The visitor is under time pressure and needs a size, a price, and confirmation that something is available. Most storage sites make them call for all three, and the customer books with whoever published them.
The visitor you are actually designing for
Somebody in the middle of something: a move, a renovation, a downsizing, a business needing space quickly.
They are under time pressure, they do not know what size they need, and they are comparing two or three facilities on price.
They are also nervous about a recurring commitment they are not sure how long they will need, which is a specific hesitation this trade rarely addresses.
The pattern, and what each fault costs
No prices
The dominant fault, and this trade has no excuse for it. Units are standard sizes with standard monthly rates.
What it costs: the comparison entirely. Somebody pricing three facilities eliminates the one that will not say.
No size guidance
Dimensions listed with no indication of what actually fits. A customer cannot convert twenty-five square feet into whether their belongings will go in.
What it costs: the booking, or a wrong booking. Describing each size in terms of contents, such as a one-bedroom apartment or a small vehicle plus boxes, is the single most useful addition.
No availability
Whether anything is actually free, in the size they need, on the date they need it.
The recurring commitment unexplained
Minimum terms, notice to vacate, whether they can leave any time, and what happens to a part month.
What it costs: the hesitant customer, who is unsure how long they need it. Saying that units are month to month with a stated notice period removes the hesitation.
Access hours buried
When they can get in, whether it is around the clock, and whether office hours differ from gate hours. Somebody moving at the weekend needs this before booking.
Nothing about climate control or ground floor
Which units are heated, which are drive-up, which require stairs or a lift, and what that means for what they are storing.
Insurance and requirements unstated
Whether coverage is required, whether you provide it, and what a customer needs to bring such as identification or their own lock.
What the rebuild changes
- Monthly prices by size, published, with any introductory terms stated clearly.
- A size guide describing contents rather than dimensions.
- Live or approximate availability by size.
- Terms in plain language: month to month, notice, part months.
- Access hours prominent, with gate and office hours separated.
- Unit types explained, including climate control and drive-up access.
- What to bring, including lock and identification.
- Security described, since customers are leaving belongings unattended.
Why this fills units
The mechanism, stated precisely.
The customer needs storage. That is settled, usually by a move or a change they did not choose, and they will rent something within days.
The decision is made on price, size, and whether it is available, in a short window, frequently on a phone between other tasks. A facility that answers all three is booked; one requiring a call during office hours is skipped by somebody who is busy precisely because they are moving.
The rebuild does not create demand. It removes the reasons somebody who needed a unit rented from the facility down the road.
The introductory offer problem
Worth addressing because it is standard in this trade and it generates complaints.
A first month promotion is fine. What causes resentment is the rate rising afterwards without the customer having understood that, or an increase arriving a few months in.
Stating the promotional rate, the rate afterwards, and your approach to increases is more honest and reads considerably better than a headline figure that changes.
Advertising rules require material terms of an offer to be clear, so this is a compliance matter as well as a customer-experience one.
The size guide, expanded
Since it is the largest single improvement available.
Each size described by what it holds, with photographs of a unit that size actually filled rather than empty. An empty unit conveys nothing about capacity.
Also worth including: a note that customers routinely underestimate, and that it is cheaper to take the right size than to move up two weeks later.
Checking your own
Read it as somebody moving on Saturday who has never rented storage.
Can they find a monthly price. Can they work out what size they need. Can they tell whether one is free. Do they know whether they are committing for a year.
Most storage sites answer none of the four, and all four are text and photographs rather than design, which is the same availability-and-dimensions problem described in websites for campgrounds and RV parks.
Frequently asked questions
What is the dominant fault on storage sites?
No published prices, which this trade has no excuse for since units are standard sizes with standard monthly rates. Somebody pricing three facilities eliminates the one that will not say.
What is the largest single improvement?
A size guide describing contents rather than dimensions, with photographs of units actually filled. A customer cannot convert square feet into whether their belongings fit.
What hesitation goes unaddressed?
The recurring commitment. Customers unsure how long they need it want to know it is month to month with a stated notice period.
Which practical details decide bookings?
Access hours, with gate and office hours separated, plus which units are climate controlled and which are drive-up rather than up stairs.
What is wrong with introductory offers?
Not the offer, but the rate rising afterwards without the customer having understood. State the promotional rate, the rate afterwards, and your approach to increases.
Why does the customer decide so fast?
They are mid-move under time pressure, comparing on a phone between other tasks. A facility requiring a call during office hours is skipped by somebody who is busy.
West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.
Facility that makes people call for a price?
We publish the rates and build the size guide, which is the page every storage customer is actually looking for.
Start a Conversation