Four Reasons Your Daycare Needs a Status Page

A snow delay can throw a wrench into your typical workday at the daycare center — especially if you’re fielding emails and phone calls from concerned parents. When you start receiving these emails, phone calls or texts from parents asking whether to pack their kids’ lunches, you may have to answer each of message in an emergency. This can snowball into calls or emails asking for more information about the snow delay.

Instead of keeping parents guessing or hoping they open the email you sent the night before, you can save money and be proactive about sending notifications. Your daycare can have a system in place that allows you to craft clear, calm messages before there’s an emergency to push out during a delay or other event. Plus, you can use this system for everyday notifications: parent teacher meetings, cupcake day, wacky outfit day. Whatever’s going on, you can tell them ahead of time.  

How can you do this? A status page allows you to make live updates on the delay in question and keep parents updated on one platform. When you click update on the status page, you can notify all the parents who subscribe to your service, notifying them one time on multiple platforms (Facebook, email, even Slack). This message goes to everyone who’s subscribed to your updates, managing expectations, feelings and the need for clear, concise information. This also allows employees to get instant information without multiple phone calls and emails.

Here’s why having a status page can help you save time, money and your workday.

• Multiple communication channels on one platform. During a two-hour delay, you may have to update Facebook, your website and still send an email to all parents. Then, you or another staff member may have to be on standby to receive communications from parents. A status page allows you to do this all at once, updating your Facebook and notifying parents. In one message, you can say, “There’s a two-hour delay. Carpool lines will not be utilized.”
  

• Better notification capabilities for smaller daycares. Daycares, especially smaller, independent ones, don’t have a centralized notification system. Typically, people who don’t have franchise notification systems like a church, schools or smaller independent preschools are operating only on email. A status page allows parents to select how they want to receive communication.

• Calmer parents who stick with your business. Parents are your customers, and it’s important to keep them informed of changing and upcoming events. This helps your customer retention and overall standing in the business community.

• A status page works for more than weather delays. Status pages can be used for a variety of purposes in addition to announcing weather delays. Parents can learn about fundraiser days and the importance of signing up for programs before the end of the school year. While this helps parents, it can also help you keep your daycare on the top of their minds in the best way possible. Status pages are fully customizable, allowing you to create communications with the daycare’s logo and mission statement as part of everything you send out. The page can even be a newsletter you send out once a week that links back to your website — like an event calendar for parents.
  
  Each email doesn’t have to be one single message either; you can send reminder emails about upcoming events and add links to those items. Your newsletter can inform parents and staff in one location, using it in the place of another newsletter platform — except this one has multiple purposes. When you use it as a newsletter, you will get stats on who’s opening it, who’s clicking it, and the ability to show it to staff members in weekly updates.

With these tips in mind, status pages can transform your response to weather delays — and how you communicate about your daycare in general.

If you’re interested in learning more about how a status page can decrease your call volume and increase customer satisfaction, schedule a call with us here.