Launch a CX strategy with these 5 easy steps
I talk a lot about CX strategy and how top self-storage leaders like Extra Space Storage use it to grow their businesses.
I even show how they make millions from investing in customer-centric incentives. However, I've never shown you a real-life case study of how to launch a successful CX strategy.
In this article, I'll show you how U-Stor Self Storage went from rags to riches by applying a 5 step CX strategy.
U-Stor came to us 5 years ago asking for our help with a handful of self-storage locations. Here were some of their main issues:
They were suffering from below-average occupancy and rental rates They were losing sales and frustrating tenants with poor communication Their web pages weren't ranking well in the search results They were paying insane amounts of money on paid ads with little results They had poor online ratings and reviews on multiple directory sites Their overpriced fancy website wasn't converting visitors into leads
This long list of pain points was preventing U-Stor Self Storage's plans for expanding its operations across the nation.
Here are the 5 steps we used to help grow their small operation into today's 80+ location enterprise that spans across 11 States.
Step 1: The CX strategy platform
The first thing our team did was create a Review Dingo account for each of their locations.
Next, we fully optimized each location and adjusted the default settings and messages based on their unique business model to improve their performance.
Then we dug deep into their business operations to determine the best placement of touch points along a CX Flywheel.
Step 2: Creating omnichannel communication
They were losing sales and frustrating their existing tenants due to fragmented communication.
To solve this, we set up Messaging to unify their customer messages into a single Inbox providing an omnichannel communication presence.
Now they could reach and respond to customers 1:1 across high-converting channels like text, Google, Instagram, Facebook, Webchat, and more.
We then switched on instant notifications to alert their on-site managers through our easy-to-use mobile app.
The Inbox automatically organizes customer and channel messages.
So now they can stay on top of communications and deliver outstanding customer experience.
They also had access to the Team Chat feature which allowed their teams to communicate internally and gave their support agents access to internal experts.
They could now assign customer conversations to the right team member for faster responses and a smoother workflow.
Step 3: Be found with listings management
As I mentioned above, their web pages weren't ranking well in the search results so to solve this issue we activated Listings.
This is Review Dingo's listings management add-on which removes duplicate listings and syncs business details across 50+ directories all from a single dashboard.
This resulted in improved search ranking and online visibility making it easier to be found by prospects looking for self-storage facilities in their local area.
Step 4: The CX strategy of ratings and reviews
When prospects find their facilities online, they need a good reason to be chosen. That's why it's important to build strong social proof.
And one of the best ways to do that is review generation. If they don't ask their customers to leave a review, they'll never build the social proof they need to be chosen.
That's where Review Dingo Reviews comes into play. We created automated campaigns with custom review requests to generate 5-star reviews while preventing negative reviews from damaging their business.
ln addition, We're constantly AB testing their review request massaging and sending times to improve performance.
Also, the quicker they respond to their tenant's reviews the higher they will appear in the search results so we turned on their auto-respond feature.
This allows them to auto-reply straight away with rotating templates and merges fields to provide a genuine personalized response based on the tenant's star rating.
Step 5: Benefits of a high-converting website
Next, our team built a high-converting website that was purposely designed around our CX Flywheel method.
Location dropdowns gave visitors quick access to separate web pages where they can easily find information about their local facility.
These web pages are search engine optimized to show up in 'near me' search results drawing more traffic to their facilities.
We placed multiple forms of contact 'above the fold' in plain view like click-to-call, click-to-email, click-to-text, and Webchat making it super easy to start a conversation.
As soon as a visitor makes contact they're instantly converted into a lead and sent to our unified Inbox as part of an automated omnichannel communication strategy.
Final thoughts about CX strategy
Creating a successful CX strategy is not a single defining action but is a multitude of carefully thought-out steps designed to take your business to a whole new level and save you thousands of dollars.
In fact, a few months after making these improvements, U-Stor Self Storage was able cut its marketing budget in half. This is more proof that there's a ROI from CX.
What's really remarkable is their ability to charge top rates and still operate at a 99% occupancy rate which is 7% higher than the industry average!
It's so high that many of their locations have tenants on waiting lists so when a unit becomes available they send a mass text to the list and it's instantly rented.
Before I go, I've got some exciting news...
Could your business benefit from combining a high-converting website with the #1 reputation management platform in the industry?
If so, contact me about our new website design/build service so we can build you a hybrid site that converts your website visitors into paying customer.