Best Afterschool Registration Process Guide

How exciting! You have parents that want to pay you money for your classes. Now, let’s take a look at the best way to handle your registration process. But before we jump into it, let’s define this step. In this step, we are going to look at the actual steps parents will take to register. This should not be confused with the marketing process. Your marketing campaign should give parents a clear understanding of what your class is, provide your program’s strengths, and most importantly, point them to the registration process.

Your registration process should be convenient, painless, and simple. If you can hit all three of these items then you’re doing it right. But why care about giving parents a great registration experience? Well, it’s only the most crucial part of the whole process. It is literally what makes or breaks your program, so you want to ensure that there is an easy option for customers to sign up and for your program to receive money.

Online Afterschool Registration

We can’t talk about a convenient registration process without online registration. Not all online registration software is created equally. That means you need to do your research. We’ve created a guide on what to look for when it comes to registration software here. Moving your registration online has a huge convenience factor. It allows parents to register any time of day and gives them instant notification that they are enrolled. Online registration is inherently convenient, but it is important to find a provider that makes it painless and simple.

How to Register

Only provide a single registration option. This might sound counterintuitive when trying to be convenient, but it makes a big impact because it makes the process painless and simple. Having too many registration options leads to a lag in registration, as well as an increase in parent confusion. On top of that, it creates much more work for you. We’ve seen some organizations offer paper, online forms, online registration software, email, fax, etc. The end result is low enrollment and massive amounts of wasted time.

Afterschool Registration Payment Options

The process by which a parent registers for your classes should include making a payment. Separating sign-ups and payments will cause much confusion and leave you with a list of parent follow-ups. It’s less convenient to have a two-step process than it is to have a one-step process. So, it makes sense to combine these two steps. It will also help you organize your receivable and have a better understanding of your cash-flow.

You should also shy away from accepting cash or check over credit or debit. We’ve written a simple guide to help you decide on the type of registration you should accept. Credit cards and debit cards are the most popular forms of payment. Studies show an increase in the purchase when credit and debit are used instead of cash or check. It makes sense when you think about it. Paying by card is convenient, painless and simple.

Registration Deadline

A very common misconception is that a registration deadline will hinder signups. It turns out that the opposite is true. A registration deadline increases urgency, which means parents will jump to sign up. In the event a parent procrastinated too long and missed the deadline, they will be sure to register ASAP when the next session comes around.

When selecting a registration deadline it is important to give parents enough of a registration window to sign up. A day or week may not be enough for you to get the word out to parents. So, coordinate the registration start and end dates. It is something you should play around with to find the optimum timeline for your parents. But just remember that a registration window that is open for too long has a negative impact on enrollment.

Takeaway

When deciding on your registration process you want it to be convenient, painless, and simple. Don’t plan for the 1% of parents who sign-up late, don’t have a credit card, or don’t have the internet. Planning for the other 99% will guarantee that you have a streamlined process. That means you’ll save time, increase enrollment numbers, make parents happy, and be able to focus on other parts of your business.