Customer loyalty programs—also known as rewards programs—have become a popular way for businesses to retain customers and encourage them to continue to support brands or reuse services. In fact, more than 90 percent of retail companies have some sort of loyalty program.
Loyalty programs provide numerous benefits to both the company and its customers. The most obvious benefit is that it creates a tangible relationship between the company and its customers by showing customers that you appreciate them. For the company, it boosts revenues by improving customer retention and encouraging new customers to use a product or service. Loyalty programs truly offer a win/win situation for both companies and their customers.
Parking and Loyalty
Compared to other industries, parking has been slower to implement rewards-based programing. These programs require an element of management, and while parking owners want to enjoy the business benefits of a loyalty program, the administrative elements can be cumbersome.
Parking owners and operators have enough on their plates without having to collect utilization and transaction data and apply it to individual user accounts. And most drivers don’t want to have to use yet another card to manage their end of the account. The parking industry has long been waiting for a loyalty product that doesn’t require additional administrative effort on the part of the owner or operator, or any effort at all on the part of the user.
One solution is for parking owners and operators to manage their frequent parker products through a pre-booking platform, and the process is simple and extremely convenient. All they have to do is decide what types of rewards to offer frequent parkers, how many visits or what fees to require to earn certain awards, and add that to their pre-booking platforms. The process is extremely simple because the customers’ personal and payment information is already contained on the pre-booking platform through their accounts, and the loyalty program information can be added quickly and simply. Parkers earn points with every transaction and when they’ve earned enough points to receive an award, they are notified via email or text, or that reward is automatically applied to the user’s account.
Loyalty rewards can also be earned with add-on purchases if the owner or operator sets up the program that way. So, for instance, sports and entertainment venues can set up their programs so patrons earn rewards with concession or souvenir purchases. Likewise, air travelers can earn rewards by shopping in terminal shops or by purchasing additional products or services offered in airport parking facilities, such as vehicle detailing. Municipal and parking facilities can offer rewards when parkers make purchases at partnering stores or restaurants. Pre-booking-based loyalty program portals can accommodate any type of transaction a parking owner or operator wants to offer.
As convenient as Chauntry’s loyalty program is for owners and operators, it’s just as convenient for parkers. Unlike most loyalty programs, there’s no membership card or other documentation required. Membership in the loyalty program is merely added to the parker’s existing pre-booking account. Transactions are automatically recorded in the loyalty account and rewards are transmitted when they are earned.
These programs also improve parking operations. Loyalty programs can provide invaluable user data to owners and operators. The program builds a database of user habits—how often they park, when they tend to park, and for how long. That data can be invaluable to owners and operators who are looking for new ways to operate more efficiently and profitably. It can also be useful information for helping owners and operators make long- and short-term planning decisions about their parking assets. After all, the more you know about your customers and their parking habits, the better decisions you can make about how to provide an excellent customer experience well into the future.
If the program is also tied to ancillary purchases, the database also tells owners and operators about those: where customers shop, what they like to eat, how much they tend to spend on a particular transaction. This can help owners and operators understand users’ habits after they park, which can be valuable information for both owners and operators and their partner organizations.
Removing the Complexity of Creating a Rewards Program
Loyalty programs are an essential element of business operations, particularly retail operations, in the 21st Century. But parking has been slower than other industries to design and implement programs that can effectively promote a parking organization or owner’s brand while appealing to parking customers.
Implementing a rewards program through a pre-booking service can take the uncertainty and hassle out of the process while providing value and convenience to parkers. This approach offers a classic win/win scenario by allowing owners to create and manage rewards without taking on the cost and administrative burden of operating the program. At the same time, it provides a simple and effective way to get parkers signed up without having to input a lot of personal information or carry membership cards. The rewards are managed by the pre-booking service provider and just flow automatically to users.
Stephen Prati is Head of Product and Service for Chauntry. He can be reached at Stephen.Prati@chauntry.com.
