By Sierra Rossing
There are a lot of moving parts to running your childcare business.
You’ve got software for lead management, family communication, center management, payment processing, staff management, payroll, and more. But the problem is that these tools often don’t communicate with each other or require customization to partially communicate. This creates a fragmented experience for staff and families.
In our 2023 Benchmark Report, we found some surprising takeaways about the state of childcare technology. Based upon analyzed aggregate data from our 6,000 childcare center customers across five countries combined with survey responses from nearly 3,500 childcare professionals, here’s some of what we learned and tips on how you can use this knowledge to improve your childcare business and your staff and family experience.
1) 70% of your revenue could be walking out the door.
Did you know that less than 30% of families re-enroll for childcare services? This means 70% of your revenue could be walking out the door each year.
Periodically check in with families who have become disengaged. Send them emails and texts, highlighting:
- any changes you’ve made to your program
- updates to the grounds or facility
- new teachers and staff
- center news and events they may have missed
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 under supported.
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, they can also help deliver a big boost to your incoming revenue.
3) 90% of childcare professionals leave leads hanging.
Lead response time is the single largest driver of conversions.
The solution is simple: automate your follow-up and leave no lead behind. By centralizing and automating your lead capture process, you can organize 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 personalized experience.
Personalization 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 enrollment.
First, invest in modern technology that automates repetitive tasks and makes information more accessible. Second, train your staff on the importance of providing a personalized experience to families. And last, make sure your communication with families is clear and concise – with content that’s tailored to each family’s unique childcare experience needs or concerns.
5) 40% of Millennials prefer that 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.
When directors or staff are responsible for manually scheduling tours, handling registration packets, checking students in and out, and managing tuition bills, they can quickly become bogged down in administrative tasks. This leaves less time for you to focus on providing quality care to your enrolled families. By offering self-service options for families, you save both time and resources.
In addition, self-service can help reduce missed opportunities because families can easily schedule tours and register to enroll online without having to wait for someone to get back to them.
Download Lineleader’s 2023 Benchmark Report to track your progress against other top-performing childcare centers and identify ways to help you boost enrollment and retention.
A big THANK YOU to Sierra Rossing, our guest author for this blog. Sierra is Director of Growth Marketing at LineLeader by ChildcareCRM, the first and only platform to offer full-featured customer relationship management (CRM) software, a family engagement app, and childcare management software (CMS) in one unified platform. As an experienced marketer in demand generation, content creation and promotion, and digital media management, she oversees growth and content for the company.
