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A truly excellent customer experience can make or break a company’s success—especially today. Just as the things a company is capable of providing have evolved with time, so have customer behaviors. Today’s consumers are more discerning than they once were. They not only expect high-quality products, but they also expect high-quality service.
People want more than just the things they buy; they want brands that provide an entire experience that entices and excites them. They want to see the value of engaging with a specific brand through the whole customer journey. Every interaction needs to be curated and catered to their needs, showing them that they matter and their loyalty is appreciated.
And a good customer experience is especially important in the parking industry because, let’s be honest, parking isn’t cool and unique, but it is something people need. Most people see parking facilities as a means to an end. They don’t start their day thinking about the parking garage they want to visit, but they do think about other places they need or want to go—and they might just happen to need somewhere to park, in order to access that place.
But if the parking garage is just a means to an end, what makes them choose one facility over another?
The experience. Even if it is just somewhere to park, people still want experiences that make them happy—that make their lives easier and better. So as a parking facility, you must provide a quality customer experience if you want your business to stand out.
If you want customers to choose your garage over others, you’ve got to give them a good reason. And if you don’t, and your customer has a bad experience, that one bad experience can cost you a good percentage of your business.
Why Customer Experience Matters
There are many reasons why focusing on providing a superior customer experience is key. But, for the simplest of reasons, quality customer experiences equal more revenue. Boosting sales and profits is essential to fueling a company and giving it what it needs to grow and have success—and your customers are ultimately who provide you with those sales.
If your customers don’t see the value in choosing your company over others, then how do you expect to increase revenue? You can’t. You need your customers, not the other around. Sure, customers need parking, but if there are multiple options available, they will happily choose another facility if yours is not providing them with quality experiences.
And a good customer experience is about more than just providing a service that meets their needs; the experience is the entire impression and cumulative circumstances a customer has throughout the interaction with your company. A quality customer experience focuses on the whole customer journey from start to finish. And if any aspect, engagement, or interaction along the way is poorly executed, it can result in a reduced customer experience.
And one bad experience can lead to another and another until your reputation is tarnished and people start choosing to go somewhere else to get what they need. In contrast, a superior customer experience can:
- Build Trust
- Increase Value
- Boost Customer Loyalty
- Increase Lead, Conversions and ROI
- Drive Sales
- Boost Revenue and Growth
What Customers Value Most
The majority of consumers say that speed, convenience, friendly service, and knowledgeable assistance are most important. If a brand can provide these things, they are more likely to return; and they are more likely to be interested in other things the brand offers in the future. This means a good customer experience not only ensures current sales, but it can guarantee that your customers will keep coming back in the future and that they will recommend you to others.
Customers also admit to craving human interactions. In this digital world, automation is essential, but it’s important for brands not to rely entirely on digital automation to get the job done. Automation might help make things efficient, speedy, and convenient, but it leaves out the knowledgeable and friendly service element that customers still want.
Thus, a good customer experience is about balancing technology with the human element. Do make technological enhancements, but use human interactions to elevate the experience and keep things authentic, friendly and helpful.
A large percentage of consumers today feel that brands have lost touch with the human element in their efforts to focus on providing highly advanced, digital experiences. And while customers admit to liking the efficiency and convenience of automation, they still want those supportive, human interactions that make them feel seen, heard and appreciated.
Furthermore, digital automation can’t provide the personalized assistance that many customers still need when accessing a parking facility. As good as your automated service might be, human error still accounts for a high number of bad experiences. Thus, you still need real people to be available to help your customers with their human problems. Machines only understand numbers and code. So you still need people to help people when the issue is human error.
How to Deliver Superior Customer Experience
- Identify who your customers are and what they want/need. If you want to make your customers happy and give them what they need, you have to first understand who they are. Are they primarily working professionals parking to go to work? Are they college students or professors? Are they healthcare professionals and visitors? Every audience or customer base is unique in some way, so the first step to giving them what they need is knowing what they require and who they are.
- Develop a customer-focused business model. Instead of focusing on how to make more money, switch the focus to your customers and how to make them happy. Sales and revenue are, of course, essential to succeed and grow your business. But having a money-focused attitude and business model can easily result in your employees and company as a whole losing sight of what really matters. If you instead focus on the customer journey and their experience, you will naturally start to see boosts in sales.
- Listen to feedback. One of the best ways to improve the customer experience is to listen to what your customers are saying. You should look at their reviews and ask them to take surveys, etc. Constantly seek out their opinions and what they think and use their feedback to make adjustments and improvements along the way. This not only shows them that you care but that you are actively listening and making an effort to improve their experience.
- Improve training and employee experiences. The employee experience has a direct connection to the customer experience. You can have a solid customer-focused strategy, but if your employees aren’t happy and engaged, then you will likely find that it is a struggle to follow through and deliver quality customer experiences. In contrast, companies with good onboarding and training programs, a friendly company culture, and quality employee appreciation have higher success rates with their customers. This is because when your employees are knowledgeable and happy, they are more productive and will provide better service to your customers.
Consistently Excellent Customer Experiences at the Touch of a Button
At Parker Technology, consistent, friendly, personalized, on-demand solutions are our number one priority. By focusing on delivering consistent, quality service every time, customer satisfaction rates are higher and your company can experience an increase in profits and growth.
We understand that people need people, which is why our solution combines automated software with friendly, live, personal interactions to meet all of your customers’ needs and help them with their problems at the push of a button.
Contact us today for more information to find out how the Parker Technology Solution can fit your needs.