In December’s webinar, “Smart Parking Just Got Even Smarter”, we shared how ParkMobile’s exciting new partnership with Google Pay can help cities and operators scale their parking operations, reach more users, and provide more choice for consumers.

ParkMobile is committed to giving people more ways to pay, whether it’s through the app, web, or text-to-pay. Integrating with Google Pay provides a flexible new payment option, without sacrificing the user experience or adding complexity for parking providers.

Here are some of the important takeaways:

Reaching Customers Where They Are Is Key

While there are many reasons to use a first-party app or solution, the biggest driver behind adding more parking payment options is the ability to reach customers where they are. Practically speaking, that translates into parking providers needing added flexibility to tailor how mobile payment solutions are delivered.

ParkMobile is committed to enabling more parking provider and consumer choice at scale through a focus on:

  • ParkMobile 360 for consolidated reporting, insights, and management
  • Best-in-Class 1st party experiences with the ParkMobile App
  • 3rd Party integrations to give consumers more flexibility

While ParkMobile continues to support parking providers directly, 3rd party integrations provide yet another layer of consumer choice without adding complexity to a parking provider’s backend management. Similarly, new options like text-to-pay or web on-demand payment provide the same great customer experience without relying on the app itself.

3rd Party Payment Integrations Give Suppliers Greater Reach

Partnerships with 3rd parties like Google Pay create extensive opportunities for parking providers to reach new customers while giving them more choice. However, ParkMobile Group Product Manager, Ethan Ambabo, stressed that successful 3rd party support should come with no added headaches for customers. The Google Pay integration replicates the ParkMobile mobile purchasing experience within the Google Pay app, without the need for users to download a new app or create an additional account.

For parking providers, tapping into Google Pay’s existing user base allows them to expose their parking inventory to a wider range of people. The Google Pay integration is already available in over 250 cities, the largest launch for the company yet, with plans to expand that availability to the entire ParkMobile network in 2021.

Smart Integrations Allow You to Scale Seamlessly

Of course, more choice is only better if it doesn’t create more chaos behind the scenes. The Google Pay integration requires no additional setup on the client’s side and is designed to work seamlessly with existing enforcement and reporting integrations. This allows providers of any size to drastically expand mobile parking payment options without disruption to operations. Ambabo notes that there is no work required for the parking provider. ParkMobile handles everything.

A Chance to Build Relationships With Local Businesses

Fausto Araujo, Google Product Manager, Payments, stressed how Google Pay can help partners thrive by connecting them to a larger ecosystem of local businesses, rewards programs, and more. To Google, mobile payment apps and integrations offer a chance to connect customers more directly to the businesses they love.

Google enables this connection with ParkMobile users further with Spot, a dedicated space for parking providers using ParkMobile to connect with end-users within Google Pay itself. This allows a supplier to collect payments and deliver a full-featured ParkMobile experience in Google Pay.

When Paying is Easy – More People Do it

Ultimately, there are many reasons to offer parking payment options beyond a single app. Just like many of us pay for items online one day and walk into a store the next, there’s incredible value in providing flexible options for your customers. And as Araujo has seen in the rollout of Google Pay, once users are introduced to a simple way to pay for parking on mobile, they’ll be reluctant to going back to feeding meters or swiping a card.

With Google Pay, parking providers have a powerful, lightweight option to increase their contactless payments without adding complexity to their operations. Learn more about how integrating ParkMobile and Google Pay can expand your customer base, or watch the full webinar on-demand. And stay tuned to learn more about ParkMobile’s plans moving forward.