In last week’s webinar, “Deploying a Parking App to Drive Customer Adoption,” we shared best practices on how to increase mobile adoption through seamless, customer-first implementation, marketing, and account management. Check out our top takeaways from the session below.

Top Takeaways from “Deploying a Parking App to Drive Customer Adoption”

  1. Implementation

In 2019, ParkMobile implemented over 140 new clients with more than 87,000 parking spaces. Garrett Snook, Director of Implementations, leads the client onboarding process at ParkMobile – whether that be for major municipalities, small towns, universities, or private operators. After an agreement has been finalized, the ParkMobile team has a kick-off call with the client to discuss the implementation deliverables needed to go live, which include:

  • Zone and Rate Structure (ZAR). During implementation, ParkMobile works with the client to build out a complete inventory of where ParkMobile will be offered, including locations, meter specifications, and parking policies. This information is then sent to ParkMobile’s support team and translated into the ParkMobile 360 platform, where clients can manage their inventory, set preferences, administer policies, adjust rates, and create events from one centralized location.
  • Signage is instrumental to educating customers about ParkMobile’s availability. Our implementation team works with the client to understand meter specifications and create customized stickers and signage for distribution across parking locations.
  • ParkMobile integrates with over 100 different enforcement systems. To ensure that customers aren’t incorrectly ticketed, an enforcement method is needed to verify transactions made through ParkMobile, whether that be through an integrated system or through ParkMobile’s own enforcement tool, nForce.
  • Merchant Account. ParkMobile’s implementation team works with the client to configure how to process payments. ParkMobile can either integrate with a merchant processor where the client acts as the Merchant of Record (MoR), or ParkMobile can act as the MoR, which is preferred due to easier configuration, cost transparency, information protection, and better reporting features.
  1. Marketing

Once the app has been tested, signage has been installed, and the client has been trained, GPS coordinates are pushed live. Post-launch, marketing is critical to driving awareness and adoption. Donnie Senterfitt, Field Marketing Manager, works with the client post-launch to ensure that all marketing materials are in line to educate customers about the ParkMobile app. To ensure a successful launch, marketing focuses on:

  • As Garrett mentioned, signage is critical during implementation, eventually serving as the most valuable marketing tactic for acquiring new users post-launch. When ParkMobile studied signage across 104 different cities, we learned that improving signage predicts an increase of 17% in new app users and improving signage prominence to ParkMobile’s standards predicts up to a 74% increase.
  • National and Local Media Outreach. Strong local coverage is a great way to inexpensively spread the word and build awareness. ParkMobile produces a press release for each new market launch, working together with the client to tailor the news. As soon as the market is ready to go live, the press release is distributed nationally and shared with local media.
  • Customer Engagement. ParkMobile engages customers through various digital marketing tactics, including geo-targeted messaging, in-app notifications triggered by defined behaviors, email communications, and social media.
  • Website Assets. When launching a market, ParkMobile encourages clients to share information about ParkMobile on their own websites. This content includes tutorial videos, instructional documents, links, download buttons, and more.
  • Advertisement and Promotion. For advertisement and promotion, ParkMobile creates innovative local programs tailored to specific markets. Additionally, ParkMobile offers branded promotional items, such as wallet cards, to help promote the app to new users.

Account Management:

After the initial marketing push with the ParkMobile team, the client is transitioned to a dedicated account manager for support going forward. John Blanton, Account Manager, works with his clients to build off of the momentum of each launch through on-site visits followed up with meetings at a regular cadence, focusing on:

  • Monitoring Metrics. Throughout the year, ParkMobile’s account management team works with every client to monitor key metrics in the ParkMobile 360 platform, including transactions, new and active users, and app utilization.
  • Growth Methods. By monitoring metrics, the account management team works to understand what unique challenges clients face in order to identify opportunities for increased utilization, whether that be through new inventory, updated signage, product enhancements, increased marketing efforts, or operational optimization.
  • Continued Marketing Support. ParkMobile can additionally set up parking promotions for clients, working with the marketing team to design and execute promotional materials, including press releases, social media content, and promotional branded items.
  • End-to-End Engagement and Activation. Through ParkMobile’s continued engagement and support, the team makes an ongoing effort to help the client build awareness, drive adoption, further engagement, gain retention, and create advocacy for the app.

To learn more about how to drive customer adoption when launching a mobile parking app for the first time, you can watch the on-demand session of the webinar here. Our next webinar, “The University Guide: Leveraging Smart Parking Technology Across Campus,” will take place on March 31st at 2:00 pm EST. See you there!