Marketing • Section 8


reached out to one additional self-storage store and more than one-quarter of customers from both groups said they contacted more than two storage businesses during their search for a self- storage solution. Many commercial tenants reported communicating with only one self-storage facility before signing a lease agreement. (See Chart 8.5). In fact, half of business ten- ants rented a unit at the first self-storage business they contacted. The other two categories were split evenly with 25 percent of commercial tenants reporting con- necting with two self-storage business before deciding to rent a unit and 25 percent indicating they reached out to three or more self-storage properties before becoming a customer. In today’s highly connected world, there are a vari-


ety of ways for customers to connect with businesses. Often marketing materials specify specific ways to con- tact the store in order to help track the effectiveness of various marketing and advertising campaigns. This type of tracking may be less effective for self-storage businesses that receive a great deal of walk-in traffic, as asking a customer to recall how they heard about the storage facility can be less reliable than assigning in- dividual phone numbers or Web addresses to specific marketing campaigns and then tallying the results.


Finding A Storage Facility In 2013, almost half of all customers—47 percent— made their first contact with a storage business by making an in-person visit. The phone was the second most popular method for connecting with a facility and 43 percent of customers reported reaching out to their storage properties via telephone. Only 9 per- cent of tenants said they made their first contact with a property online, either by accessing the storage store’s website or by sending the manager an email inquiry. More than half of customers in the South reported


Customers living in the West reported the country’s largest


percentage of customers going online to make a first contact with a storage property. In this area of the nation, one in 10


Chart 8.7 – First Contact With Chosen Facility by Region


Facility's Website Email Other


In-Person Visit Phone


0 Percentage of Renters


102030405060 Source: SSA 2013 Self Storage Demand Study


Chart 8.8 – First Contact With Chosen Facility by Location


Facility's Website Email Other


In-Person Visit Phone


an in-person visit as their first connection with a self- storage property. In this region, 53 percent of cus- tomers reported going to the site to inquire about storage as their first encounter with the business. On-site visits are also popular in the Northeast, where half of customers initial- ly communicated with the facility in person. The nation’s lowest proportion of in-person self-storage store visits was reported in the Midwest. In this area of the nation, only 36 percent of cus- tomers first contacted the self-storage property by making an on-site visit to the facility. The majority of potential renters living in the Midwest first


connected with their storage properties via phone. Nearly 56 percent of customers from this area of the nation reported call- ing their self-storage stores to learn more about renting a unit, making it the most popular initial contact method for the re- gion. On the other hand, less than 40 percent of customers from the Northeast and the South said they chose to call their storage businesses to get initial information about self-storage.


0 Percentage of Renters


102030405060 Source: SSA 2013 Self Storage Demand Study


Chart 8.9 – First Contact With Chosen Facility by Business Customers


In-Person Visit 46% Phone 45% Facility's Website 5% Email 4%


Source: 2013 SSA Self Storage Demand Study


Suburban Rural


Urban


South West


Midwest Northeast


2015 Self-Storage Almanac


89


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