Do you know the difference between customer service and customer experience? Although similar, there are distinctions between the two. Customer service is how you interact with your customers; customer experience encompasses the entirety of your business relationship. The experience begins with discovery of your self storage facility and continues throughout the buyer’s journey to purchases and advocacy. A customer who has a positive experience with your brand is more likely to become a loyal customer and share their happiness with others – both via referrals and online reviews. If you want customer loyalty, it’s essential to invest in their experience from the first click. 

Brand Consistency

Developing brand consistency is the first step in controlling the customer experience. According to Google, consumers consult 10.7 digital touchpoints before making a purchase decision, which means your brand and its customer experience need to be reflected consistently throughout the cumulative experience. If one interaction with your brand falls short, the customer will likely develop a negative perspective about the overall experience, which can be difficult to overcome. 

In order to foster brand consistency, always deliver messages aligned with the core brand values in the same voice, present your brand logo in a similar way, and repeat the same colors visually throughout your brand elements. These repetitive visuals become ingrained in the minds of consumers, making it more likely they will remember your brand.

First Impressions Matter

Whether a customer finds your self storage website via organic search or your social media ad catches their eye, first impressions make a big impact. Consistency results in increased brand awareness, loyalty, more repeat customers, and a better customer experience.

Visual Hierarchy and Ease of Use 

Optimizing your website helps you control the customer experience. In addition to consistent branding, your website must be easy to use, allowing visitors to convert with minimal effort. Customers visiting your website want to know how much it costs to rent a unit and what is currently available. 

An updated website visual hierarchy helps promote specific content, encourages user engagement, and improves the overall customer experience. Certain parts of your website hold more importance than others and visual hierarchy helps them gain more attention. Web designers use visual hierarchy to organize the content of the page to present the highest priority content first — unit availability, calls to action, and contact information, for example. 

Follow User Experience Best Practices

  • Responsive and Mobile-First: Users searching for self storage units (and everything else) do so on their mobile devices, which makes it essential to have a mobile-first, responsive website that provides the same experience no matter the device. A responsive website showcases a consistent brand and decreases bounce rate when optimized for mobile. An engaging home page highlighting your value proposition and vivid calls to action emphasis the most important elements on the page. 
  • Effective Calls to Action: Buttons and the microcopy that adorns them helps transform prospects into buyers. Try tweaking your CTAs to improve conversions rates and overall user experience. CTAs should be large, bold, and use active voice to drive engagement. Place CTAs near offers and in areas that inspire action, typically above the fold on the top of your website.
  • Write for the User: Copywriting makes a big difference in creating effective websites. Your website must speak to users in their language, using words and phrases familiar to your audience. Your website copy should be optimized for SEO, but sound like something your user would say in order to provide intuitive and seamless UX.

H2: Make it Easy to Convert

Customer experience can be controlled from the first click by presenting your brand consistently and designing your website for UX that makes it easy to convert. Designing your website with visual hierarchy in mind focuses priority on the most important elements, guiding customers down the path of conversion. 

Customers want their experience to be simple. Brands that satisfy this need win more repeat business and inspire brand loyalty. 

Learn more about user experience and website conversion by scheduling a demo with G5.