The Q3 2024 benchmarking report for UK storage providers has just been published. Learn how the top 11 UK storage providers perform across the digital space.
The latest Q3 2024 benchmarking report for UK storage providers has just been published. It covers the largest 11 national storage providers, including Safestore Self Storage, Big Yellow Self Storage, Access Self Storage, Shurgard Self Storage, Storage King UK, Ready Steady Store, Sentry Self Storage, easyStorage, SureStore Self Storage, UK Storage Company, and LOVESPACE.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other storage providers to win brand exposure locally, yield online enquiries, and ultimately let out units through digital performance. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q3 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 11 Storage providers on, check out our quick-look table below;
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's top and poorest-performing care home providers, or request a copy of the report for the full review.
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Storage providers have the benefit of not needing to host ever-changing product pages that must be maintained, which is where we see brands in e-commerce sectors struggle. However, this can mean even a small amount of errors can hold a provider back from their competition.
Safestore Self Storage reported 103 4xx errors, and brands should perform regular checks to ensure that all links work properly. Otherwise, consumers could be led down dead ends, leading to frustration and mistrusting the brand.
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. Storage providers will want to come across as reliable and trustworthy at every touchpoint, so a fast, easy to use site is key for not turning customers away at one of the first hurdles.
The mobile site speed range is between 67 and 25, with SureStore Self Storage reporting the slowest mobile site speed. To make improvements to this category, this storage provider should reduce page weight, helping to increase download speeds to provide a better web experience for users.
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Working with a digital PR specialist would help storage providers identify promising backlink opportunities which, in turn, will grow their DA and increase referral traffic.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however, it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. The DA for this quarter ranged between 68 and 15, with Sentry Self Storage reporting the lowest DA score. Brands can enhance their DA score by acquiring backlinks from high-authoritative websites and creating killer content that’s share worthy.
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. With consumer behaviour changing in line with the cost of living crisis, we'd expect storage providers to be hit by a reduction in interest for their services, with potential customers choosing to either sell items they're no longer using, or store them at home if possible.
In our previous report, Ready Steady Store was the only provider to see more organic traffic on mobile. This quarter, Ready Steady Store reported a decline in organic traffic on desktop (-43%). Meanwhile, 5 providers reported a decline in organic traffic on mobile, with SureStore Self Storage flagging the most significant decline (-66%).
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. 'Local pack' results and 'reviews' could prove to be particularly useful to storage providers, who can share information about local sites, along with reviews of their services, directly from the SERP.
Safestore Self Storage continues to receive the most Universal Search appearances (12,941), with the majority of results coming from ‘reviews’ and ‘images’.
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. For storage providers, they should consider targeting location-based, or size-based long tail keywords, that tie into their availability.
Big Yellow Self Storage remains at the top of the leaderboard for the most longtail keyword appearances in position 3 (2,160) and positions 4–10 (1,461). All brands should regularly assess the success of the keywords they’re implementing to ensure that their target audience types those terms into search engines.
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019.
We’ve included an example of Ready Steady Store’s sponsored posts. This storage provider included the same text with different media options across each post, suggesting it’s testing which media choice receives the most engagement and interest.
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Content is relevant for brands in any industry, and storage providers should be looking to create informational pieces to educate about the value of using storage facilities.
Big Yellow Self Storage has the largest Facebook page (20,600 Likes), while Storage King UK has the largest Instagram account (4,900 followers). While followers are important, brands should monitor their engagement rate, and Storage King UK received the most engagement of all brands (2,706).
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. As storage facilities are a reasonably universal product that could be required of anyone, ensuring website accessibility is important in order to not alienate potential customers.
In our previous report, Ready Steady Store received 93 accessibility alerts. This quarter, this storage provider has received these alerts to 86, though it’s still the highest of all brands. All brands should aim to reduce accessibility alerts to provide a streamlined user experience and avoid any issues with users on a screen reader.
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Mike Movassaghi.