Case study: Mobypark

More than 15 data points have to be provided to register a car park. To lower friction, we utilised dynamic and multi-step forms. This include:

• Pre-filled forms based on user information such as country or language.
• Responsive design for functionalities like photo uploads and calendars.
• Assistance with how to fill forms.
• Conditional logic was used to shorten forms. I.e. questions were displayed or not based on previous answers.

As an example, dates, location and email address are pre-filled if the user is logged in and the fields in the search engine have been filled.

Park owners attached a great deal of importance to manually managing their bookings. Therefore, we gave them the option to manually vet (decline or accept) bookings. Once they are more comfortable with the  platform they can hand over the vetting process to the automated system.

Drivers can search car parks based on facilities, booking period and location. In addition, these search preferences impact the fee calculation.

We used Google Autocomplete with filters for nearest or cheapest parking bays to assist drivers with their selection process.

Given that the smallest unit for the booking period is 15 min, we had to use a robust infrastructure, built with Elastic search, RabbitMQ and AngularJS, to make sure it’s scalable.

Since car park lists and maps don’t provide the same information about car parks, a strong user interface link was built between them. This ensures users don’t get lost on the road when they switch between the list and the map.

Many drivers organise their train or airplane trips in advance, so they usually know exactly which parking location they are looking for. We implemented a notification system which notified them of new availability if they didn’t find what they were looking for the first time.

We implemented a messaging system to help owners build trust with their clients. Car park owners can now be messaged if the user is logged in. For security, we added features such as anti-spam filters, hide email address and telephone number, and spam reporting.

We designed a pricing model which is used by the search engine to compute fees in real time. This ambitious model was inspired by the way hotels and airlines charge their clients. To prevent conflicts, we implemented prioritisation rules for the following pricing model variables:

• car park owner
• number of slots chosen
• minimum duration of the booking
• booking period
• discounts
• special offers
• availability
• price type (weekly, daily or monthly)

We designed a promotion model that’s used by the search engine to display prices in real time. Since the administrator can create unlimited promotion rules, they’re analysed to prevent conflicts with existing ones. 

Administrators can also create discounts that will only apply to specific countries, time frames, users or volumes. This was a killer feature for the marketing department, who were able to test the effectiveness of different campaigns.

We implemented a third party payment solution that allows drivers to make payment, owners to receive payment, processes refunds, pre-authorises payments before owner validation, and schedules recurring payments.

We modelled and identified various indicators that are displayed on seller dashboards so they can track their parking lot’s performance. The MobyPark team can also track seller performance and the quality of their client service via the admin dashboard. This is a powerful feature to help users see what value they are getting from the marketplace.

We gave car park owners the ability to share useful information about activities, facilities and places of interest in the area with drivers.

Owners can promote their social network profiles and get their email addresses or telephone numbers verified. Drivers are able to view response rates, owner bios, and see if contact details are verified, all which help to build trust with owners.

Drivers are able to rate the parking spot they booked. Owners can then use this feedback as social proof to boost bookings.

We designed a predictive notification system and progress bar that provide owners with assistance on how to complete their profiles and how to assist drivers.

We built some custom features to help MobyPark provide better customer service to park owners, such as functional logs, the ability to add notes to bookings, and the ability to view booking communication.

We used Axible, an IoT focused connectivity integrator, to create an access system for hotel park owners. When a customer books a parking slot a code is generated and shared with them on the app. They then use that code to enter car park access points.

The ability to link the digital platform to physical car park entrance barriers (e.g. booms) created a valuable competitive advantage and selling point for MobyPark.