What are the main roadblocks that prevent families from tapping the ‘book now’ button on your listings with confidence?
In the spring of this year, we reached out to the parents who found their way onto Happity to find out a little bit about what brings them to classes, and – more importantly – what stops them from heading out the door. Let’s take a look at what they said, and then cover what you can do to help give parents the confidence they need to come along to your class.
The Common Reasons That Customers Hesitate To Book A Baby Or Toddler Class
Here are a few quotes from parents that we interviewed earlier this year:
‘I actually have no idea what happens at these classes. What babies are allowed to do, and not do.’
‘I have a little bit of hesitation about turning up to a new group of people who might already know each other.’
‘I would rather something I can book into, then I know there is space. Some of these events can be chaos.’
‘We did still wonder if the class was still running, because it hadn’t been updated for a while. So we did go in thinking ‘does this still exist?”
‘I called to confirm the playgroup days and times. You can’t always trust the information you find online.’
One of the main themes which emerged, as these comments show, was a lack of confidence. Whether that stemmed from a lack of information or assurance about what was going to happen in the class; or from not being sure the class was running at all.
Let’s break these two categories down.
Confidence Building Question 1: What Happens At This Class?
Something that we don’t always remember is that if a parent is going to a baby class for the first time, they could be going into it blind. A lot of people don’t have any understanding about baby classes until they have kids, so it can be an intimidating step to book your first one. Depending on the amount of information they’ve seen ahead of time, they may be taking a giant leap of faith when it comes to booking your class.
So, what can you do to help inform new parents ahead of time and get them to book your classes with confidence?
Informative Class Descriptions
The best thing you can do for your class description is make it tangible for parents. Try to help them imagine themselves in the experience. So for example, instead of saying ‘Fun music classes for baby and you’, offer a more step-by-step approach. Here’s an example we put together below:
‘First we start with a quick introduction chat so that the whole room can get to meet each other, then we all sing familiar nursery rhymes while doing simple movements together (don’t worry if you’re nervous about singing, it’s okay to just enjoy being there!) Then you can have a relaxing session while I play live music on the guitar, and then finally we say goodbye, where those who need to go can say goodbye to the group, and those who want to stay longer can stay for tea, coffee and snacks.’
The ‘first we – then we – finally we’ approach really helps to give parents a full sense of what’s going to happen and what kind of experience they can expect from their class.
Include The Key Development Skills
‘I felt very nervous about trying a new baby class, but I know that it helps with my baby’s development.’
The fact that classes can really help with those key development skills really does encourage parents to go from hesitant to booked on. Information about how your classes help them will be on their radar, so be sure to include details of how your classes benefit little ones.
Talking About What You Are Proudest Of
The most common advice given to people about copywriting is to ‘talk about what makes you unique’. This for class providers can actually be quite difficult though, and ‘uniqueness’ isn’t necessarily something that parents are looking for anyway.
Parents are more interested in knowing that their needs/safety/comfort is catered for. Is it a suitable time of day for them? Is there pushchair access? Will they be able to adapt around naptimes?
If you’re struggling to think about ‘what makes you unique’, try refocusing on what it is that makes you proudest about your classes. Maybe you offer a really nurturing space. Maybe it’s really inclusive for those with SEND children. Or maybe you’re super inclusive to dads. Whatever it is you’re proudest of, focus on that in your description.
Use A Picture Of Your Class In Your Banner Image
On Happity, you can include an image at the top of your listing to help engage your customers more with your listing. Some people opt to use illustrations or graphics in this. But we recommend instead using an image of your class in action. Give families the opportunity to connect with your class before they’ve attended, and help them visualise what could happen when they attend.
Take Bookings
Whilst the option to attend for free or pay on the door leaves a lot of flexibility for many parents, we received a lot of comments that parents would rather pay a little bit to book and guarantee themselves a place. It’s reassuring to know that the class provider is expecting them and that there is a space for them. The best way to reassure customers that they won’t be immediately turned away the moment they arrive (and confirm with them that they’re booked in for their chosen date and time) is to take bookings. If you’re ready to try out online bookings for your business, head over to our Bookings page to find out more and get started.
Other Quickfire Tips
- Make your descriptions good, and then shorten it. Focus on including all the best bits, and then cut it down afterwards. Don’t focus on keeping it short from the moment you start writing.
- Include quotes and testimonials if you have them. It’s great to hear a description of your classes from a parent’s point of view.
- Use your logo to stand out in class searches. Having your logo on your listing can really help you to stand out in a search on Happity.
- Embed your social media on your page. When you are a Happity Member, you can embed your social feed onto your Happity page. This is a great way to make your classes tangible and helping families to see what one of your classes might look like.
Confidence Building Question 2: Is The Class Still Running?
If people have a reason to doubt this in their heads, the odds are that they will opt to move on and find something else to go to. Mainly because people don’t want to risk turning up to a venue and being told that the activity is no longer running. It would be a waste of time in their busy day (and also pretty embarrassing!)
There are ways that you can take extra care to reassure families that your classes are still running, without it taking up too much of your time.
Verify Your Classes Regularly
Having accurate information on Happity goes right to the heart of what we do. We ensure that parents can find up-to-date info on active classes in their area easily. Making sure that your classes have been verified recently will give parents the reassurance that if they go to the venue at the time listed, there will be an activity running there. Read more about verifying classes here.
Respond To Enquiries Promptly
Parents who lack confidence (and have never been to your classes before) are going to have questions. Not to say those questions won’t be easy to answer! It may be something as simple as, ‘Am I allowed to feed at your classes?’ Sometimes people are asking to find out if there is another person on the other end of the line.
If you receive enquiries on Happity, they will come directly to your inbox, so make sure that you try to respond to them as promptly as you can. There is also a quick check function on Happity to help let parents find out if the classes are still running. We’ve set up the Happity system to make handling admin and enquiries as easy as possible. Become a Happity Member today!
Bulletproof Your Online Presence
Make sure that every part of your online presence is consistent. A lot of people like to do research before they can commit to booking something. So it could be pretty offputting if what’s written on one page (like your Happity listing) is different to what’s written somewhere else (e.g. your socials or another website).
Consistency is key, so take extra care to make sure that everything is a match. This includes how you present yourself and your classes, class details (days, times, venues etc.), and your links.
Take Bookings (Again!)
The single most impactful thing you can do to reassure parents that your class is on is to take bookings. Giving parents the option to pay for a space offers them the reassurance that your class is still running. Once they’ve received that booking confirmation email, they can put down their phone or turn off their laptop feeling reassured that an activity will be waiting for them on their chosen day. Head over to our Bookings page to find out more and get started.
Bonus Tip: Have A Sensible Refund / Swap Policy In Place
One of the common responses we received in our interviews was that people were happy to book in advance, but there’s still the common worry of: ‘what if my baby is sick? What if I have a doctor’s appointment? What if life gets in the way?’
Because, let’s be honest, in parenthood you face a lot of unexpected hurdles! There’s a lot of chaos in early parenthood. This means being locked into a specific time for an activity like a baby class can leave families feeling hesitant.
The easy solution to this is to make sure you have a sensible (and empathetic) refund/swap policy in place. Parents will totally understand and appreciate the fact that you are running a business, and are usually happy to book in advance, so long as they know they can refund or swap to a new date if they unexpectedly can’t make it.
Class provider? Let us help.
With 2.6m parents using Happity, we are the UK’s most-loved platform for finding baby and toddler classes.
Whether you want help reaching more families, need a booking system, or are just getting started, we’re here to support your journey.
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