More Jackrabbit Customers Explore – and Offer Advice on – Discount Offer Venues

Follow-up to October’s Article on Using Groupon

Using discount offer sites – the most recognized of which is probably Groupon – is becoming popular with Jackrabbit customers.  Many are using LivingSocial and CertifiKids in addition to Groupon to offer their discounts. Several customers’ experiences are summarized below. The goals and the successes vary. With more data, it may be possible to determine which customer groups are finding the most success in offering discounts through these sites.

Carolina Dance Capital

Carolina Dance Capital, Fritz Schulte used Living Social and Groupon for a 1 month/weekly dance class at a 50% discount for new students only. The School received 25% of the regular price after Groupon/LivingSocial took their 50% cut of the already discounted proceeds.

Carolina Dance Capital had more than 30 students sign up through Groupon and about the same through Living Social. Approximately 70% of those signing up continued with classes after the deal they purchased expired.

Fritz felt the program gave Carolina Dance Capital a lot of free advertising while the deal was on and opened up a new avenue for attracting students.

Minton’s Academy of Music

Minton’s Music used Groupon, Living Social and CertifiKids to offer 50% off of a class series. AnnMarie Minton tied the offers to Jackrabbit in the Academy’s online registration (see screen shot), capturing the offer certificate number in the registration. The only step integrating with online registration added was the collection of credit card information – which had to be done in a separate step because of the way that the offer sites collect fees for their offers.

With the goal of branding the Academy better in the region, AnnMarie took a chance in advertising discounts through the offer sites. The facility is not in a high visibility area and rarely do drive-bys visit. Tying into Jackrabbit’s online registration feature made it easier for those who just learned of Minton’s to enroll. Using the online system would also prevent a flood of phone-in registrations.

AnnMarie used several website pages to offer discounted classes and was able to insert Jackrabbit’s online registration forms (which were tied to the 50% discount offer) on all of them. Complete information was captured from each area with the proper certificate numbers and contact information for their registrant included. This was important because the offer sites don’t include email addresses in the registration data that they provide for download. It is also important to track certificate numbers to monitor any attempts at duplicate use of discounts.

Minton’s Music’s most recent experience with Groupon resulted in 480 registrations from which 10 actually enrolled in classes.  While that is not a high percentage of conversions, the process has helped Minton’s to better brand itself and draw more traffic to its facility and retail shop. Results for Living Social and CertifiKids were similar. AnnMarie noticed that attendance from the offer enrollees dropped off as the class series progressed.

AnnMarie learned some valuable lessons in her initial experiences with all three offer venues and will get creative with the classes offered at discounts in future efforts.

Performance School of Music & Dance

Performance School of Music & Dance recently added dance to its class schedules and opened a new location. Jenn Averink – Director of Performance School of Music & Dance – thought that using a discount offer site might help fill the classes at the new facility and let everyone in their vicinity know about the new dance offerings at both locations. Because it is a more locally focused site, Jenn used WagJag to publish their offers. With the exception of the localized approach, WagJag uses the same model as Groupon and LivingSocial.

Jenn set up her first WagJag offers for the two facilities and when all of the available spots sold out without a couple of days. 80% of the certificates that were sold were used and approximately 40% of those who joined through the offer stayed on as students. The only snag that Jenn ran into was failing to include a “use by” date along with the expiration date. This oversight left the opportunity open for enrollees to request the discount on classes starting at later dates. 

In her initial promotion, Jenn also chose to offer a phone number for registration in addition to tying the certificate into her Jackrabbit online registration. This created quite a bit of phone chaos in the office. With this experience behind her, Jenn now feels comfortable enough with the WagJag process to force certificate registrations through online registration.

The WagJag offer was an effective way to fill classes at a new location and to fill new dance classes. The campaign also created awareness in the area that Performance School of Music was now also a School of Dance.

In promoting Performance School of Music & Dance’s summer camp, Jenn tried WagJag again. Late in the registration season they had spaces they could still fill. Jenn thought creating an offer that would be blasted to the public would be the perfect way to fill the final camp spaces. Much to her delight, the registrations for the camp came pouring in. The 130 spaces that were available were filled within a couple of days. Parents could go to online registration and sign up for the weeks they wanted their children to attend. Since the offer was for one free session, many bought additional spots to fill other weeks.

Jenn found this to be a terrific method for essentially creating a test group for a new camp format. Jenn’s bonus? She had lots of new names of excited and happy camp kids for the School’s marketing database.

What to watch out for if you want to use Groupon, Living Social and CertifiKids:

• Think through your entire process before you ever get on the phone.
• Make sure you take into consideration what the impact to your staff will be if you choose to take enrollment over the phone instead of tying it into online registration.
• Use custom fields to capture your offer certificate numbers instead of using a miscellaneous or comments field.
• In addition to an expiration date, make sure that your offer includes a “use by” date.
• Add a “1 coupon per child” notation to your offer.
• Think through how the offer enrollees will impact the classes that they are in.
• Consider how you will price the class that you use in the offer ($price$ – 50% discount – 50% cut = <25% for you)
• Find out how much visible online feedback you have out there. If you’re lacking in that area and ask customers to post some if you want to use Groupon.
• Listen to your customers and be flexible enough to accommodate their ideas/requests.
• Track everything because the source may not capture all of the information that you want or need.
• Remember that the source gets a 50% cut of the proceeds and they pay you what you earn from the offer. Groupon pays in 1/3s (and Living Social will fi you ask) so you don’t have to wait until the end of the offer to get paid.
• Generally, Groupon requires:
  • That its clients have a lot of online feedback (Yelp, Google, etc.).
  • That offers run for 6 months.
  • That deep discounts (50%) are given.
  • That they collect 50% of the proceeds and pay you the remainder on their 1/3 at a time schedule.

Online Registration is an Operational Game-Changer and Flexible Tool

Customers – regardless of business specialty – are wildly enthusiastic about Online Registration. It offers a smooth transition from traditional in-house registration processes to online registration that can be tailored to each registration season’s unique needs.  Customers are also getting creative with online registration – using it to make special events and special offers manageable.

SwimKids Swim Schools in Atlanta, GA and Tampa, FL used online registration in a unique way to promote one of its new locations on Groupon. Using Groupon for the first time, Cindy Tonnesen, CEO of Swim Kids, didn’t know what to expect. “We had heard that many businesses had been overwhelmed and unable to keep up with call volumes generated by the Groupon. We linked the Groupon to Jackrabbit for a one-step online registration Groupon redemption and registration process. We sold over 200 Groupons in one day and over half were redeemed online by our new Groupon customers. And this all took place without impact to my staff because Jackrabbit online registration handled everything.”

Five Star Sports and Entertainment Academy in Long Island, NY gets creative with Jackrabbit to use online registration for one-time events and competitions. Not only has facility director, Lane Clark used online registration for the event registration itself, but it has enabled him to promote the events in ways that traditional registration processes would never allow. As soon as Lane linked Facebook and YouTube postings to his registration pages,  he was off to the races. Lane says, “Jackrabbit made it possible for Five Star to go global at a very low cost! We never imagined that we would be able to host events that would be attended by sports enthusiasts the world over!”

Five Star also incorporates permission forms into its online registration process for teen-focused events that it hosts. “This ability makes it possible for teens to bring signed permission slips that get them in the door. This provides a great level of comfort for parents who have concerns about other teens who may be attending events,” adds Lane.
Value to Owners and Managers
Online registration adds value in several ways that excites owners and managers of facilities of all types.

• Saves time
• Increases data accuracy
• Frees up staff and owners
• Thrills customers
• Enables 24/7 availability
• Eliminates hassles of lines and paper forms for parents and facility
• Increases bandwidth
• Expands market reach
• Encourages marketing creativity

Double D Gymnastics in Media, PA thinks of Online Registration as a deciding factor when parents are comparing school options. It also takes the details of registration out of the hands of staff and enables parents to complete their entire registration process themselves – with no staff assistance. Additionally, Davies Desiderio, Double D’s owner, adds, “We have heightened our automation with online registration, but it has brought us closer to our families because we can spend more time interacting with them about skills and achievements instead of payments and class schedules.”

Kathy Blake Dance Studios in Amherst, NH was on a mission to offer online registration when they made Jackrabbit their solution of choice. The online registration feature means that the studio is open for registration 24/7. Rebecca Hart, the studio’s Office Manager, quickly went about replacing their in-house process with online registration so that they would be ready for their next season. Parents don’t have to fit class registration times into their schedules. Rebecca comments, “We had some initial anxiety over our transition away from our in-house registration process. But when we saw out customers jump in with excitement, we felt silly about our doubts. Parents are thrilled that they never have to stand in another class registration line.”

ACE All Stars in Gadsden, AL considers online registration one of the automated processes that has unchained staff from their desks and allowed them to interact more with students and parents. Their office manager was inundated with scheduling and registering students. Automating that process through online registration gives the office manager the freedom to do the things that help the business grow without ignoring the business’s necessary processes. Kelley Zeringue, co-owner of ACE Gadsden says, “Online registration has been one of the biggest game changers for us. It has made us more efficient and given us the ability to improve the way we operate.”

Charlotte Aquatics in Charlotte, NC was experiencing so much growth that they had to automate processes to keep up. Online registration was the sole reason that facility owner, Kelly Gains, chose Jackrabbit. Kelly tested online registration with 100 students for the first season that she had Jackrabbit. It was such a success that she opened the process up to everyone for her next season. Kelly comments,” Jackrabbit reduced what usually consumed three employees in a 144 hour effort by 50%. The improvement in customer service and parental happiness was perhaps even more dramatic than the time savings. Parents see availability online and eliminate any two-to-three-day wait that they previously experienced in getting confirmations about their classes. Online registration also allows our process to be transparent to parents. They may not get their first choice, but they see all class status online and know that there is no human error or preferential treatment going on.”

Powerful and Flexible
Jackrabbit’s online registration functionality is powerful and flexible. Facilities can offer as little or as much of their class curriculum as they want in their online registration. It is totally customizable to fit what each facility and each registration season requires.

Some owners express concerns about giving parents the freedom to register themselves for fear that they will put their students in the wrong classes. Jackrabbit provides options that allow the facility managers and owners to control what is displayed online and who can access it. It is even possible, with a little customization, to pre-qualify students with a few questions, so that the classes available at their students’ levels are the only options given. You can also set the Jackrabbit system up to do all of the data collection work and then hold the confirmation until a manager reviews the registration.

Review case studies for SwimKids Swim Schools, Five Star Sports and Entertainment Academy, Double D Gymnastics, Kathy Blake Dance Studios, ACE  All Stars and Charlotte Aquatics for more details.

Online Registration Brings the Class-Based Organization into the 21st Century

Online registration is one of the most quickly expanding activities for class-based organizations. Being able to provide vital activities to customers in an on-demand format is quickly becoming a demand placed on organizations by its customers. These demands are quickly infiltrating class-based organizations. While tremendously appealing to your customers, online registration offers significant benefits to them and to you.

Online registration lets your website do all the work, freeing staff up to maintain daily business tasks.  

Online registration gets rid of the 6am lines and allows customers to register at their convenience. 

Online registration automates a previously tedious, time-consuming process and improves the accuracy of registrant information.

Online registration – popular as it is – may not be the answer for absolutely every type of class-based organization. Consider some of the basics of online registration as you’re deciding if it fits your organization.

Online Registration – Defined

In defining online registration, it may be helpful to identify what online registration is not.

Online Registration is NOT:

• Offering a printable PDF of the application form on your Web site
• Collecting information in a form on your website that does not connect to an enrollment database

With either of the above-mentioned processes, the registrant has no idea if the class he’s registering for is available and the registrants’ information has to be re-entered into an enrollment database.

A good online registration solution DOES:

• Place all the information needed about the student and the parents into the enrollment database automatically (no re-keying).
• Allow registrants to review and choose classes and any options that are available with the classes (one-time information input).
• Give registrants the option to be placed on waiting lists for full sessions (keep students interested in class).
• Allow registrants to pay deposit and/or full class fees (eliminate billing and collections).
• Provide registrants with confirmation of registration and payment (eliminates confusion).
• Allow registrants to complete registration and make payments at their convenience from home or work (make processes easier for customer).

While you want to make this process easier for you and your customers, you do not want to create problems by employing a process that automatically accepts all applications. You cannot automate complexities that often accompanying the acceptance of registrations. Your process can create a “hold” on online forms for review and enable you to quickly scan them, make your application decisions and then communicate automatic or personal confirmation to registrations.

The Decision to Offer Online Registration

Online registration’s ultimate benefit is convenience: Convenience for your customers; Convenience of a reduced registration workload for your staff.  A well-designed online registration process can:

• Eliminate data entry and hard-to-read handwritten forms, after all, registrants type in their own information.
• Encourage prompt registration by allowing the process to be offered directly from your web site, e-newsletters
  or emails 24/7.
• Eliminate hard copy forms and therefore reduces your postage costs.
• Allow your customers to be involved with a more professional organization
• Give you a succinct and understandable view of the enrollment levels and remaining capacity across all of your classes
• Meet the expectations of your customers

Facility owners/managers generally benefit from several factors that are driven by their use of a well-designed
online registration process:

1. Consistent or growing registration numbers

• Ease of process makes registration less of a “decision” since it is done at customers’ convenience
• Rarely do customers see a drop in registration after implementing online process

2. Significant savings for owner/manager and staff

• During registration seasons, the staff time consumed by registration details is cut by as much as 75%
• Automatic commitment and payment Better accuracy of information in account
• Responsibility for account information is shifted to the parent/student.
• Easier on parents since there is a greater window of opportunity for registration and payment options
• Gives them choice of when and how to register
• Gives them control over account information and payment options

3. Heightened accuracy of information

• Better accuracy of information in account
• Responzibility for accout information is shifted to the parent/student

4. Increased customer satisfaction

• Easier on parents since there is a greater window of opportunity for registration and payment options
• Gives them a choice of when and how to register
• Gives them control over account information and payment options

You and Online Registration

Organizations have different types of classes and therefore make varying demands on an online registration process. You may offer short term classes in addition to classes that span a season or a year.

Often customization can be required to fit an online registration solution to your organization. The extent of your customization needs, are of course, driven by the variations in your needs. Many solutions are flexible enough to allow you to adjust its parameters to accommodate your unique needs. If your needs still fall outside of your solutions range, you may be able to engage the provider to tweak the forms to work for you for a reasonable additional cost.  You must look at the cost of any needed customizations and determine if the added cost is a good investment for your organization to make.

Online Payments Make Good Sense

Online registration doesn’t have to include online payment, but it does make sense to include payment options at the time of application submission in order to consider it complete. The simplest method of online payment is via credit card. You may also offer secure payment processing via e-check (known as Automated Clearing House, or ACH payment).

When considering online payments, Be aware of the following:

The Security of the Payment Process – Securing all data collected in an online payment process is critical. You’re collecting sensitive data from customers such as credit card numbers. The industry continues to impose more stringent handling and storage of credit card information.

There are several initiatives in place by the credit card industry:

• Payment Card Industry (PCI)
• Cardholder Information Security Program (CSIP)

Information Storage – You should not store credit card information unless it is absolutely necessary and if it is necessary for you to do so your storage of it must be secured.  Technically, this means that the information must be protected by passwords and encryption. If you store paper records, equivalent precautions should be taken.

The Insecurity of Email – Remember that any process that transmits this information using email is not secure and opens you up to fines levied on your organization for data that is misappropriated.

Additional Payments – You should also consider how you would issue and collect any additional payments such as those required for classes offered outside of your normal class tuition. You can always resort to mailed checks as payment in unusual situations; however, a good online system should eliminate this as a sensible option and accommodate payments that are out of the ordinary. These online options are more secure and convenient for both you and your customers.

Two options for alternative payments:

• E-invoices with online payment option: Email invoices to customers to convey charges/outstanding balances and include a built-in “pay online link that will direct them automatically to a payment page where credit card information will be collected by the same secure system that accepts your tuition. Robust technology can do this with virtually no data entry for you or parents.
• Preauthorized payment collection: Parents can agree to have subsequent/unique payments processed automatically upon coming due. If you’ve employed secure storage processes for credit card information, this type of payment processing can be accomplished without extra effort or cost.

Methods of Payment – Credit card and debit card payments are convenient and popular, but there is a cost associated for the organization in the form of a discount percentage fee. It may make more sense (if you’re in a situation where the cost of offering credit cards is prohibitive) to offer payment by ACH (sometimes referred to as e-checks). These are direct debits to the person’s bank account and can be less costly since they typically involve just a small per-transaction fee bank fee rather than a percentage of the payment amount. Make sure the online solutions you choose has been approved for payment processing and displays their secure certificate status for authentication.

In Closing
We have covered the basic issues surrounding online registration and payments. Detailed review of any solution that you’re considering and the confirmation of their individual security certifications is imperative. You also should be aware of use of options such as accepting and handling electronic signatures and handling secondary forms (medical data) for students.

Visit http://www.jackrabbitclass.com/features.asp and http://www.jackrabbittech.com/videos/Registering_Online/player.html to learn more about online registration offered by Jackrabbit Technologies.

Jackrabbit has solutions for gymnastics, dance, cheer, dojo, swim, music  and camps. Jackrabbit also provides solutions for child care centers through EZCareOnline.