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Elevate Retention Through Proactive Communication

An old chestnut in the business world—often attributed to global management consultant firm Bain & Company—states that the cost of acquiring a new customer is estimated to be five to 25 times more than the cost of retaining an existing one. 

 

Think about that for a moment. How much time, effort, and expense do you spend on attracting new students each year? Instead, how much could you save in expenses if you simply retained more students year over year? How much more revenue could that translate to?

 

At the studio I formerly owned, the estimated lifetime financial value of a student—dancing from age 4 to high-school graduation—was $20,000. If there were just five customers I didn’t retain, that translated to losing $100,000 over time. That’s certainly money I would have rather kept in the business! 

 

There’s also the undeniable benefit of having more students and their families invested long-term in your studio’s dance experience, which benefits both you and them. Students’ consistent commitment to dance equals personal growth, skill development, social connection, college and career prospects, and much, much more. For you, there’s nothing like seeing an alum reach for and attain their life goals. That value is priceless!

 

So if retention is important to everyone involved, what can you do to improve it? My experience says to start by tending to client satisfaction. Step one: proactive communications.

 

Offer multiple channels of communication

 

The first step to building a proactive communication system is to offer multiple communication channels that cater to diverse preferences. Some customers prefer email, others lean toward text messages, and there are those who value a phone call. In addition to communicating through these traditional channels, consider using website chatbots and social media groups to broaden your reach.

 

Assign a staff member (or a few) to monitor the channels and ensure clients’ queries receive prompt responses. Today’s consumer expects an answer now, day or night. Implement auto-responders for emails during specific hours; automated social media messenger responses can answer common questions. Use both to set clear expectations for human response times. 

 

Create decision trees for your staff

 

This can be a game-changer for your team! No more scrambling to find an answer; it’s right at their fingertips. Decision trees can offer step-by-step, visually-appealing solutions for common questions: how to transfer classes; when are recital costume fee installments due. With your staff’s input, create a series of decision trees for frequently asked questions. Print them off for the front desk or make them easy to find electronically. Think of each decision tree as a compass that guides your team to the “true north” of an answer. Tools like this empower staff members by improving their ability to give thoughtful and uniform responses.

 

Ask for feedback—and not just once a year

 

Ask for customer feedback regularly. Check-in calls and client surveys are crucial retention tools: customers get a non-confrontational method for expressing concerns, and your studio gets the opportunity to address and solve issues before a customer decides to part ways.

 

Implementing check-in calls had a big impact on retention at my former studio. If a student missed two consecutive classes we would call the parent to ask if everything was OK. While I was initially hesitant about check-in calls, I discovered that by reaching out proactively we often stopped the family’s “let’s just quit” conversation in its tracks.  

 

Client surveys are a simple way to gain feedback and provide solutions. Ask specific, multiple-choice questions such as, “How would you describe the sense of community and atmosphere at our dance studio?” or “What is your preferred day of the week for dance classes?” to gain targeted answers. Consider offering incentives to encourage more customers to participate; more survey participation leads to a more accurate picture of the overall client experience. A costume giveaway, free mini-camp, or even a simple coffee shop gift card can motivate your clients to share their opinion.  

 

Set up email templates

 

Enhance efficiency by developing email templates for frequently addressed topics, such as new enrollment, class transfers, recital costumes, and trial classes. Templates not only save time, but work to create a unified voice for your business. Consider setting aside dedicated time each year, perhaps during the summer downtime, for your team to work together to create a file of email templates for the upcoming season. Or create a shared Google folder, document, Trello board, or other digital storage space where your team can save email templates they create throughout the year. Whichever route you choose, allow everyone on the team to voice their insights and experiences. This will ensure the templates are comprehensive and address the right topics.

 

Building proactive communications requires an upfront investment of time and effort, but the potential rewards in retention are huge! Think about the “profits” that both you and your clients gain from a healthy, long-term relationship. Customer experience and loyalty may be hard to come by for some businesses—but yours won’t be one of them.



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