This guide covers why storage shoppers abandon online rentals, how a recovery workflow runs, the consent rules that apply, and how to tell whether it's working.
Why shoppers abandon online rentals
Shoppers leave online checkouts often. Baymard Institute's average across 50 studies of online shopping cart abandonment is about 70%.[1] That figure comes from retail ecommerce, not self storage, so treat it as a sign of how common abandonment is, not as a storage benchmark.
The reasons Baymard's research finds for abandoning a checkout map closely onto storage rentals:[1]
| Reason (Baymard) | What it looks like in a storage rental |
|---|---|
| Extra costs too high (40%) | Admin fees, required protection plans or deposits that appear only at the payment step |
| Didn't trust the site with card details (19%) | An unfamiliar payment page, or a site that looks out of date |
| Had to create an account (18%) | A required login or password before renting |
| Checkout too long or complicated (17%) | Many form fields, or the lease shown as a long wall of text |
| Website errors or crashes (17%) | A rental flow that fails at the FMS or payment step |
The first fix is to remove the causes: show all costs early, cut fields, let tenants rent as a guest, and monitor the flow so errors are caught. Recovery handles the shoppers who leave anyway, often for ordinary reasons like comparing two facilities or waiting for a move date.
How an abandoned rental recovery workflow runs
- Capture contact details early. Ask for email or phone near the start of the rental, with clear consent language for follow-up messages.
- Detect abandonment. If the rental isn't completed within a set time, the system marks it as abandoned.
- Check the unit is still available before sending anything.
- Send the first follow-up. A short message naming the facility and unit size, with a link that returns the shopper to the same point in the rental.
- Send a second follow-up, if any. Keep it to one or two messages in total. More can read as pressure.
- Stop on completion or opt-out. If the shopper rents, reserves or opts out, stop all follow-ups at once.
- Hand off to a person, if you have one. A phone call from staff often converts better than a third message.
Keep the message plain: what they were renting, at which facility, and one link to finish. Don't change the price or add an offer in the follow-up unless you want shoppers to learn that leaving gets a discount.
Consent and messaging rules
A recovery message to someone who hasn't rented yet is a marketing message. Treat it that way:
- Email: the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide requires commercial email to have accurate sender information, an honest subject line, a valid postal address and an opt-out honored within 10 business days.[2] The FTC applies the transactional exemption narrowly, and a reminder to finish a rental is unlikely to qualify.[2]
- Text: texts are covered by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and FCC rules. Get documented consent before texting, word it clearly at the point you collect the phone number, and honor opt-out replies such as STOP. The FCC's 2024 order on revoking consent lists replies like STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL and UNSUBSCRIBE.[3]
- State law can add rules. Have counsel review your consent wording and message templates before you switch recovery on.
For broader messaging setup, see automated text and email reminders.
How to measure abandoned rental recovery
Track these monthly:
- Rentals started (shopper entered contact details).
- Rentals abandoned (started but not completed).
- Recovery messages sent.
- Recovered rentals: abandoned rentals completed after a follow-up, within a set window such as 7 days.
- Recovery rate: recovered rentals ÷ abandoned rentals.
- Opt-out rate from recovery messages.
Compare recovered rentals with your average rent and length of stay to estimate the revenue involved. If opt-outs climb, cut the number of messages or change their timing.
What you need in place
- A rental flow that captures contact details and consent before the payment step.
- A connection to the management software so you know whether the unit is still available and whether the shopper later rented.
- A messaging tool that respects opt-outs across email and text.
- A report showing started, abandoned and recovered rentals.
Some website and management software vendors include abandoned rental recovery as a feature; the automation stack map lists vendors by category. For an example of how one vendor describes the feature, see Storagely's help article on abandoned rental recovery.
Frequently asked questions
What is abandoned rental recovery?
It is following up with shoppers who started renting a storage unit online but didn't finish, usually by email or text, with a link back to the same rental.
Is it the same as abandoned cart recovery?
Yes, adapted to storage. The "cart" is a unit, and the follow-up must check the unit is still available.
How soon should the first follow-up go out?
Within the same day is common, while the shopper still remembers the facility. Test timing against your own recovery rate.
Can I text shoppers who abandon a rental?
Only with consent you can document, collected when they gave their number, and with a working opt-out. Have counsel review your wording.
Should the follow-up include a discount?
Not by default. Shoppers can learn to abandon on purpose. Fix price surprises in the rental flow instead.
Related guides
Sources
- Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics, Baymard Institute (accessed November 2, 2026)
- CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business, Federal Trade Commission (accessed November 2, 2026)
- Strengthening the Ability of Consumers To Stop Robocalls, Federal Register, March 5, 2024 (accessed November 2, 2026)