Q: Although I worked hard to increase my enrollment this year, it’s still not where I would like it to be. Do you have any ideas to encourage enrollment, post-registration?
A: Assuming that you’ve tried the typical class discounts and advertising options, here are a few ideas that have worked well for us. They’re small-scale, but they have helped increase our enrollment.
- “Bring-a-Friend-to-Class Week” We only use this for our recreational classes, because we don’t want anyone to think we are soliciting competition dancers from other studios.
- $25 studio-wear voucher Offer this to any new student who signs up—plus a second gift voucher to the dancer who brought in the new student.
- “Free Trial Class” voucher We give our dance families lollipops to hand out to trick-or-treaters at Halloween that have this voucher attached. You can also use this idea for treat bags for birthday parties you host at your studio. Vouchers like this do mean having guests in your recreational classes, but if you put an expiry date on them, no one will be able to show up in the middle of recital choreography looking for their free class.