5 Surprising Takeaways from LineLeader's 2023 Benchmark Report

There are a lot of moving parts to running your childcare business.  

You've got software for lead management, family communication, centre management, payment processing, staff management, payroll, and more. 

But the problem is that these tools often don't communicate with each other or require customisation to partially communicate. This creates a fragmented experience for staff and families. 

Discover 5 key takeaways from our benchmark report to set your childcare business up for success.

The Challenge for Your Staff

For employees, learning and managing multiple tools is challenging. When the tools don't integrate with each other, it's hard for staff to do their job. Information in one product differs from the information in another, which frustrates staff and results in inaccurate information being shared with parents. And the cost of training on multiple products plus the actual cost of purchasing all these products adds up fast. 

The Challenge for Your Families

For families, this often means creating multiple accounts and remembering multiple logins when interacting with your center. This can be particularly frustrating for Millennials and Gen Z parents who want mobile-first, digital experiences and want to self-serve as much as possible. 

The Impact of an Optimised Experience for Families and Staff   

When parents feel their time is valued and their experience was simple, they're more likely to give positive reviews and talk about you to others. Their positive reviews pull in prospective families and influence their decision to enrol at your centre. Conversely, parents who haven't had a pleasant experience scare off potential families with negative reviews. 

By giving staff the experience they want—easy-to-use technology, automation for repetitive tasks, and less paperwork—you retain more of them because they're happier at their job. Unfortunately, many childcare centers don't take advantage of modern technology that reduces manual, time-consuming tasks. 

In our 2023 Benchmark Report, we found some surprising takeaways about the state of childcare technology.  

Here are five of the most important takeaways we learned:

1. 70% of your revenue could be walking out the door each year.
2. Over 50% of childcare professionals are spending 10+ hours every week on tasks that could be automated.
3. 90% of childcare professionals leave leads hanging.
4. 64% of Gen Z consumers believe brands should provide a personalised experience.
5. 40% of Millennials prefer when businesses provide options to self-serve.

By understanding what these statistics mean for your business, you can make the necessary changes to improve staff retention, better engage families, and boost your bottom line. 

1) 70% of your revenue could be walking out the door. 

As a childcare provider, you know that retaining families is essential to the success of your business. But did you know that less than 30% of families re-enrol for care? This means 70% of your revenue could be walking out the door each year. 

And since gaining a new customer costs roughly 5x more than retaining an existing customer, that really adds up! 

So what can you do to keep families engaged and boost re-enrolment revenue?  

Periodically check in with families who have become disengaged. You can use the Lost Opportunities report in LineLeader by ChildcareCRM to automate a list of families to reach out to and re-engage.  

Use that list of contacts and send them emails and texts, highlighting:  

1. any changes you've made to your program 
2. updates to the grounds or facility 
3. new teachers and staff 
4. centre news and events they may have missed 

By taking these simple steps, you can keep families engaged and interested in your childcare centre, which will help boost re-enrolment rates and revenue year after year. 

2) Over 50% of childcare professionals are spending 10+ hours every week on tasks that could be automated. 

Between the countless sticky notes and spreadsheets — not to mention their actual work providing crucial care and development to future generations — childcare workers are feeling overworked and undersupported.  

65% of childcare professionals say hiring and retention are important for their business goals. But 60% of childcare businesses spend 7 or more hours per week bogged down by manual processes.  

It's time to prioritise saving your staff's time and your bottom line. 

Give your team the tools they need and help them save valuable time by replacing manual paper sheets and processes with modern digital tools that do the grunt work for them.  

The right tools and automation software will not only free up time for your staff, but they can also help deliver a big boost to your incoming revenue. 

Childcare centre staff with a guardian

3) 90% of childcare professionals leave leads hanging. 

When it comes to responding to leads, timing is everything. In fact, lead response time is the single largest driver of conversions.  

But despite the importance of timely follow-up, 90% of childcare professionals don't respond to leads right away. This means that team members are spending at least an hour a day on follow-up for no reason. 

The solution is simple: automate your follow-up and leave no lead behind. By centralising and automating your lead capture process, you can organise all your leads in one place and send automated follow-up emails. This way, you'll never miss a beat – whether your leads come from phone calls, Facebook messages and ads, online directories, or your website. 

4) 64% of Gen Z consumers believe brands should provide a personalised experience. 

64% of Gen Z consumers believe brands should provide a personalised experience. And yet, many childcare providers fail to do so. Why? 

There are a few reasons.  

First, many childcare providers rely on outdated technology that makes it difficult to personalise the experience for families. Second, they may not have the staff or resources necessary to provide a truly personalised experience. And lastly, they may not understand the importance of providing a personalised experience to families. 

So why is it important to provide a personalised experience to families?  

Personalisation helps builds trust and loyalty between you and your families, leading to more positive reviews and word-of-mouth marketing for your business. This adds up to increased enrolment. 

If you're looking to provide a more personalised experience for families, there are a few things you can do. First, invest in modern technology that automates repetitive tasks and makes information more accessible. Second, train your staff on the importance of providing a personalised experience to families. And lastly, make sure your communication with families is clear and concise - with content that's tailored to each family's unique care needs or concerns. 

By taking these steps, you'll be well on your way to providing a more personalised experience for families at your childcare centre. 

64% of Gen Z consumers expect a personalised experience.

5) 40% of Millennials prefer when businesses provide options to self-serve. 

Self-service is a growing trend across all industries, and it's one that childcare providers should take advantage of. 40% of Millennials prefer when businesses provide options to self-serve, and there are a number of reasons why. 

When staff is responsible for manually scheduling tours, handling enrolment packets, checking students in and out, and managing family fees, they can quickly become bogged down in administrative tasks. This leaves less time for them to focus on providing quality care to your enrolled families. Our benchmark report revealed that by offering self-service options for families, your staff saves both time and resources.  

Self-service helps to improve the parent experience by making it easier for them to access the information they need and enrol their child in care. In addition, self-service can help reduce missed opportunities because families can easily schedule tours and enrol for care online without having to wait for someone to get back to them.  

Finally, self-service options can help streamline communication between childcare providers and families by making it easy to share important updates and announcements online. 

Listen to our podcast hosted by experts Selene & Pikka from LineLeader as they go through key takeaways from the report in this lively discussion.

Track your progress against other childcare providers in the 2023 Benchmark Report.  

For the past decade, LineLeader by ChildcareCRM has analysed aggregate data from our 6,000 childcare centre customers across five countries to identify ways to help you boost enrolment and retention.  

This year, we're also including results from our survey of 3,500 childcare professionals to share insights on what drives a great staff and family experience. 

Download the benchmark report to review how top-performing childcare centers are growing enrollment, engaging families, retaining staff, and more. 

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