As a storage company, being a trustworthy, secure, and reliable service is pretty much at the top of your priority list we’d imagine. But, offering competitive prices, timely deals, and a decent product list doesn’t amount to much if nobody knows about it.
The online landscape is fiercely competitive, and sometimes it’s the small things that will turn a potential customer into a real one.
There are plenty of things you can do to market your storage business and ensure you get new customers to join you, and current customers to stay – one of these ways is by collecting reviews.
In this article we’ll take a look at why reviews are important, and how they can impact your overall marketing strategy.
Before we get into the nitty gritty, here are some interesting numbers.
Crunching the numbers
- 91% of consumers actively read online business reviews
- 56% of consumers select a business if it has positive ratings/reviews displayed
- The average consumer spends 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews before making a decision
More and more customers are flocking online to find out about a business before they commit to using them. And why shouldn’t they?
So much information is available at their fingertips to help them make informed decisions.
In fact, customers generally know most, if not all, of the options available to them before they commit to making a decision.
Reviews are a crucial customer touchpoint that could be the difference between them choosing you or another storage company.
They can impact your business in a number of different ways, some of which you might not expect.
Below we’ll take a deeper look at three areas that are impacted by acquiring reviews.
Sales
The main reason reviews are important to storage facilities is their ability to drive sales.
The most common way a customer finds their chosen self storage site is through an internet search.
As mentioned above, 91% of customers are then reading the online reviews of the businesses they find from that search. If you’re not getting positive reviews on your GMB or other places online you’ll be losing these customers to your competition.
Regular and consistently positive reviews and feedback instils a trust in your service and your business as a whole. More trust means higher conversion rates, which means more sales.
SEO
When it comes to SEO for self storage, there’s a lot more focus on the local aspect. Because most searches for storage will have local intent, you will often see the maps results displayed prominently – just below the Ads and above the website links.
When it comes to getting ranked in these maps listings, reviews are one of the most important factors.
Not only do good reviews increase your perceived trustworthiness in the eyes of a searcher, they also help to get your business listed higher in these results.
A review strategy that encourages and responds to reviewers will pay dividends in terms of overall search engine visibility.
Credibility
Without a good reputation, a business isn’t worth too much. With a good reputation your customers are more likely to repeat their business with you, and more likely to recommend you to their friends and family.
Now, it’s important to mention that not all your reviews are likely to be 100% positive.
Someone, somewhere, is likely to have a perceived negative experience from your service.
And that’s okay. It’s how you respond to that dissatisfaction which is key to making sure the negative review doesn’t result in a loss of a customer and turning others off.
Being visible and vocal with your customers, particularly through responding to their concerns can work wonders.
You don’t want to blame or criticize the negative reviewer, you want to show that you understand where they’re coming from, and offer to resolve their issue.
Responding openly and engaging with the reviews shows that you care about each individual experience and, perhaps more importantly, that you’re taking proactive steps to improve the service going forward.
That can’t be anything but good news for your business.
Improved business services
Reviews show that you care about your customers’ feedback and want to make sure you’re staying at the top of your game.
If you’re confident in your service and your products, then being proactive and asking for reviews from your customers will help you understand what your customers do and don’t love about your offering.
Reviews provide valuable insights from a customers’ perspective that you may have not been aware of otherwise. Having these points raised can give you an opportunity to continually improve your services.
Ask and you shall receive
So there we have just a few areas where reviews can have a real impact. Now you just need to go out there and get them!
Don’t be afraid to ask. Did you know that a high percentage of consumers will leave feedback when asked?
Consider working reviews into your onboarding process. Once a client has been with you for a few weeks you could send them a check in email asking them how they have found the process, and if they wouldn’t mind leaving a review.
Getting good reviews might not be the only thing you need to grow your business, but they’re absolutely a crucial component.
