they want without delays, broken links, missing pages, or errors. Customer will move on if your site is not working as it should.
Finding a vendor that will help you optimize your website online and create a smooth, efficient checkout process for your customer will help you drive sales.
Make sure you find a vendor that will keep your customer on your website by providing an easy, secure checkout process without moving your customer to a different websites, having clear rates and a web page that loads quickly and is easy to use.
Reducing cart abandonment by creating trust with your customer will increase your online rentals and your overall bottom-line.
StoragePug takes pride in the modern websites we create for storage facilities to rent units online. If you would like to learn more, you can schedule a demo here.
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