It’s what happens inside the commercial facility that counts the most, but make no mistake: customers can care a great deal about their parking experience.
In the best-case scenario, the customer experiences no difficulties whatsoever. They simply park up and take a gentle stroll to wherever it is they’re going.
But that’s far from guaranteed. All too often, drivers encounter issues during parking that really can influence their impression of the business that it’s attached to, or, if it’s a standalone parking company, make sure that they never park there again.
Some things that frustrate drivers, such as what other drivers do, are mostly beyond your control. With that said, the bulk of what annoys drivers can be fixed with a little time and effort. In this post, we’ll run through some of the key things that annoy parking drivers, as well as outline their solutions.
Dealing With Long Queues and Ticket Woes
When a driver looks up how long it’ll take to reach somewhere, they assume that, when they’re there, the journey will come to an end. They don’t account for having to deal with long queues just so that they can park. Paper parking tickets were the best that we could do in the old days, but the fact is that collecting tickets and waiting for the barriers to go up can cause queues. That’s bad enough for drivers, but it’s not the only problem they encounter: losing their ticket, which is all too easy to do, can ruin their day.
The solution to these issues? Get rid of the barrier and paper tickets altogether. With automatic license plate recognition software, you can go gateless while also having peace of mind that every car in the lot is permitted to be there. Plus, your customers don’t have to worry about keeping the paper ticket safe.
Undersized Parking Spaces
Vehicles are getting much bigger and wider than they were in the past. For parking lots built decades ago and never updated, that presents a real problem for drivers who have to attempt to park in spaces that were designed for the vehicles of yesteryear. Widening the parking bays so that today’s cars can comfortably fit in them will reduce the number of cars that the lot can service, but should lead to an increase in customer satisfaction.
Poor Maintenance
As a business, you wouldn’t leave the interior parts of your premises poorly-maintained. Yet all too often, businesses overlook parking lot maintenance. This not only causes a poor first impression with visitors, but it can also lead to damaged tyres (in the case of potholes) and poor parking (in the case of faded parking lines). This is bad enough if the parking is made available for free, but it’s unacceptable if there’s a charge. Investing in predictive maintenance can ensure that these problems are treated proactively, rather than reactively. It’s also recommended to increase the number of trash cans in the parking lot — litter really is a fast-track way to damage business reputation!
