It’s 2025! Understanding the self-storage online customer journey is no longer optional—it’s essential. With countless options at their fingertips, your customers expect a seamless experience from start to finish.
Let’s make this complex journey easier by focusing on three critical aspects of the customer journey.
Master these elements and you can create a winning strategy that boosts occupancy rates and drives revenue.
Let’s break it down.
It Starts with Search
The modern self-storage journey often begins with a simple search. Customers turn to Google or other search engines to find the right storage solution, and that’s where your digital advertising strategy comes in.
Visibility Equals Credibility: If your facility isn’t showing up at the top of search results, potential customers might never know you exist. Paid search campaigns (Google Ads, for example) help ensure your facility appears prominently when someone searches for “self-storage near me.”
Power of PPC is Targeted Reach: SEO can only do so much. Digital advertising allows you to target specific demographics, search terms and geographic location, ensuring your ads reach the right audience and are truly at the top. Whether it’s someone moving to a new home or a business needing extra storage, you can fine-tune your strategy.
First Impressions: Your ad copy, images, and landing page design create the first impression. A compelling call-to-action (CTA) and clear messaging are crucial to capturing interest.
Investing in a strong digital presence ensures your facility stands out when it matters most.
Looking to dominate paid search? You might be interested in our "Get Ranked" package.
Checkout Matters: Perfecting the Online Leasing Process
Once a potential customer clicks through to your website, the next big friction point is going to be the checkout/online leasing process. Your online leasing process can make or break the conversion.
Here’s what to focus on:
Simplicity is Key: An overly complicated or confusing process will drive potential customers away. Ensure your online leasing form is intuitive, mobile-friendly, and quick.
Trust and Transparency: Provide clear pricing, terms, and availability upfront. Customers are more likely to complete the checkout process when they feel informed and confident.
Eliminate Friction Points: Features like auto-fill, real-time availability updates, and secure payment options reduce friction and enhance the user experience.
Remember, the easier it is for customers to secure a unit, the less likely they are to bounce to a competitor or start their search over again.
Looking for the best checkout experience in the industry? We've partnered with Self Storage Manager to build just that.
Attribution: Tracking Customer Origins
Understanding where your customers come from is critical for optimizing your marketing efforts. Without proper attribution, you’re essentially flying blind.
Here’s why attribution matters:
Data-Driven Decisions: By tracking the effectiveness of your campaigns, you can allocate your budget to channels that generate the highest ROI. For example, is your Google Ads campaign outperforming your Facebook Ads? Attribution data will tell you.
Customer Insights: Learn more about your customers’ behavior, such as whether they found you through organic search, paid ads, or referrals. This information helps refine your messaging.
Competitive Edge: Facilities that leverage attribution effectively can stay ahead of the competition by doubling down on what works and eliminating what doesn’t.
Tools like Google Analytics and CRM systems with attribution tracking capabilities can provide the insights you need to fine-tune your strategy.
We did a webinar a couple of months ago exploring this topic in depth. Check out the recording and other resources here - or the e-book below!
Start Connecting the Dots
When you connect the dots—from search and digital advertising to a frictionless checkout process and robust attribution—you create a seamless customer journey that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations. It also puts you in control of where you spend your time in energy optimizing the experience.
In the self-storage industry, success often comes down to these details. By prioritizing these three aspects of the customer journey, you’ll not only attract more customers but also convert and retain them, ensuring long-term growth for your business.
Start by auditing your digital presence and customer journey by asking yourself these questions:
Are you getting enough qualified traffic?
Are you getting traffic but it’s not converting into online signups? Is your check out process the issue?
Once customers do sign up, are you able to see how they found you? If so, are you using this data to help drive marketing future marketing decisions?
Check out our resources to get ideas and talk to us to see how we can help!