Marketplace
Waitlist management tools in strong demand as parent enquiries spike
Jason Roberts
Sep 05, 2023
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As parents become increasingly comfortable with the savings attributed to the new child care subsidy (CCS) legislation and as the 2024 enrolment and re-enrolment season kicks off, early learning services across Australia are having to manage a pick-up in enquiries across the board. 
“The inherent seasonality in the early learning sector is well understood, so we would expect to see enquiries for 2024 start to pick up about now,” Matt Amoia, CEO of LineLeader by ChildcareCRM said.
“This year activity is much higher than normal as families become increasingly clear about the impact of July’s substantial boost to affordability created by the implementation of the new CCS measures, a development that we believe will support higher enquiry rates going forward too,” he added.
As a result there has been an increase in interest in waitlist management tools that support services to navigate the complexities of ensuring that committed families are respectfully managed through the process and enrolment objectives of the service are optimised.
“We at LineLeader by ChildcareCRM have long considered waitlist management as a core priority for early learning services and have developed sector leading tools to support them in this crucial area,” Mr Amoia said.
A Central Family Hub - Improved lead organisation equals faster response rates
The first step in creating an effective waitlist management process is to create a centralised online hub where all family information, including items like day preferences, start dates and preferred contact details, are stored in an easily accessible place.
With improved organisation and a better grasp of a families needs and wants service leaders are in a much stronger position to manage those families who are not able to access care immediately but are eager to take spots as they come up.
By creating a central family hub service leaders can then act quickly when needed, communicating important information to families as it arises and in turn ensuring a happy family is ultimately transitioned into the service.
“Excel spreadsheets have historically been the go to waitlist management tools for many services around the country,” Mr Amoia said, “but as enquiries rise and parent expectations grow services are recognising that the future of waitlist management is through centralised hubs like ours at LineLeader by ChildcareCRM.”
Automated reminders and emails the perfect way to keep waitlisted families informed
Once a family has been added to the central family hub and waitlisted service leaders are in a strong position to transition them to a more personalised communication workflow. By doing so families can be kept informed of developments relating to their potential enrolment in a way that suits their needs.
“The second step of managing waitlisted families effectively is communication,” Mr Amoia said.
“Given how competitive the market is right now, a waitlisted family could easily be lost to another service if communication channels are not kept open.”
LineLeader by ChildcareCRM has invested considerable effort in creating an automated communication system that empowers service leaders to create their own branded email and text messages that can be programmed to be sent at regular intervals to maintain contact with prospective families throughout the enrolment process.
“By creating hyper personalised texts and emails that are unique to each parent's experience, waitlisted families' loyalty and commitment jumps so that when you are ready to offer a spot they are still there ready to accept it,” Mr Amoia added.
Once a spot does become available digital enrolment forms a hit with families
After a family has patiently waited for a spot at a service any news that there is now availability will certainly be well received. However to ensure that the family journey is as smooth as possible, high quality online digital enrolment forms are a must.
LineLeader by ChildcareCRM has created a comprehensive enrolment form template that can be branded and customised to suit a service’s needs. By making it available digitally families save much needed time and services benefit from the elimination of mistakes associated with paper based systems and time savings.
“The value of high quality digital enrolment forms cannot be underestimated. With paper enrolment forms families sometimes have to re-enter their information up to 9 times” Mr Amoia explained.
“Our forms minimise the hassle with pre-filled form information saved and populated from a family's record in LineLeader saving families lots of time in the process.”
Lineleader by ChildcareCRM offers easy to use waitlist management tools for all Australian centres empowering them to support families by simplifying what can be a stressful step in the care search process as well as supporting services to grow and prosper more effectively.
Learn more about how to manage your waitlist with free email templates by clicking here.
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