Making the Right First Impression: Optimize Your Enrollment Process to Deliver the Best Childcare Experience

From initial outreach to registration, the enrollment process is the first crucial step in every family’s journey with your center — and first impressions matter. 

But with multiple back-and-forth calls and paper-based enrollment forms, are your teams really putting their best foot forward? 

Let’s explore some of the challenges with the traditional time-consuming enrollment process and how digitization can solve them. 💻

The problem: Leads (and revenue) are slipping through the cracks.

Between caring for children, communicating with families, and pulling manual reports — your staff has a lot on their plates. With so many competing priorities, it’s no wonder 90% of childcare professionals don’t respond to leads right away. 

But with 80% of Millennials expecting immediate responses and 60% of Gen Z more likely to hang up if their call isn’t answered in 45 seconds, fast follow-up is crucial to seizing every revenue opportunity for your center. 

In our Annual Benchmark Report, we reviewed data from over 6,000 childcare centers and found that 83% of top-performing centers contact leads within 24 hours to schedule a tour (using a little help from automated lead management).  

And the best childcare centers respond to leads even faster - within just 5 minutes of a family’s initial inquiry. 

Learn more about the ultimate childcare solution that keeps families registering year after year. 😊

Mom registering for enrollment

The solution: Automated and personalized lead management 

Your directors are forced to rely on messy sticky notes, endless email chains, and unanswered voicemails to piece together their enrollment strategy.

And it’s not working. ❌

But when enrollment communications for all your locations are digitized and centralized, every manual step is replaced by a seamless enrollment process that gives families the answers they want, when they want them - and with the personal touch they crave. 

In fact, 41% of Gen Z will provide their data for a more personalized experience so don’t be afraid to ask for information about their care needs and concerns up front, in your ‘contact us’ form. 

Here is an example of how your optimized enrollment process could look:

• All incoming leads from phone calls, emails, Facebook, online directories, and your website are stored in one central place - organized by location, region, or corporate brands. 
• Staff can easily access their daily to-do list and receive automated reminders for upcoming or incomplete tasks, keeping them on task and in constant communication with families that want to learn more about your programs. 
• Families can self-serve (using features like tour scheduling and digital registration forms), reducing the manual administrative tasks required of staff and saving valuable time so they can focus on other important areas of the center. 
• Once an inquiry is sent or a tour is scheduled, they receive an automated follow-up via email or text message to confirm.  
• Automated, personalized reminders help your team keep in touch with families and guide them through the enrollment journey until their start date.
• When a family decides to register, the location’s digital enrollment packet (plus state forms) is automatically sent out via email for families to complete digitally, e-sign, and submit - reducing data entry errors and printing costs. 

Ready to blossom? Give families the best childcare experience!

Tis’ the season of change and growth. 

So, why not change up your center operations?  

With a powerful unified childcare platform, faster follow-up with families becomes a reality for your business, without putting additional strain on your center staff.  

As a major bonus, a streamlined enrollment process also leads to increased conversion rates, standardized processes across locations, and enhanced oversight at every business level.  

With streamlined enrollment and happy families – your center will flourish. 🌼

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