Self-service kiosks have been an integral part of self storage for 20+ years, with dozens of features and software fine-tuned to specifically serve the self storage industry. Learn five ways they help operators streamline, simplify and support vital customer service tasks.
The way consumers make purchasing decisions has changed over the past few years. They expect on-demand customer service, same-day shipping and highly-convenient purchasing experiences.
Self storage tenants are no exception to this new breed of customer. When they arrive at your site, they expect staff to be ready and available to help. Otherwise, they will be off to the first competing self storage operator down the road. To earn new business when staff is busy and meet demand, many operators choose to implement a self storage kiosk.
Whether you operate a single facility or manage a large portfolio, a self storage kiosk offers something for operators of all shapes and sizes. Keep reading for a high-level overview of five ways a self storage kiosk can benefit your operation, from removing friction in the rental journey to cutting payroll costs, and more.
In this article, we will cover:
Labor is a scarce, and often expensive, resource in the self storage industry. On the other hand, managing your store on your own requires a significant time and resource investment.
Whether you have staff on payroll or manage your facility yourself, you stand to save with a self storage kiosk. Kiosks operate 24/7 and can work in conjunction with your onsite team to be another point-of-sale during and after office hours.
The flexibility of a self-service kiosk enables you to:
Don’t just take our word for it: You can calculate your savings using OpenTech’s kiosk return on investment (ROI) calculator. This handy tool will help you calculate how a self-service kiosk will benefit your bottom line and your potential added revenue based on your unique operation.
Have you ever wondered if you are missing out on business after you close up the office for the day? What if your prospective tenants could rent units while at your facility, even when staff is offsite or unavailable?
This is possible with self storage kiosks: In our most recent kiosk transaction data report, we found that 38% of tenants who used an INSOMNIAC kiosk at a facility completed a move-in outside of office hours. That’s more than 12,000 move-ins and roughly $1.3 MIL in potential new rental revenue!
The remaining 62% of move-ins took place during office hours – highlighting both a growing preference for do-it-yourself transactions and an increasing number of facilities that have adopted a self-service kiosk. In fact, according to a Harvard Business Review study, 81% of all customers will attempt to use self-service technology to complete a transaction before they engage with your team.
A self storage kiosk enables your tenants to complete rentals, browse inventory, and make a payment on the spot without waiting for the property manager or for the office to open. Recent advancements in self storage kiosk software also include interactive maps that enable tenants to tour your site from the kiosk and select conveniently located and premium-priced units.
Plus, with convenient features like attraction loops and motion detection, you can capture users’ attention and market new offerings at your kiosk as soon as your tenant steps foot into the office or on your property.
Watch this on-demand educational session to learn how self-service technology helped four companies enhance customer engagement, streamline operations and catalyze sales growth. These include a REIT that reduced payroll costs by 40% annually, a hotel that increased staff efficiency by reallocating their team to other essential duties, and more. Watch today and learn about the tangible benefits kiosks offer in today’s self storage market.
Between maintenance, answering the phones and assisting customers, there is a lot on your team’s plate.
Self-service tools help streamline some of the more time-consuming but necessary self storage customer experience elements so your team can work on other tasks. A kiosk includes the following features to maximize tenant autonomy and minimize the need for manager intervention:
Dive into the latest self-service kiosk hardware and software advances in our on-demand video, “Tech Breakdown: A Deep Dive into Recent Kiosk Advancements.” In this hour-long overview, OpenTech’s kiosk product expert examines how each new feature will help you meet the evolving needs of your customers, including enhanced security, a simple user interface, personalization options and more.
Nowadays, having a good product or service isn’t enough. Customers also want a seamless and simple experience, or they’ll walk away from the transaction and go to the next competitor down the road. In fact, one retail study revealed that 87% of customers will abandon their cart if the purchasing process is too complicated.
On the other hand, ensuring a staff member is always available for new tenants is impossible with the fluidity of their day-to-day job. Kiosks will help you deliver an excellent customer experience even when a member of your team is not onsite with Live Help with two-way video and with multi-language settings for tenants who speak Spanish or French.
At any point of their kiosk transaction, tenants can call Live Help to connect with a member of your team or the INSOMNIAC Live! Call Center to get step-by-step assistance. This helps you expand your onsite support during office hours, and extend it into the afternoon when your office is closed. Storage Counselors or your customer service agents can do the following:
Alternatively, you can choose to have the kiosk auto-connect to Live Help when it detects motion.
To help you win more business, INSOMNIAC kiosks come equipped with the following convenient features:
See these kiosk features and more in action at our kiosk
software page!
Your tenants want a safe, secure way to pay their rent or complete new rentals. You need a way to take payments and rent new units in a way that is tamperproof and reduces liability.
A self storage kiosk can do both without issue, recording all transactions both on-screen and via a digital camera to help you ID the tenant and confirm their transaction. Kiosks also offer a strict ID verification process with the latest software upgrades: To access their account, tenants must confirm key information associated with their identity, such as previous street address, zip code, and more.
Though all transactions are recorded, tenants can rest assured their personal information is safe at your kiosk. The kiosk will blur any page that may contain personal data in the recording, such as driver’s license images, personal information and manual credit card entries.
Phones are essential to your operations. After all, six in 10 prospective tenants will call a facility to rent a unit. That said, are they the best tool to use to convert walk-up traffic? There are a few items to consider before you rely on a prospective tenant’s mobile phone to drive walk-up revenue – and security is one of them!
Listen to our on-demand educational session, “Self Storage Kiosks Vs. Mobile Technology: 5 Myths that May Sabotage Your Customer Service,” to learn more about how self-service tools can add a layer of protection for your tenants and operation, as well as myths about mobile technology that might be holding you back.
Find out today by contacting OpenTech, or reach out to your business development manager directly to see if a self storage kiosk makes sense for your facility. We look forward to sharing over 20 years of experience with self storage kiosks and supporting your operation!
