Early bird discounts can be an effective way to increase summer camp enrollment, but after the deadline passes, it’s common to experience a lull in sign-ups. If you’re struggling to keep enrollment flowing, there are strategies you can use to entice families to sign up and fill your remaining spots.
[RELATED: How to Keep Your Enrollment Flowing After the Early Bird Discount Ends]
While extending the deadline may be tempting, it can potentially damage your credibility and upset families who met the original deadline. Instead, try a strategy that empowers families who have already qualified for the early bird rate to extend the discount to their friends.
Send an email to enrolled families, acknowledging that you imagine they may have friends who missed the deadline but would still like to attend camp. Offer to let those families extend the early bird rate to five of their friends as long as they sign up for camp that week. Make it clear that this offer is exclusive to their friends, and ask them to keep the discount a secret.
By crafting your message in a way that conveys the impression that you’re doing enrolled families a favor by allowing them to offer the early bird rate to their friends, they’ll be grateful and more likely to start spreading the word about your camp. This strategy is a quick and easy way to get more word-of-mouth enrollment and fill your remaining spots.
To ensure the success of this strategy, it’s best to send the email a few days after the initial deadline expires. Keep in mind that families are more likely to extend the early bird rate to friends who they believe would be a good fit for your camp. By leveraging the power of word-of-mouth and incentivizing enrolled families to help you fill your remaining spots, you can maximize enrollment and have a successful summer season.