You know how it is.
We all hear a lot of hype about new products, but many of us have learned to keep our expectations “realistic.”
Naturally, here at ACTIVE we’ve been excited about ACTIVEkids.com, our new online marketplace for parents, but I wanted to share the first-time ACTIVEkids experience of a friend of mine. We’ll call her Kaitlyn.
(In case you’re new here, ACTIVEkids is, briefly, a one-stop destination of kid-focused activities, searchable by a number of criteria parents choose. It’s a free service we offer our customers.)
Tennis, Anyone?
Kaitlyn is a single working mom with two children, a 12-year old son and an 8-year old daughter. The family lives in a suburban area of Dallas, Texas. Kaitlyn’s son had never been involved in tennis, but he decided tennis was his top pick for summer camp this year.
Better than Google
Kaitlyn didn’t know of any tennis camps nearby. Normally, she would’ve Googled tennis camps with her city name and then performed multiple searches for all the small surrounding communities. She remembered seeing ACTIVEkids pass through her Facebook feed several times and decided to start there.
To her surprise, when she searched for “tennis” within 20 miles of their home, six tennis and tennis combo camps popped up within 10 miles. “We didn’t even know options like “tennis and swim” camp existed,” she said.
Kaitlyn and her son could easily compare the camps and eliminate the ones that included other sports or were for an age span that put him too close to being the oldest.
“Ridiculously Easy”
They explored all the closest options, then selected their top pick (only 3 miles from home!) and hit Register. She was taken to the camp’s registration site, paid with a credit card and, because the camp uses ACTIVE Network’s software, was able to complete all waivers and forms using an electronic signature in just a few minutes.
“The entire thing took no more than 20 minutes, from start to finish,” Kaitlyn says. “And I received an email with all the information I needed: the instructor’s name, what court to go to, what to wear, what to bring, and what kind of racket to get. I’ve never had such a ridiculously easy experience registering for camp. There’s always been some kind of follow-up paperwork to do.”
“Dance, on the Other Hand…”
Kaitlyn shared that her daughter’s dance classes were—in contrast—a step back in time. It hadn’t been difficult to find the studio, but the registration and payment process is painful at every turn.
“The studio’s only open during certain times and everything has to be handled onsite, complete with standing in line and dealing with multiple layers of paperwork. You can use a credit card, but you still have to come into the studio to have it swiped. Every additional fee (recital fees, costumes, shoes, etc.) means another check. It’s brutal!”
How ACTIVEkids Serves Kid-Focused Program Organizers
ACTIVE Network’s software customers’ camps, classes and programs are automatically listed on ACTIVEkids.com for free. Learn how you can raise awareness of your camps or classes’ reach without lifting a finger here.
Not only can you get your camp discovered by more moms like Kaitlyn, but also you can reward the moms you already have with the type of convenience that makes it easy for them to come back!
