by Matt Ehrlichman and Jake Cooney
Congratulations! Another successful summer is coming to an end. Before
you know it, Summer 2006 will be here. So, before being inundated with
paperwork and projects, consider how you can leverage new technologies
to make camp easier for your staff, your camper's parents, and yourself.
Many camps view the tasks of manually entering hundreds of registrations
and physically mailing out confirmation packets as a fact of life. But,
with recent technological advances, there are solutions available to help
alleviate these and other common pain points of running camp. Most camps
use computer programs like Excel, Access, or FileMaker Pro to help with
organization. Chances are, with little effort, most camps can launch a
few new initiatives to make 2006 the smoothest and most successful year
yet. With new tools, camps are able to do more than stay organized —
they can fundamentally improve their operations, communications, recruiting,
and improve the customer experience.
It's Time for Registration . . . .
The Joy of 500 (or 5,000 . . .) Paper Forms
Paper forms mean one thing for you: work. If you predominately receive
paper registrations, there is a better way —
high-quality online registration. Many camps at this point will think,
"Ah-ha! We already offer online registration!" Some do. Most
do not. Online registration does not consist of downloadable PDF files
or online forms that e-mail information to your inbox. Here is a checklist
that you should follow for your online registration system:
- Is your data completely secure? (If anything is sent via e-mail —
particularly a credit card number — the answer is a definitive
"no.")
- Does the data automatically go into your management system without
any downloading or data entry?
- Does your online registration automatically calculate the total owed
and apply discounts?
- Can a customer create an online account that enables future registration
forms to be auto-completed?
- Do you offer real-time credit card processing or e-check payments?
- Can parents sign-up multiple campers for multiple sessions in a single
transaction?
- Does the registration form look like your Web site?
If so, congratulations! If not, there is room for improvement. Utilizing
a powerful online registration system is one of the first ways camps can
begin eliminating unnecessary workload.
Ferncliff Solves Registration
David Gill, executive director of Ferncliff Presbyterian Camp and Conference
Center was unsure how receptive customers would be to online registration
when he first offered it in 2001. After all, the camp is in a fairly remote
area, it would be something new for the camp, and there were generally
no complaints about the current process. However, in order to stay current
with technology and make life easier for his staff, Gill gave it a chance.
"In the years since first offering online registration, we have
seen overall registrations increase while the percentage of campers registering
online has gone from 15 percent to 90 percent, saving a great deal of
staff time," Gill explains. To increase online registration percentages,
Ferncliff partnered with a provider of online registration services and
promoted this method using the Internet, flyers, voicemail, and word-of-mouth.
Because it saves the organization so much work, Ferncliff now offers a
$10 discount to those who register online — further increasing the
popularity of this option. Gill notes, "Our parents and churches
now expect online registration, immediate confirmation, and credit card
processing."
It's Time for Confirmation Packets . . . .
Print, Staple, Fold, Lick, Seal, Stamp, Send.
Repeat.
Once the camper has signed up, the next big task is sending out confirmation
packets, letters, maps, or additional forms. This process is time consuming
and expensive. As expected with any manual process, mistakes are made,
and some people will not receive their packets.
LAX Camps Automates Confirmation Packets
For California-based Warrior Lacrosse and Field Hockey (LAX Camps), confirmation
packet week used to be one of the most cumbersome times of the year. With
camps throughout the country and with different sessions requiring different
confirmation notices, managing the process was demanding. To help this
situation, LAX Camps began utilizing its management system to send customized
mass e-mails, including confirmation information to registrants. But the
method was still time consuming and left room for errors.
For Summer 2005, LAX Camps took technology a step further to make the
confirmation process run more smoothly. Immediately after a registration
(either online or paper), LAX Camps' management system automatically sends
personalized confirmation e-mails to the campers. These e-mail attachments
can be configured to send the confirmation packet corresponding to the
session for which the customer registered. After setup in the fall, LAX
Camps' entire confirmation process was automated and ready for registrations.
This saved significant costs, time, and best of all, their customers loved
receiving their confirmation immediately.
It's Time for Parents to Answer Their Own Questions
. . . .
The Phone Just Doesn't Stop Ringing
Obviously, parents are going to have questions about registration and
their account. But when parents need to call to find out how much money
they owe or verify their information, this is a distraction for staff
members and a hassle for parents.
Camp Albemarle Empowers Parents
Effective camp software companies offer the benefits of bundling in camp
photo and e-mailing services into the parent's online account so that
parents can access everything from one login. Starting in 2005, North
Carolina's Camp Albemarle has done just this. Rather than requiring parents
to call for access codes to view photos or balance information, Camp Albemarle
now offers an online area for parents to answer their own questions. Additionally,
Albemarle has bundled photo offerings into its online registration and
customer account so that they no longer worry about codes — only
those customers who have registered will have access.
There are significant advantages to having online accounts for parents.
With the ability to log in at any time, parents can view their balance,
update their information, or verify their registration status. Camps simply
place links on their Web site for password-protected customer accounts.
Since online accounts are created at the time of registration, it is easy
to send out notifications when there are additional forms online. For
example, rather than having a long registration form, many camps require
that parents return to the Internet after the initial registration to
complete additional forms. As parents fill out their medical, transportation,
or other required information, the camp's management system is automatically
updated without additional data entry.
It's Time to Collect Balances . . . .
Dear Camper: You still owe $316.
For those camps that give customers the option of paying deposits, the
time comes each year to collect additional payments — easier said
than done. However, this is anything but easy. First, you need to look
through your records to find out which customers still owe money. Then
comes invoice printing, mailing, stamping, and sending. When checks pour
in, each needs to be recorded and applied to the appropriate balance.
Every registrar knows how fun it is when the name on the check does not
match that of the customer, when the customer is paying in monthly installments,
or when a check bounces. This means more time, more calls, and more headaches.
Camp All-American Tackles Auto Billing
Georgia's Camp All-American has streamlined not only their registration
(with around 99 percent of their customers signing up online) but beginning
in 2005, their payment collections as well. By allowing customers to pay
their deposits using credit cards, debit cards, or e-checks, follow-up
payment collection is easy. Auto billing is another way to make payments
easier for parents and staff. During registration, customers can give
approval to automatically charge balances to their credit cards or e-checks.
On the specified date, Camp All-American simply uses its management system
to automatically charge all of those people that selected the option.
Jamey Short of Camp All-American explains, "Collecting outstanding
balances will be so much easier with the ability to automatically charge
the balance to the same credit card that the families used to make their
deposit. Surprisingly, most families have expressed that they prefer being
charged automatically." Their management system is automatically
updated, and the appropriate amount is charged in seconds — no paperwork
and no hassles.
Conclusion
While these pain points are just a few of the challenges camps face,
there are opportunities to make life easier for you and your staff. New
technologies are available and being used by camps throughout the country.
Rather than spending your time on monotonous tasks, let technology automate
redundant chores. Use the extra time to be creative, market, retain customers,
and perhaps work a relatively normal week. By investing some time in the
fall to get some new tools in place, Summer 2006 can be the easiest one
you have ever had.
Originally published in the 2005 July/August
issue of Camping Magazine. |
