Make Mobile-Friendly Self Storage Customer Experience

It’s no secret that leveraging technology is an integral part of a more effective self storage business. As the new year kicks off, it’s the perfect time to consider making all parts of your customer experience mobile-friendly. Reliance on phones has only increased since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with social distancing and contactless services being commonplace. Now that smartphones have become so ubiquitous, people don’t only use them for basic functions anymore, but to make every aspect of their lives a bit more convenient.

The Benefits of Having A Mobile-Friendly Customer Experience

Tenant-Facing Benefits

Consumer preferences are very much centered around convenience and customers will treat self storage the same way they treat any other consumer experience. Even so, being able to come up in search engine results is just the beginning. There are a variety of further perks that implementing a mobile system to your business can bring to your tenants and customers.

Read more: Marketing Your Storage Facility Online

1. Online Rentals

The continued reliance on mobile devices for making complex tasks more convenient presents self storage businesses with various opportunities to employ self-serve options. By optimising your website for mobile or using a mobile-responsive platform, your company will be able to create a more friendly and intuitive user experience for prospective customers browsing your services. This not only makes it much simpler for customers to choose unit sizes and complete the booking process on their own, but it can also be done on any Internet-connected device.

2. Mobile Payments

Physical payments can sometimes present an issue if a customer needs to mail a cheque or interact with an employee to pay their monthly billing. Especially during the pandemic where contactless payments have become the norm, having online payments happen through mobile-friendly platforms makes life easier for the customer, particularly if you use an autopay feature. This makes paying for their unit secure and simple.

3. Facility Access

Again, the increased vigilance towards face-to-face contact during the pandemic has changed how many businesses function. One element your facility could employ is to have site access features incorporated within your mobile-friendly platform. This would allow customers to easily access parts of the facility without having to deal with keypads or interact with staff. Not only is this safer, but also allows operators to have up-to-date access records. This can also be a big win if you are looking to move towards having unstaffed facilities.

Operator-Facing Benefits

The upside of mobile doesn’t end with the customer, as there are a variety of benefits for the operator also.

1. Payment Processing

Mobile can also assist operators when it comes to processing payments. Having the customer set up their own payments significantly reduces administrative burdens. Not only does it streamline the collection process, but delinquencies are easier to track and some platforms allow you to directly restrict their access to the facility.

2. Revenue Management

Mobile-friendly platforms will also allow you to improve your revenue and financial management. Using cloud-based technology means you’re able to instantly produce various types of financial reports using data from multiple facilities and allows you to distribute them easily in different file formats. It can also help keep up with delinquencies through email or push notifications, which can aid in maintaining a consistent cash flow. Some platforms will also allow you to adjust and optimise your rates based on market conditions.

3. Customer Relationship Management

A cornerstone of customer experience is how well you’re able to manage a relationship with them. As mentioned, mobile-friendly management systems can send reminders for payments and notifications for delinquencies, but they also help you keep your customers’ contact information up-to-date if they are able to manage their profile online. Further, it allows you to streamline inquiry requests and respond faster to keep customers satisfied.

4. Site Management and Information

As mentioned earlier, many platforms will give both staff and tenants access to the facility, as well as provide up-to-date information on the facility itself. This allows staff to perform lock checks quicker, as well as respond to issues and requests faster.

5. Larger Target Demographic

While technology is used everywhere, the most technologically reliant demographic still lies with younger customers. They often prioritise efficiency and convenience, so being able to provide a mobile service will greatly increase your businesses’ appeal to that demographic and enlarge your potential tenant pool.

Overall, integrating a mobile-friendly system into your self storage business is a no-brainer, as it provides multiple benefits for both the customer and the operator. While it used to be a point of contentious competitive differentiation, the use of mobile software is often a dealbreaker these days and integrating a mobile-friendly management platform will greatly enhance your competitive advantage.

Managing Your Self Storage with Storeganise

Storeganise’s cloud-based software is mobile-friendly, allowing your customers to book and manage their storage from any device and empowering your team to seamlessly manage all aspects of your valet and self storage business from anywhere in the world. Manage your payments, track real-time deliveries and communicate with your customers from anywhere on any device. Feel free to book a demo tour of Storeganise.

Related Article: Choosing the Right Self-Storage Management Software