Wilson Parking Australia provides flexible and safe options to its customers
Posted 6 May 2020
It is of course challenging times for most industries at the moment, and parking is no exception. Across the industry, ADVAM’s global customers have seen a decline in parking transactions. As cities across the world go into lockdown, workplaces are mainly closed and people are only going out for essentials, it’s obvious that people will be parking less.
However, business in cities, airports, shopping centres, leisure venues and car parks will return. It’s important that companies are ready for that and able to provide services to meet the new expectations of their customers.
Wilson Parking Australia share how they are working with customers during these exceptional times
Working with ADVAM as their technology partner, Wilson Parking Australia shares how they are using touch-free and digital services to help customers now, beyond complying to the standard cleaning and social distancing regulations, and how they’re working to build relationships for when the environment starts to recover.
Stephan Wuffli, CEO Wilson Parking Australia comments; “It is exceptional times for everyone at the moment. As parking operators, we have of course seen a decline, but it’s important that we turn to how we can help our customers, whether it’s business clients or the public. Whether it’s for those that are essential workers and need to come to work, for landlords that want to help those workers, or managing a hospital car park that is experiencing significant impact; the role we can play varies, but technology plays a key part in how we can help”.
Wilson Parking Australia has adopted a number of ways to assist their customers which can be direct to the customer, through their business clients or sites that they manage on behalf of a landlord.
Some of these actions may seem obvious, some require advanced technology, but all are in place to make it easier for the consumer at this time.
Range of touch-free options
Wilson Parking Australia provide several different touch-free options which can be used by their business clients and consumers. The options available will vary across their car park sites, and depending on the individual car park will include the use of contactless payment card readers at entry and exit to simply tap-in and out, mobile applications, automated entry via prebook or membership platforms. All the solutions enable a customer to enter and exit the car park without having to press a button, take a ticket and to manually pay at a payment machine, which will include more touch points.
Stephan Wuffli, continues, “Across most of our sites, there is an option for a customer to opt for a touch-free alternative. Whether it’s by using the Wilson Parking App to prebook, access our membership platform to pay via an online account, utilising our contactless readers on entry and exit, or starting and stopping a parking session through the epark App at our smaller barrier-free sites, it is possible for our customers to use the car park without the need to push a button and take a ticket”.
However, the solutions go beyond the touch-free and work to provide additional benefits, making it easier for customers to safely park.
Using technology to give more than just touch-free parking
The safety and hygiene benefits of touch-free parking are of course vital, but the digital platforms offered by Wilson Parking can be used to offer additional benefits to help customers at this time. This is where the advantage of integrated digital solutions can really help corporate customers and consumers alike.
Exclusive offers to essential workers
Essential workers are still coming into cities, to shopping centres, hospitals and airports to work. For many, their employers want to make it easier for them to avoid unnecessary contact with others where possible, which can include avoiding the need for someone to get public transport to work. The digital solutions offered by Wilson Parking Australia are enabling companies to provide flexible parking solutions exclusively to their employees. By either booking online, using their existing membership account, or the mobile application and a special promo code, the authorised employee can access these products and the benefits provided. Wilson Parking will also be launching a new version of its App in the coming weeks that will allow users to link their business accounts and seamlessly access these exclusive offers in just three taps.
Flexibility of services can provide the best offers
Across its digital services, Wilson Parking Australia is able to offer discounts to its members that use those services.
Stephan Wuffli continues, “Our digital services, give us the option to provide more flexibility to customers. Whether that is the way that they access the car park, or how they prefer to pay. Through using these platforms, customers can benefit from reduced all day parking rates, discounts for prebooked periods or via our ‘pay as you park’ solutions through the Wilson Parking membership program. By offering this flexibility and varied options, customers are selecting the service that meets their needs and also benefit from discounted rates”.
Customer engagement to understand requirements
It’s not only the ability to offer a range of touch-free options or discounted rates to customers, but the digital platforms also provide an added benefit in the fact that they provide a platform to engage with customers. Typically, customers can be anonymous to the car park operator or landlord. How many times the barrier goes up will be known, but nothing about the individual customers. By using the digital platforms, Wilson Parking are able to understand their customers, know who is parking when and have a platform to engage with them which can be used to help inform the customer and offer support for when things return to normal.
Stephan Wuffli concludes, “One of the key benefits that the digital platforms give to Wilson Parking is the ability to better understand our customers. We can use the insights from these platforms to deliver a more personal service, including some of these additional benefits such as discount promo codes. As things start to return to normal, we will be able to reach out to individual customers providing them with useful information and further rewards”.
Although it is undeniable that the global parking sector has seen a decline, Wilson Parking Australia has experienced more of their customers taking up the benefits that their digital platforms can bring. Corporate clients are offering promotional codes to their essential workers and Wilson Parking members are benefitting from the discounted rates.
Wilson Parking Australia appreciates that it may be a while before things return to normal, but they are confident that they have the tools in place to support customers now and to help build a stronger customer community for the future.
