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Here at Parker Technology, we take great pride in delivering a seamless parking experience, with our flexible software platform and 24/7 support. Our solution empowers parking facilities and lots to deliver quality customer service in both gated and gateless environments.
As you likely know, gateless communities are often plagued by unique and complex challenges, especially when parking customers are unfamiliar with new technology. In this blog post, we discuss the past, present, and future of gated and gateless parking, and discuss how to overcome common challenges in a gateless parking operation.
Challenges of Using Gated
A major barrier that numerous parking facilities have faced in the past with gated solutions is user error. Users may become confused with the parking kiosk and struggle to exit the facility, and this occurs even more so when these facilities offer alternatives to common ticketing systems.
In addition to users struggling to understand the parking system, technological glitches occur. There could be a network error or an issue in the garage that deters customers from entering or exiting the facility. The garage may also face cumbersome hardware failures, as is the case when there’s an error with the gate itself or a ticket jam.
Many garages shifted to adopting gateless parking because of this plethora of potential issues with kiosks and parking equipment. While gateless solutions can certainly solve some of these challenges, they can also present new issues for parking operators and their customers.
The Problem with Gateless
Gateless parking can confuse new users, and they can become perplexed at many moments throughout their parking journeys. Like in a gated situation, parking customers make mistakes and become confused when using available equipment and technology. They may be unsure how to make payments to start a parking session as well as how to end their session. Of course, your facility likely features signage with detailed steps, but customers may overlook these instructions or may struggle to read and understand the signage.
Unfortunately, problems understanding gateless solutions can lead to many other issues impacting customer satisfaction, such as customers receiving parking tickets. Their vehicles may also be booted or, even more inconveniently, towed.
While your facility may have implemented a gateless system to reduce the risk of issues, the solution itself can cause confusion and problems, negatively impacting your parking customers’ experiences. Not to mention, receiving a parking citation never leaves a positive impression, especially in a location that is new, which could result in someone never returning to park in that particular lot or garage.
The Solution for Gateless
It’s important to offer your parking customers a convenient solution for reducing the risk of user error and subsequent problems, whether from gated or gateless parking systems.
The truth is that parking is constantly evolving, and with change comes confusion. You may have expected your gateless parking facility to provide your business and customers with a seamless experience, but once you introduce humans into the mix, there will always be challenges. Your parking customers will inevitably run into issues, especially when you adopt new technology or make changes to your parking facility. For that reason, it’s important to provide your customers with a convenient and personalized way to reach out when they have an issue.
With a customer service solution, such as Parker Technology, you can rest assured that your customers will still have a positive parking experience despite their confusion. Your customers need to be able to talk to a real person if they encounter issues. With call support, your customers can speak with friendly representatives who will help them solve whatever challenges they experience.
Having seamless customer support can turn negative experiences into positive ones. For instance, a customer may become frustrated with your gateless solution if they don’t know how to initiate their parking session. An experienced and friendly representative can calm their frustrations and solve their problems.
Our Approach to Gateless
Parker Technology provides parking facilities with exceptional customer-centric solutions – a robust cloud-based software platform and highly trained, quality call support. Our experienced representatives take over 160,000 calls per month and assist thousands of parking customers every day.
While we handle a high volume of calls, we also strive to deliver personalized customer support experiences for our clients’ parking facilities. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t good enough for your unique parking operation, so we tailor our solution to meet your specific needs. Our team works with many different types of businesses, including universities, healthcare facilities, municipalities, and more. Additionally, we offer hybrid solutions that combine our support and software with your existing system.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help your business and enhance your customer experience, send us a note.
You can also check out Part 2 of this blog series to discover more about overcoming challenges in gateless parking.
Heidi Barber
VP of Marketing
Heidi Barker has 10+ years of marketing and sales experience, with a penchant for digital strategy, content creation and process development. She holds a B.S. in Marketing & International Business from Butler University.