Digital parking is here to stay, so avoid these five costly mistakes and stay ahead of the curve.
By Dan Roarty
Our world has gone digital, and parking is finally catching up with a reimagined experience that meets modern driver expectations. Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and cameras have suddenly enabled operators to seamlessly connect a digital, user-friendly marketplace with the management of their real-world facilities. Now, parking owners and operators can proactively reach consumers with their services, rather than waiting to be found, often as a stressful last step in a driver’s journey.
This spells massive opportunity for forward-thinking parking operators. But in this rapidly evolving landscape, making the right moves now is crucial. Here are the five biggest pitfalls of parking’s digital era and how smart operators avoid them.
1 – Expecting consumers to seek you out
In the digital world, you must meet drivers where they are. Today’s drivers rarely seek out individual parking websites or download specialized apps. Instead, smart parking operators integrate their offerings directly into platforms drivers already use to plan or guide their journeys. Make your spots bookable through Google Maps, Waze, Ticketmaster, and modern car dashboards. Make payments effortless through digital wallets and eliminate clunky checkout processes that drive customers away.
2 – Neglecting your physical infrastructure
Parking ultimately takes place in the physical world, so even the slickest digital experience falls flat if your real-world infrastructure isn’t up to par. Broken, hard-to-use, or complicated equipment can slow things down, add unnecessary friction, or confuse patrons. So can physical checkout processes like paper tickets, requiring payment at gates, and other dated options. Leverage seamless camera-enabled solutions to give drivers an uninterrupted experience where they can easily come and go while paying for parking in their
mobile apps.
3 – Letting your digital presence go stale
As pre-booked parking becomes the norm, your digital listing becomes your front door and the key to remaining competitive in the digital marketplace. Operators with discoverable, active, and trustworthy online listings will thrive, while those without them will struggle to build trust with drivers and the platforms they rely on. Take ownership of your listings on Google, Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, and others. Keep your pricing, inventory details, hours, and photos current. Engage regularly with customer reviews, thanking happy customers or addressing concerns promptly. Your online reputation will become one of your most valuable assets.
4 – Taking a wait-and-see approach to electric vehicle (EV) charging
Electric vehicles represent the fastest-growing auto market, yet drivers find charging stations out of order one in every five visits. This reliability gap creates a golden opportunity for operators who can deliver dependable charging solutions. Let drivers book, pay for, and access charging stations with the same ease as parking spots. Monitor your hardware to ensure only paying customers use the stations, and partner with experts to keep everything in working order. Your growing base of EV-driving customers will reward you with loyalty and premium rates.
5 – Adopting set-it-and-forget-it pricing
Like any market, parking spot values fluctuate with supply and demand. Static pricing means turning away customers when prices are too high during low-demand times or leaving money on the table during high-demand periods. Take advantage of the data that follows drivers through your digital platform. State-of-the art cameras can count cars and monitor lot capacity to adjust inventory while AI-powered parking systems crunch sales data and market conditions to recommend rates, all in real time. Over time, you can begin accurately forecasting demand and adjusting rates for everything from the big game in town to the weather outside.
Rewards await you in the road ahead
The digital parking revolution has arrived. Drivers who experience stress-free parking are coming back and paying more to skip the headaches that come with searching for parking the old way. But the road to this new marketplace demands a different ride. Watching out for these common pitfalls will position you to thrive in parking’s new digital reality, optimizing the experience for drivers and your revenue. The question isn’t if you’ll join the digital parking transformation but how quickly will you lead it?
DAN ROARTY is the chief digital officer of Flash. He can be reached at [email protected].
