Best Practices

Every registration season delivers lessons for how to improve the registration process for your classes. The trick is recognizing those lessons when they come along. Education program directors may not realize that they already have a wealth of information that could help them make informed decisions about the next enrollment season. 

We’ve compiled a 6-step checklist to help you reflect on your most recent enrollment season to learn from it and apply the lessons next season. 

We’ve drawn on our years of experience supporting arts and nonprofit programs with class registration and payment processing to develop a seasonal registration audit checklist that brings these lessons to the surface. We’ll show you where to look for information about your most recent enrollment season and how to collect even more data so you can use it to increase enrollment.

6 Steps to Improve Your Registration Process

At the end of each registration season, follow these 6 steps to complete a registration process audit that will help you identify areas for improvement and get results.

1. Check Your Metrics

Start by comparing this season’s metrics to metrics from the same time last year. Don’t get too caught up in month-to-month fluctuations. Most programs see peaks and valleys in their registration numbers. Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples by checking this September against last September or this fall against the previous fall. 

Even if your enrollment numbers are trending in the right direction, it’s worth completing the full registration process audit. Seasonal check-ins can help you spot small issues before they blow up into major problems. 

Investigate: 

• Whether enrollment levels grew, shrunk, or remained the same
• Which classes got the most enrollments
• Which classes got the fewest enrollments
• How students enrolled: online, in-person, by phone
• How people reached your website: ads, web search, email, direct link

Use this information to understand how people are enrolling in your classes and where changes may be needed. You can segment data to help you spot specific trends. For example, you may want to look at whether specific populations are enrolling, or whether 6pm classes attract more students than 7pm classes. 

2. Collect Student Feedback 

Ideally, you’re asking students to complete student feedback forms at the end of each class. These can give you information about what students thought of the class experience, but probably won’t tell you much about registration. For that you may want to send out a seasonal survey that asks about the registration, customer service, website experience and payment process. 

Asking students for feedback doesn’t just help you collect useful information. Harvard Business Review reports that it also increases customer loyalty. People feel valued when you ask for their opinion.

We’ve written a whole article about how to collect and use student feedback, and here’s a broad overview of the kinds of questions that could help you improve your programs.

Ask students: 

• How easy the registration process was
• Whether they could easily find the classes they wanted
• Their overall level of satisfaction
• Whether your website was easy to use
• How you could improve the registration experience

Use these questions to understand how students actually feel about your process and identify areas for improvement. A complex process, confusing website, or hard-to-navigate course catalog may be holding you back more than you realize. The best way to find out is to ask.

3. Investigate for Tech Issues

Some technical issues may be obvious — you’re not going to miss a website crash during your busiest enrollment day of the year. Others are harder to spot and may take some digging. A link that sends visitors to the wrong enrollment form might result in staff confusion, but no complaints from students. 

Many education program directors assume that a lack of complaints means everything is fine. That may not be true. Research shows that the majority of unhappy customers don’t complain. Most just leave. And almost a third of customers will walk away from a company they love after just one bad experience.

Our own professional experience managing websites and payment systems tells us this is especially true if your website is clunky or hard to use. If your website is confusing customers, asks them to complete a complicated process, or simply does not deliver a seamless registration and payment process, they may leave without telling you. 

Check for: 

• High bounce rates on class registration pages
• Abandoned carts
• Waitlisted students who don’t convert into registrants
• Broken links
• Low traffic on course catalogs or registration pages

Proactively looking for technical issues helps you improve the user experience and enroll more of the visitors who come to your website. 

4. Ask Staff for Their Impressions

Instructors and staff who work directly with students may have special insight into the registration process. Ask them for their impressions and opinions. You’re not necessarily looking for hard data here. Instead, you want to hear how staff and instructors perceive the process. 

These anecdotes can be valuable because they reveal problems you may not have noticed otherwise. A receptionist who tells you they got three phone calls a day asking how to find your course catalog lets you know there is a pattern worth addressing. 

Sometimes staff will use their own workarounds to try to solve these problems on their own. They may have developed scripts, tracking documents or resource lists to try to help students register. These kinds of resources help staff do their jobs, but can also obscure an ongoing problem. A functional workaround may mean you never notice that there’s a major issue with your system.

Ask staff about: 

• The questions they most often heard from students
• Any shortcuts or special tools they developed 
• Student stories that stuck out to them
• How they would improve the registration process

When you ask for staff feedback, you don’t just get valuable insight into your registration process. You also improve relationships with staff and instructors. Multiply this effect by thanking staff for their insight and keeping them informed of how you use their feedback.

5. Identify Areas to Improve

With baseline metrics and insight from your students, technical team, and instructors, you should be able to build a short list of areas to improve. Prioritize the list based on which issues have the greatest impact on student experience. An issue that affects just one course is less urgent than a systemic problem with your process. 

Try to step back and get a big-picture view of what’s going on. This can help you find efficient solutions rather than creating a patchwork of fixes for various issues. For example, if you notice that some potential students are leaving the registration process without completing payment and others seem to be struggling with finding the classes they want, you may be able to solve the problem with all-in-one class registration and payment software. 

Find solutions by: 

• Prioritizing your problem list
• Looking for solutions that solve multiple issues
• Considering budget and complexity of roll-out
• Asking for recommendations from other course providers

These steps help ensure that you’re choosing efficient and effective improvements for your class registration process. 

6. Make and Test a Strategy

Make a plan for how you’ll implement the solutions you’ve identified. Some may be simple and require little up-front planning. For example, adding a link to your cancellation policy to your universal registration form may take just a few clicks. Other solutions could benefit from a longer roll-out process. For example, before you introduce a new registration software you might need to train staff on how to use it, announce the change to students, and have technical support documents ready to go. 

Consider: 

• When you’ll roll out the new strategy
• Who will be responsible for each step
• How you will communicate changes to staff and students
• How you will measure the strategy’s success

A well-planned change strategy will help you make positive changes to your class registration process without the unintended side effects of confusing or frustrating the people you’re trying to help.

Repeat Every Season to Keep Improving the Registration Process

Complete this registration audit at the end of each enrollment cycle to help your program grow season after season. Regular check-ins will help you catch small issues before they become enrollment-impacting problems. Along the way, you’ll strengthen your relationships with both students and staff.

If a complex registration process is keeping your enrollments low, it might be time to investigate a new enrollment tool. Learn How the Right Enrollment Tool Can Save You Time, Money, and Effort.

If you want to get more class registrations and boost your bottom line, it’s time to start thinking about older adults. Census projections show that by 2035, people over 65 will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. That means seniors are likely to be a growing audience for your nonprofit education program. Even programs primarily aimed at children should consider the needs of parents and grandparents who are completing the registration process. 

Meeting the needs of seniors does not mean avoiding technology. Many older adults are capable of using online registration systems as long as those systems are simple and straightforward.

After 10+ years dedicated to class registration and payment systems, we’ve learned that designing for seniors improves the registration experience for everyone. 

Class Registration Myths About Seniors

Myth: Seniors aren’t a big audience for us. 

Reality: Many seniors are committed to lifelong learning for themselves. They also register children and grandchildren for classes. 

If you’re not already marketing classes to seniors, you may be missing a major opportunity. People aged 50 and older account for 51% of consumer spending although they represent just 45% of all adults. In short, this audience is spending more per capita than younger shoppers. Some portion of that spending is going to classes.

Many seniors are interested in lifelong learning. According to the Seniorlist, 19% of older adults say they have taken an academic course in the last six months. That word, “academic,” may be artificially limiting this result. According to AARP, 55% of Americans age 45 and older are actively learning new things either through classes or independent study.

Even if your education program primarily provides classes for kids, seniors are still a key audience. Consider the grandmother who enrolls her young granddaughter in a drawing class. The class may be for the little girl, but Grandma is the one navigating your registration system.

Myth: Seniors won’t use online registration options.

Reality: Seniors will use online options as long as you make them simple and straightforward.

Seniors may be more tech savvy than you realize. A Pew survey found that 61% of adults 65 and older own a smartphone and 75% use the internet. Making purchases is the second-most popular online activity among people age 50+ (email holds the top spot).

During and since the pandemic, seniors have learned to use technology to do everything from buy groceries to book doctor’s appointments. About 24% of respondents in a survey on aging in place said that they use grocery and food delivery apps. There’s clearly openness among older people to engage with more digital experiences—the key is to make sure those experiences are simple and seamless. 

Since the pandemic, seniors can and do use technology to buy groceries online, book doctor’s appointments, and more.

Myth: Seniors are uncomfortable with online payments.

Reality: If it’s easy and safe, seniors will pay online.

Many seniors have spent a lifetime paying with checks or cash. Some are more comfortable with these methods, but others welcome the convenience of online payments. In recent years, more seniors learned how to pay for products and services online as a result of the pandemic. 

But seniors are concerned about the security and privacy of online payments. A 2020 survey by Lightico found that people over 65 were more likely to say that they don’t feel online transactions are secure. Nonprofit class providers will see the best results if they show seniors that their payment systems are dependable and secure. Post links to privacy and security details on your payment pages so they’re easy to find.

How to Make Course Registration Easy for Seniors (And Everyone Else)

It’s not just seniors who benefit when you simplify your online registration process. Easy registration helps everyone. Apply these tips to improve the registration experience for people of all ages.

1. Remove extra steps and complexity

Seniors may get frustrated if asked to enter information in multiple places or complete a long series of steps. One 72-year-old told AP news that she has no problem shopping at Amazon or Target.com but that the grocery store app has too many steps and she often ends up starting over.  

Map your registration process to understand how many steps it includes. Does the user need to access more than one website or service to complete registration? If you’re asking people to fill out a form in one place, but make a payment somewhere else, they’re likely to get confused.

The best class registration systems seamlessly guide the user from the course catalog through registration, to payment. With CourseStorm, registration and payment is one seamless process that starts with a button on your course catalog. We don’t even ask registrants to create a user profile first. Instead, they have the opportunity to automatically create a profile as part of the registration process. 

2. Prioritize accessibility

Older adults are more likely to have vision or motor challenges that can impede accessibility. About a quarter of adults 71 years old and older have visual impairments. These could prevent seniors from using online systems unless accessibility tools are in place. 

Simple design changes, like creating high-contrast color schemes and including alt text for graphics can improve accessibility. Check with your website designer and class registration software provider to make sure accessibility options are in place. 

CourseStorm course registration and payment processing software complies with Level AA guidelines set by the Web Accessibility Initiative. That means we’ve put the work in to ensure that our registration software is as accessible as possible for people with disabilities. 

3. Share safety and privacy information

Some seniors are hesitant to use technology for safety or privacy reasons. They may have heard of or experienced scams where older people have been taken advantage of. In fact, seniors lose more than $3 billion each year to financial scams, both online and offline. 

Help your senior registrants feel secure by posting your privacy policies prominently on your website. Let them know how their information will be used and let them opt out of storing payment information. 

At CourseStorm, we take security seriously. Our credit card information handling process is PCI compliant and all stored cards are safely encrypted. Our servers are located at state-of-the-art data centers with multi-tiered security systems. 

4. Market beyond social media

Social media is a powerful way to reach potential students. But it may not be as effective in reaching older adults. Only 45% of adults age 65 and older use social media. Programs may have better luck reaching seniors through search ads and email marketing. Our State of the Arts Report found that email accounted for the highest percentage of visitors to our customer’s class registration websites. Traditional direct mail campaigns may also be more attractive to seniors. 

As a CourseStorm customer, you get personal automated marketing tools that will send personalized email recommendations to students based on past registration history. We keep an eye on marketing trends and best practices, sharing them with customers on our blog.

The Class Registration Solution for All Ages

By now we hope you see that what’s good for seniors is good for registrants of all ages. When you simplify processes, prioritize accessibility, ensure privacy, and market beyond social media, you make registration easier for everyone. And improving the student experience is ultimately what’ll help you fill classes and extend your program’s impact in your community.

Whether you offer classes specifically for seniors, or primarily for children, CourseStorm can help attract this growing and motivated audience of older adults to boost your bottom line.

To see the impact of this simplicity in action check out this case study featuring American Stage. Integrating CourseStorm with their ticketing software helped this nonprofit theatre education program improve the customer experience and save staff time.

It’s easy to assume people are happy if you get few or no complaints. But when it comes to your class registration system, a lack of complaints isn’t always a good thing. Research shows a huge majority of people won’t complain when an experience doesn’t meet their standards—they’ll just leave.

A great student experience separates thriving education programs from the rest. The student experience is the overall interaction between the learner and your organization. Your classes are just one tiny piece of that. The rest of the experience, including ease of registration, communication, and issue resolution, is more important from a customer service standpoint.

Make no mistake, your students are customers. That’s why customer service matters in education.

And make no mistake, your students are customers. You may not usually think about them in that way, but most bring a shopper’s mindset to the experience of signing up for a class. If their needs aren’t met, they’ll go elsewhere, leaving you wondering where all your students have gone.

Customer Service in the Education Industry: Why It Matters

When a potential student is looking for a block printing class so they can impress everyone with handmade Christmas cards this year, they want the process of finding and signing up for a class to be as easy as possible. 

If they run into an issue, they expect quick and helpful service that gets everything sorted out without burning through their entire lunch break. That may be why the Qualtrics Consumer Trends Report found that customers are much more likely to do business with organizations that have a great reputation for customer experience, even in a down economy.

Obviously, the class itself should deliver on student expectations. The material should match the course description and students should walk away feeling more skilled, more informed, or at least entertained.

A good student experience can turn one-time customers into lifelong learners and brand ambassadors.

But, the student experience doesn’t end when the class is complete. Ideally, you’ll keep communicating with those students. Your social media, email, and SMS messaging will offer them personalized class recommendations they can get excited about. That’s how one-time customers turn into lifelong learners and brand ambassadors. 

If an organization can’t meet student expectations for customer service, they’ll look for one that does. Often, they’ll do so without stopping to tell you about it first.

Most Unsatisfied Customers Never Complain 

CourseStorm customers find that about 35% of arts students return to take another class. Those students were clearly satisfied with both their first class and the student experience. But at least some of the remaining 65% probably felt less than satisfied and didn’t explain why.

You might think that students will complain if they are unhappy, but often that is not the case. Overall, people are giving less feedback to the organizations they buy from. According to Qualtrics, about 66% of customers won’t complain when they’ve had a bad experience. They’ll just take their business elsewhere. 

Data show 66% of customers won’t complain when they’ve had a bad experience. They’ll just take their business elsewhere.

This happens for a couple of reasons. Some students are just busy and unwilling to invest time in complaining when they can just find another class. Others may believe that their complaints won’t make a difference, so they don’t bother voicing them. 

They may not be talking to you, but they’re almost certainly telling friends and family about the experience. People may end up avoiding your program without ever experiencing it for themselves. 

That leaves education directors and administrators with the challenge of how to provide a better student experience without much feedback. Fortunately, there are a few areas we know can improve the student experience.

For more insights on what’s working in arts education and how to improve the student experience, download our State of the Arts Report 2024.

How to Improve the Student Experience

Consumers in general, and students in particular, prefer to do business with organizations that deliver these three things: 

1. Self-service on-demand 

Learners expect to be able to sign up, change registrations, and handle payments online and without direct interaction with a staff member. In fact, about 67% of survey respondents said they preferred self-service over speaking to a representative. 

Online registration and payment systems with carts and friends and family registration tools can help customers help themselves. 

2. Quick and helpful communication

When registrants do run into an issue they can’t solve on their own, they expect quick and helpful service. Research by author Jay Baer found that customers “hate” having to contact a business more than once and about 66% of customers think speed to respond is as important as price.

Arts nonprofits probably don’t have someone standing by to answer customer questions at any moment of the day. That makes it all the more important that whoever is assisting customers is trained in customer service and empowered to provide real solutions to issues, for example, tech support, discounts, refunds, or transfers.

When someone does reach out, let them know how quickly they can expect a response. Feed the need for self-service by offering an FAQ sheet or a knowledge base they can read while they wait.

3. Personalized marketing and communications

According to HubSpot’s Marketing Trends Report, 75% of marketers say offering a personalized experience increases sales and repeat business. Personalized messaging can lead to 50% better customer re-engagement. 

Customized class recommendations, SMS-based text reminders, and centralized customer data management can help you personalize communications so each student feels valued. 

Offer returning students exclusive early-bird registration or special promotions to make them feel valued.

Acknowledge a preexisting relationship with students who have enrolled before by offering them exclusive early-bird registration or special promotions for returning students. When you personalize marketing and communications, you make every student feel valued.

Listen and Take Action to Improve the Student Experience

Although customers may not seek you out to complain about a sub-par experience, some will answer candidly when asked. Asking for feedback from students can help you catch and fix common issues. It can also strengthen your relationships with learners. After all, everyone likes feeling like they’ve been heard.  

For more advice on listening to learners to improve the student experience, read our article on How to Collect and Use Student Feedback to Build Better Programs.

Does your staff regularly work through lunch and answer emails on weekends? This might seem like the norm for understaffed nonprofits. And besides, most people working in the arts are there because they love it, right? But perhaps you’re noticing in your staff what you may have experienced yourself: the moment when work you used to love becomes an impossible burden. 

If your previously cheerful employees are snapping at coworkers and missing meetings, if they’re taking more sick days and productivity is slipping, if you’re seeing a negative impact on how staff interact with your customers and community … nonprofit burnout could be the culprit. 

“Burnout is about your workplace, not your people.” – Jennifer Moss, author of Unlocking Happiness at Work

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that 69% of nonprofit leaders are concerned about employee burnout. According to a Council of Nonprofits survey, more than 50% of respondents said stress and burnout were causing workforce shortages. But it doesn’t have to be this way: leaders in nonprofit organizations can develop a strategy to detect, prevent, and deal with nonprofit burnout—both for themselves and their teams. Here’s how. 

Where Nonprofit Burnout Comes From

According to the World Health Organization, burnout is a syndrome that results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by:

• feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
• feelings of negativity or cynicism related to one’s job; and
• reduced job performance.

In some ways, people working in arts nonprofits are especially susceptible to burnout. They care deeply about the work they do and tend to selflessly go beyond the call of duty to keep serving their stakeholders. Being deeply invested means they may not feel like they can say no or take time off when they need it.

Many nonprofits are chronically understaffed and constantly scrambling to secure next year’s funding. At the same time, they may be working on intense projects with hard deadlines. And they’re doing all this with a small team of volunteers, part-time employees, and no real HR oversight to speak of. 

According to the American Psychological Association, burnout is most often observed in professionals who work in service-oriented vocations; nonprofit arts education certainly qualifies. Experts have written whole books about how to identify and fix burnout, but we’ll summarize the essentials for you.

How to Spot Nonprofit Burnout Before it Consumes Your Staff

The best time to get rid of burnout is before it happens, but you may already suspect your team is suffering from burnout. 

It might seem like common sense to just ask if people are burned out, but that doesn’t always work. Some employees will feel shame or discomfort if they are burned out—that they should be able to power through to keep serving your community. On top of the stigma, people don’t always know they’re burned out. Often, they need an outside observer to point out the problem. 

Signs of burnout include being available 24/7, skipping lunch, taking more sick days, and having a short temper.

Look around and see if you spot any of these common signs of nonprofit burnout among your team. 

Signs of nonprofit burnout: 

• Working more to do less
• Skipping lunch, breaks, or social events
• Available at all hours
• More sick days
• Short tempers or tears

Any of these signs on their own could be a personal quirk or the result of a bad day. Taken together, they point to just one thing—burnout.

What Nonprofit Organizations Can Do to Prevent Burnout

The good news is that since burnout is often an organization-level problem, you have the power to help your team avoid it. The following systemic changes can help shield your team from some of the stressors that can lead to burnout. 

1. Encourage restful time off.

Time off is more than a benefit, it’s essential to avoiding burnout. People need time to rest and rejuvenate their mind and body. Studies show that productivity falls off sharply when people hit about 50 hours of work per week. So while some nonprofit team members wear overwork as a badge of honor, your most valuable employee is one who is well-rested and burnout free.

Some subtle changes can help give employees permission to fully unplug. For example, you can use the scheduling feature in your email if you need to send a message after hours to avoid accidentally triggering after-hours work. Also, pay attention to how you talk about time off. Comments like “I hope you had a good time while the rest of us worked” or “I wish I could afford to take the afternoon off” leave employees feeling judged and guilty. If you find yourself thinking these thoughts, that may be an indicator that you, yourself, are on the verge of burnout.

Encourage restful time off by:

• Limiting off-hours messages and emails
• Reminding people to use their vacation benefits
• Avoiding statements that make time off sound like a luxury

2. Offer as much flexibility as possible.

Flexible schedules allow people to shift their work time to match the demands of their life. Giving people the power to control their own schedule helps them avoid burnout by managing their tasks and energy. 

Of course, there are some times when you need staff and volunteer coverage. An instructor can’t just not show up to teach a class. But wherever and whenever possible, make it okay for employees to flex their schedules, work from wherever they want, and come and go as needed. 

Offer flexibility by:

• Allowing remote work
• Letting employees flex schedules
• Crosstrain so no one person is carrying too much responsibility
• Offering mobile-friendly work tools

3. Model self care as a leader.

As a leader in your organization, you set the tone for the workplace. If your team sees you always working late, never taking vacation, and working through lunch, they may feel pressured to do the same. On the other hand, if you regularly unplug and take a walk during lunch, they’re more likely to feel free to care for themselves as well. 

Model self care by:

• Leaving work on time
• Taking your vacation days
• Pausing to eat lunch
• Flexing your time for family events

4. Praise and thank your people.

In nonprofit work, it’s easy to run from one major project or challenge to another. Often, we forget to stop and appreciate what we’ve accomplished. Endless work with no reward is a fast track to burnout. Put the brakes on by stopping to thank your employees and volunteers and find ways to reward them for good work.

You can get as creative with this as you want to. Sometimes an old-fashioned thank-you note strikes the right chord. Other times you might want to make a special trophy or entrust someone with The Team Plant.

Acknowledge success by:

• Publicly thanking staff and volunteers
• Building in a rest day after a major project closes
• Celebrate birthdays and life milestones
• Handwrite a thank-you note

5. Evaluate your systems.

Nonprofits often operate on tight budgets. Your organization may be using free tools, software or programs designed for larger or for-profit businesses, or cobbling together some combination of solutions. It may be the way things have always been done, but it’s important to recognize that these hacks and workarounds take a toll. The first step in affecting change is taking inventory.

Identify areas for improvement by:

• Survey your employees on what’s working and what’s not
• For more detail, have staff track a typical day — how many steps does it take them to do certain tasks? Are there any blockers that prevent them from completing things?  
• Talk to other organizations like yours to learn how their systems work and what solutions they use

Awareness and praise alone won’t solve the nonprofit burnout problem, but a culture of gratitude and self-care can go a long way. For more tips on reducing the administrative burden on your staff, subscribe to our blog.

With generative artificial intelligence making headlines all over the place, some education directors and their teams are wondering whether they should use AI to write course descriptions. After all, course description writing can be time consuming, especially for those who are not confident writers or have heavy workloads and limited time to be creative. 

Does AI really save you time writing course descriptions, or are you better off looking for other ways to streamline your processes?

This question of whether to use AI to write course descriptions is not an easy one to answer. It comes down to your goals, level of comfort with the technology, and ethical stance on generative AI tools. Plus, it’s worth considering whether AI really saves you time, or whether you’re better off looking for other ways to streamline your processes. Since we’ve heard this question several times from CourseStorm customers and the internet at large, let’s discuss it. 

Can an AI Writing Tool Create Course Descriptions?

The answer to this question is theoretically yes. AI tools will attempt to write pretty much anything you ask for. Whether they do a good job of it is another story.

Every course description shares a few common goals: 

• Get students excited about the class
• Inform them about benefits and outcomes
• Tell them where and how to register

A quality course description does all of this in a couple of hundred words. It uses words and ideas that will resonate with the intended audience and convince them to take action. This is the standard AI writing tools have to meet.

We tested two web-based, free generative AI tools: ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. These are the most easily accessible options for nonprofits and small businesses. There are dozens of other tools out there, but many involve monthly subscription fees or desktop downloads. 

The user experience for these sites is pretty simple. You visit the site, sign in, and enter your prompt into the chat box. A prompt is the question or request you’d like the technology to answer.

The prompt: Write a class description for an adult improv class that includes “yes, and” improvisation, finding agreement, scene building, and team collaboration.

ChatGPT: First Attempt

The first result ChatGPT spit out was almost 400 words long, so we won’t reproduce the whole thing here. The opening line was: “Welcome to our Adult Improv Class where creativity thrives, laughter echoes, and spontaneity reigns supreme!” Which sounds more like the opening line of a game show than the start of a class description. 

Second Attempt, ChatGPT

One of the interesting things about ChatGPT is that you can ask it to try again and get an instant rewrite. Asking for something a little shorter gave us a much more manageable 95-word result. 

Welcome to our Adult Improv Class! Dive into the exciting world of improvisational theater with a focus on “Yes, And” improvisation, finding agreement, scene building, and team collaboration.

In this class, you’ll:

• Learn the “Yes, And” principle: Embrace spontaneity and build upon your scene partner’s ideas.

• Develop agreement skills: Enhance your ability to listen and create cohesive scenes.

• Master scene building: Discover the essentials of crafting engaging narratives on the spot.

• Foster team collaboration: Work together to create memorable comedic moments.

Join us for a fun and rewarding journey into the heart of improv comedy!

Missing Important Details

This actually isn’t a terrible result. It seems to be factually accurate and looks like a course description. However, it lacks some of the essential information we’d like to see: 

• An opening that hooks the reader
• What students will gain from taking the course
• A call to action

The opening: “Welcome to our Adult Improv Class!” is just fluff. It doesn’t tell the reader anything. The second sentence isn’t much better, it simply lists the four skills covered in the class. It’s then followed by … a list of the four skills covered in the class. Neither of these lists get to the real benefits of the class. 

The last sentence is trying hard to be exciting, but is also almost meaningless. What exactly is the “heart of improv comedy” and why should an adult want to discover it? 

The longer-form ending was slightly better: 

Whether you’re looking to boost your confidence, sharpen your comedic timing, or simply unleash your inner creativity, our Adult Improv Class offers a fun and rewarding journey into the heart of improvisational theater. Join us and embark on an unforgettable adventure where laughter knows no bounds and every moment is an opportunity to shine!

While it produced a factually accurate result, there were lots of meaningless words. We give ChatGPT a C+ in course description writing.

At least this version offers readers the outcome they can expect from the class: boost confidence, sharpen comedic timing, or unleash inner creativity. It’s still surrounded by a lot of meaningless words added simply to build excitement.

Overall, we give ChatGPT a C+ in class description writing.

Google Gemini: First Attempt

Google Gemini is another free-to-use AI writing tool that many organizations have experimented with. The same prompt on Gemini gives a more promising result. It delivered about 200 words in a reasonable format. It certainly looks like a course description. 

Unleash Your Inner Comic with Adult Improv!

Have you always wanted to try improv comedy but felt too intimidated? Our adult improv class is the perfect place to start! In a supportive and fun environment, you’ll learn the fundamentals of improvisation, including:

• The Power of “Yes, And” – The core tenet of improv is to agree with and build upon your scene partner’s ideas. We’ll explore how “yes, and” can help you create spontaneous, hilarious scenes.

• Finding Agreement – Improv is all about creating a world together as a team. You’ll learn how to listen to your scene partners and find common ground to build upon.

• Scene Building Techniques – We’ll teach you the building blocks of improv scenes, from creating characters to developing storylines.

• Team Collaboration – Improv is a team sport! You’ll learn how to work together with your classmates to create scenes that are both funny and engaging.

Benefits of Taking the Class

In addition to being a lot of fun, improv offers a number of benefits, including:

• Boosted confidence and public speaking skills

• Enhanced creativity and thinking on your feet

• Improved listening and communication skills

• Stronger teamwork and collaboration skills

Ready to Get Started?

Sign up for our next adult improv class today! You’ll be amazed at how much you learn and laugh.

Better Results, Subtle Issues

This is a much better description right out of the box. It starts by speaking to one of the reasons people may be reluctant to sign up. Then it includes the skills actors will learn, defining terms that may not be immediately understandable to a novice audience. Finally, it lists the benefits of the class, which are essential points to convince adults that a class is worth taking.

A closer read reveals some potential problems as well. The first line mentions that the reader might be intimidated, but the rest of the description doesn’t do much to overcome that objection. The phrase “supportive and fun environment” is inching closer, but it’s not going to convince a shy person to take action. 

Then we get to those definitions and descriptions, and it turns out some of them may be missing the mark. The description on finding agreement includes the phrase “find common ground to build upon,” which feels more like a conflict resolution meeting rather than something that happens on an improv set. 

Second Attempt, Google Gemini

Unlike ChatGPT, Google Gemini does not offer a regeneration option. If you re-input the same prompt, you do get a different result. That result was clearly weaker than the previous one. It includes phrases like “Improv isn’t just about guffaws” and “springboard to hilarious spontaneity.” In fact, variations of the word “hilarious” appear four times in less than 300 words. 

Pros and Cons: Using AI to Write Course Descriptions

We can’t tell you whether you should use AI to write class descriptions. All we can do is present the pros and cons of using this technology.

Why Use AI to Write Course Descriptions: 

• It’s fast
• You don’t have to be a skilled writer

Drawbacks to Using AI to Write Course Descriptions: 

• Results can be either bland or overly cutesy
• You may need to spend more time editing and refining
• Ethical concerns
• Lacks your unique brand voice

That last point is especially important. Learners have options. They can take classes online, travel to a different location, or simply stay at home and watch clips of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”

Your brand’s unique voice and personality is part of what encourages learners to register. A human writer can draw on their own experience of learning. They may know what it’s like to live in your community or region and write from that perspective. 

Just for fun, we asked Gemini to generate a class description suitable for a Midwestern audience. The results were … questionable. Let’s just say it opened with the line: Ever feel like you’re the life of the county fair but clam up in the city lights?  The “yes, and” approach was described as “like passin’ the gravy.” 

Using AI for writing may alienate some potential students, since many artists and writers have strong objections to AI technology. 

Generative AI programs may be able to write passable text, but they’re still missing a lot of the nuance that human writers bring. They also pose an ethical dilemma, especially for creative arts organizations. Using AI for writing may alienate some potential students, since many artists and writers have strong objections to generative AI technology. 

How to Use AI to Write Course Descriptions

If you do want to experiment with using AI to write course descriptions, get the best results with these best practices: 

• Learn the technology. Writing a good prompt can go a long way. Learn how the technology works and how to write a prompt that delivers the results you want.

• Edit before you post. Read the output carefully and edit where necessary. You should never copy and paste AI output directly into your class catalog. 

• Double-check for the basic elements of a class description: These include a hook, benefits, and call to action. As we saw, many AI tools miss at least one of these.

If you’d rather write your own course description from scratch, these examples and templates will help get you started. 

Better Ways to Save Time

We at CourseStorm are not averse to using AI to save time and solve problems — in fact, we are developing a new AI-powered feature that will simplify running reports on your education program.

In fact, every feature of CourseStorm’s online registration software is designed to save time and reduce the administrative burden on your staff while improving students’ experience at the same time. It’s simple, intuitive, and easy to set up and use, even if you’re not especially tech-savvy.

An arts education director who tried it told us, “I opened CourseStorm and built a class in 3 minutes!” But don’t take our word for it. Sign up for a free trial today and find out for yourself!

Any arts or education program offering classes to the public needs a mobile-friendly class registration and management system. It’s just not optional anymore. Students, instructors, and administrative staff expect to be able to access essential course information on the go. 

With 60% of time online spent on mobile devices, your students and staff expect to be able to register and access course info on the go. 

Globally, about 60% of the time people spend online happens on a mobile phone. In the U.S. 15% of adults are smartphone-only internet users. Trying to run arts or education classes without a mobile-friendly system leads to: 

• Missed registrations because people can’t take action whenever they think of it. They have to wait until they’re at their computer, if they have one at all.

• Unhappy customers who are annoyed or inconvenienced by digging out their laptop, which they really only use for work anyway.

• Time wasted by instructors and administrators who would happily manage their classes while commuting but can’t, because they only have a mobile phone with them.

• Extra admin when customers call or send emails to try to register for classes instead of using the all-in-one registration and payment system on your website.

A mobile-friendly class registration system is convenient for customers and instructors. It makes registration available anytime, anywhere, and lets everyone make the best use of their time.

Here’s a closer look at why your arts or education program absolutely can’t go another day without mobile-friendly class registration software.

If you’re already convinced that adding mobile registration is the right choice for your program, it’s time to give CourseStorm a try. Start your free trial today and discover how much simpler course administration can be.

CourseStorm: Simple, Mobile-Friendly Class Registration

CourseStorm is class registration, payment, and management software designed to be simple to use on any device. It’s mobile friendly and user friendly for both registrants and staff. All pages on a CourseStorm site, from class listings to registration pages, are automatically optimized for mobile devices. There’s nothing you have to do or set to make a CourseStorm site friendly for mobile users — it just is.

1. Keep Customers Engaged By Improving the User Experience on Mobile Devices

Most people have used their smartphone to visit a website that forced them to zoom in on text to read it, or scroll left-to-right to find information. It’s frustrating. These websites haven’t bothered to make their content mobile friendly, they simply display the desktop version without regard for the smaller screen. Customers are likely to click away in frustration. 

At CourseStorm, user experience is our guiding principle. We design and test our software to make it impossibly simple for almost any user. As one customer put it, “If you can use email, you can use CourseStorm.”

A website that is not optimized for mobile might look fine on the desktop version, where the text is large enough to read and the links are easily clickable. But the mobile version is another story. Everything shrinks down, to fit the smaller screen. The text is tiny and the pictures are distorted. Good luck trying to click on any of those links without accidentally hitting the one beside it. 

For contrast, below you can see what a class listing on CourseStorm looks like on a mobile phone screen. The text is large and easy to read. Buttons are large enough, with space around them so you can click with precision.

2. Break Down Access Barriers by Letting Mobile Users Register Without Downloading Extra Apps

Some programs require people to use proprietary apps for registration. That means customers have to download your software to their phone, where precious storage space is already full of their favorite mobile games, social media apps, work tools, and videos of their pets. 

The last thing most people want is one more mobile app to download, especially if they’re a first-time user who is just learning about your program. Adding that extra step might just mean they choose not to register at all. 

CourseStorm allows users to register and access their user profile from any device with an internet connection — no download required. That means they can use their mobile phone or borrow a friend’s iPad to sign-up, pay, and manage their registration.

Imagine two friends out at lunch and one of them is telling the other about the interpretive dance class they took last week. It sounds fun, and the friend is interested in signing up. But, they’ve never taken a class from you before, so they’re not willing to commit to downloading an app. Fortunately, they don’t have to, because you use CourseStorm. They can pick up their mobile phone, go right to your website, and register without leaving the table. They can even register their friend at the same time! 

Ready to make your class registration site mobile accessible? Start your free trial of CourseStorm today and see the difference for yourself.

3. Mobile-Friendly Websites and Class Pages Rank Higher on Google

Google believes in mobile-friendly websites. In fact, the search engine actually prioritizes sites that are mobile friendly. So if you want your site to show up when people search for things like “art classes near me” or “painting class for adults” you want your website to be easily accessible from a tablet or smartphone. 

That’s just one of the many reasons CourseStorm makes mobile-friendly the default mode. Ranking on Google helps your classes get discovered by more people, which results in more registrations. 

When a local dad is standing on the sidewalk waiting for his girls to get out of school, he might realize that summer is fast approaching. Maybe it’s time to sign the girls up for a summer camp. He pulls his smartphone out of his pocket and types “art summer camps” into Google. Fortunately, your CourseStorm site is mobile friendly, so it’s right at the top of the page. He clicks, and before you know it, you have two new campers signed up for the first July session.

4. Make Administrative Tasks Easier So They Get Done Fast and Accurately

Instructors and administrators are busy. They don’t always have time to sit at the desk in their office, boot up their computer, access course files, and do all the admin associated with their classes. These tasks tend to pile up, resulting in bottlenecks or mistakes as they try to reconstruct records days or weeks later. 

With CourseStorm, instructors and administrators can access course material from wherever they have a mobile phone. That means they don’t have to lug a laptop to an art class. They can update attendance records on the fly, or send a quick follow-up note to students while riding the train or ferry home from class. 

You need to keep accurate attendance records, because your grant funding depends on it. On the other hand, your instructors are more focused on supporting the students in front of them. They don’t have time to run to their office between sessions, so they keep notes on printed papers that they transcribe later. It’s not efficient and sometimes papers get lost. Enter CourseStorm. Suddenly instructors can quickly take attendance without disrupting the flow of their classes. Everybody wins. 

5. Get Mobile-Friendly Design With No Special Technical Expertise Required

Some class catalog hosting and registration programs make it hard to create a mobile friendly website. They offer you a bunch of options you may not understand or expect you to use plug-ins and special code. After lots of frustration, you have a mobile site that doesn’t quite work, but you don’t know how to fix it. 

The only solution is to hire a web designer or app developer to customize something for you. That costs you time and money, while delaying roll-out of your mobile solution.

CourseStorm helps you skip all that frustration. Every page of your site, from class catalog through payment confirmation, is automatically mobile friendly. There’s nothing to turn on, download, or pay a developer to change. It’s all built in.

For Mobile-Friendly Class Registration, Choose CourseStorm

Mobile friendly means user friendly, and that means more registrations, happier customers, and less frazzled admins and instructors. It’s time to modernize your class registration software with CourseStorm. Discover what all the fuss is about. Start your free trial of CourseStorm now.

When summer camp registration season hits, you have to be ready. The torrent of forms, payments, and questions can leave your team floundering.

Camp directors start looking for summer camp registration software when they get tired of:

• Complex registration systems that confuse parents and frustrate staff members.
• Wasting time chasing down payments or missing forms.
• Manually managing changes to registrations, cancellations, and payment plans.
• Paying monthly subscription fees for a program they only use a few months of the year.

With the right summer camp registration software, you can ride the registration wave. Parents can register online with a self-service tool that liberates staff from the administrative burden. Say goodbye to frustrated parents, frantic last-minute calls, and lines wrapping around the block.

Finding the Best Summer Camp Registration Software

Here’s a look at 5 summer camp online registration software options so you can find the best summer camp registration software for your campers, parents, and staff.

Registration Options Compared:

• CourseStorm
• Sawyer
• RegFox
• Jackrabbit
• Regpack

If you need a camp registration software that can simplify the process and make changes easier, start your free trial of CourseStorm now.

CourseStorm

CourseStorm is an impossibly simple class and camp registration software that’s flexible enough to meet unique program needs. Whether your camp is a supplement to the classes you run all year round, or a seasonal event that happens once a year, we have the tools you need to register campers while keeping parents and staff happy.

Key Feature 1 – Registration and Payment Software in One Simple Package

Paper forms, call-to-register, and parent walk-ins just don’t meet your needs anymore. If you’ve ever had to hire temporary staff or deal with phones ringing off the hook, it’s time for a better solution. Maybe you’ve tried using Google Forms and a third-party payment service, resulting in missed payments and mismatched records. Your staff and parents deserve better.

With CourseStorm, you get a seamless all-in-one registration and payment solution. Parents can click a button to register and pay without ever leaving your course catalog. If they want to register multiple children, they can do that all in the same transaction.

Payment plans are also built in. Parents can opt in to have funds automatically deducted from their account on pre-set dates. Suddenly, camp is more accessible and your staff is free to focus on campers rather than credit cards.

Picture this: the registration window opens for your summer arts camp. Within minutes, your program is completely sold out and you have a waiting list. That might sound like a fantasy, but it’s a real experience from a CourseStorm customer. Within days, those payments are in their account and ready to be invested back into the camp.

Key Feature 2 – Collect the Exact Information You Need Without Frustrating Customers With Unnecessary Requests

Parents have enough on their plate without filling out unnecessary information on a one-size-fits all form. Make that the norm, and you’ll end up with frustrated parents and duplicate information to sort through.

CourseStorm offers fully customizable registration forms that let you collect exactly the information you need and nothing more. Add links to your privacy policy and get parental consent with the click of a check-box. All of the information is securely stored in the user profile so they can easily update, change, or manage their registrations.

If you’re offering both day camp and overnight camp, you’ll need additional information from your overnight campers. You might want to share a unique supply list or get consent for special programs and events. With CourseStorm you can easily build custom forms for each audience including all of the sign-offs and information sharing you need — and nothing you don’t!

Key Feature 3 – Effortlessly Manage Changes and Additions Online

Some camp registration software makes you dig through complex menus or even call customer service to change a reservation or issue a refund. At CourseStorm we believe your program and registrants should have full control over the process. You can manage registration changes, refunds, or even move campers between programs with just a few clicks.

According to our 2024 State of the Arts Report about 15% of kids’ arts camps and classes have waiting lists. If you’re one of them, parents on the waitlist will be automatically notified when a spot becomes available for their child. Take back control of your registrations with CourseStorm.

Just imagine it’s two days before the start of your Shakespeare in the park summer acting camp, when the weather stations start warning of a hurricane coming your way. You’re going to have to contact the families of 40 kids to let them know that camp is canceled. It’s not ideal, but you don’t have to panic because you have CourseStorm.

With just a few clicks you can email everyone and offer a refund or transfer to another session. Everyone knows exactly what’s going on, and you can focus on preparing for the storm instead of fielding phone calls.

Key Feature 4 – Affordable Software That Flexes to Fit Your Budget

Summer camp season is short, but some software providers make you pay for your summer camp online registration software all year long. That doesn’t make sense to us. At CourseStorm, you only pay for the students you actually enroll. There are no contracts and no monthly fees. Just simple, transparent pricing that flexes with your registration levels.

Maybe your museum-based arts education program only offers classes a few times a year. Summer camp is your biggest draw, but you also offer some sessions during spring break and in the lead-up to the holidays. CourseStorm will get a percentage of the registration fees you collect, but in the off months, you won’t owe us anything.

If you’re ready to try the best summer camp registration software for arts and community education programs, you’re ready to try CourseStorm. Sign up for your free trial today.

Sawyer

Sawyer is built for kids camps and classes, which they list directly in the “marketplace” on their website. Registrations through those listings incur a 30% marketplace fee, which gets smaller as you upgrade your plan. You’ll also pay a monthly flat fee in addition to that marketplace charge.

That price tag comes with some useful features. You can take registrations directly on your site, offer discounts, and integrate with Constant Contact or Mailchimp for marketing.

Features and Capabilities:

• Marketplace listings
• Family profiles and group registration
• Standard add-ons like early drop-off and late pickup
• Weekly secure payouts

RegFox

RegFox is event registration software that also offers some functionality for camps. You can set up merchandise and product sale add-ons, which is great if you have tee shirts or other camp swag to sell. Other tools, like badge printing, are more useful for adult events.

They do offer capability for onsite payments, design customization tools, and plenty of 3rd party integrations. Services like email marketing automation and text messaging come with an extra monthly fee attached.

Features and Capabilities:

• Check-in App
• Social media plug-ins
• Collect donations from your registration page
• Lots of page design options

JackRabbit

Another kid-focused registration software, JackRabbit is designed for gymnastics, dance, swim, cheer, and music programs. This is a great solution for youth activity centers that already use it for their year-round classes.

They offer a parent portal that lets parents track their child’s skill development and access account details. Parents can even watch classes with live streaming.

Features and Capabilities:

• Student skill tracking
• Staff time clock
• Uniform and performance management
• Integrated point of sale system

Regpack

Originally designed for billing automation, Regpack has some useful tools for managing payments. They’re a great fit for subscription-based programs, but may be unwieldy for seasonal camps or day camps.

Features and Capabilities:

• Customizable registration forms
• Payment plans
• Campers can reserve spots without paying
• Group registration

When’s the Best Time to Choose Summer Camp Registration Software?

Our SOAR report revealed that students register an average of 71 days before summer arts camps or classes, so you can’t put this off.  It’s time to pick the best summer camp registration software for your program. If you need a little more help deciding, start your free trial of CourseStorm today and test drive our camp registration software for yourself.

Tight budgets, understaffing, and privacy concerns are putting pressure on nonprofit organizations to modernize their class registration systems. These concerns become even more pressing as your organization grows. Students will no longer stand for time-consuming or cumbersome registration processes, and your instructors may not be able to manage attendance and student communications manually as enrollment increases.

Don’t risk losing students or staff due to outdated registration systems. 

Arts nonprofits need modern class registration software that includes a few essential conveniences that customers and administrators have come to expect in 2024:

1. A smooth and accessible online checkout process that’s easy to use

Complex course registration systems confuse potential students. And a confused customer is unlikely to take action. When organizations cobble together registration systems from multiple tools, or worse, ask students to call or drop in to register, they lose sign-ups. 

Modern class management software streamlines the registration process with a seamless interface that guides registrants from the course catalog, to a registration form, to payment with the click of a button.

2. Mobile-friendly interface that lets you and your students manage classes on the go

Modern learners live in an on-demand culture. They can listen to their favorite song, order groceries, and manage their bank balance, all from their smartphone. They expect class registration to be just as convenient. 

Modern class registration software must be mobile-friendly to meet learners and instructors where they are. They should be able to easily manage registrations from any device with internet access.

3. Tools to easily manage registration changes and keep classes full

In an unpredictable world, classes sometimes fill faster than you anticipated or have to be canceled due to weather or instructor illness. Old-fashioned registration tools force you to manage waiting lists manually or email individual students to let them know a class is being postponed.

Modern class registration software allows you to automatically manage waiting lists and easily notify students of changes to their registration. You can issue a refund or transfer students between classes with just a click. 

4. Seamless registration and payment on a secure platform for peace of mind

Taking payments over the phone or on physical forms is an information security nightmare. One misplaced form could lead to theft of funds or identities. These are risks your organization and customers can’t afford to take. 

Registrants want assurance that their credit card information and other personal details are stored securely. If they don’t trust your website, they won’t register.

Modern class registration software processes payments using the latest encryption and security features so registrants feel confident sharing personal information.

5. Automated and AI-powered marketing tools to keep customers engaged

Are you sick of hearing, “I wish I’d known about that class”? In a marketing-saturated world, it can be hard to get your classes in front of people who’d love to take them. 

Modern class registration software incorporates the right marketing to help you keep customers engaged, even if you can’t afford to hire a full-time marketing person. 

To see modern course registration software in action, start your free trial of CourseStorm today.

CourseStorm: The Modern Class Registration Software Solution

CourseStorm’s class registration software is designed with nonprofits in mind. We help arts education programs and community ed programs modernize their class registration with simple, accessible tools that anyone can learn. 

Welcome More Learners With Our Streamlined Registration and Checkout Process

No more juggling multiple tools or chasing registrants for payments. CourseStorm’s streamlined registration and checkout process moves registrants smoothly from interest, to registration, to payment. Your instructors will never have to wonder if all students have paid or collect payments from those who haven’t. 

CourseStorm even offers a simple group registration process, so friends or families can sign up to share the experience of a class together. That local Adventurers Club can sign up their whole group all at once. They might even manage to fill a class all by themselves.

Manage Registrations Anywhere With Mobile-Friendly Software

Empower students to register and manage registrations from anywhere with a mobile-friendly platform. Instructors and administrators also get mobile-friendly access so they can make the most of their time between classes.

One of our customers, who happens to be located on an island, told us how their instructors check class details on their mobile phones while riding the ferry to and from work. 

Change and Update Registrations to Keep Classes Full

Throw out your phone tree and shred the manual waiting list. CourseStorm can automatically notify students if a class is changed or canceled. For popular classes, it can add students to the waiting list and notify them when a spot opens up. Then they can register with the click of a button. They can even opt in to SMS reminders about upcoming classes.

CourseStorm’s automatic waiting list features eliminate the need to manually manage your waitlists.

Maybe you’ve been in this situation: Your most popular class is always overbooked, but you can’t add more sessions, so you’re left managing an unwieldy waiting list. Last month you made three phone calls before someone picked up, and then the first person called back and was mad you didn’t wait to hear back from them. 

Imagine deciding enough is enough. You get CourseStorm, automate the waitlist, and let it manage itself. Suddenly you have more time to spend on the creative work that only you can do, and customers aren’t mad at you anymore. That’s a win-win.

Provide Peace of Mind With Secure Payment Processing

Your learners are used to shopping online. They appreciate being in charge of where and how their information is used. With CourseStorm, you give them complete control over their own information.

Forget messy paperwork and stop obsessing over who went home with the key to the filing cabinet. CourseStorm streamlines registration and payment processing into a single, secure process. With security features that are PCI compliant and meet industry best practices, we store data in state-of-the-art data centers with multi-tiered security systems. Nightly and weekly backups ensure your data is always up to date. 

Engage Customers and Learners Through Automatic Email Marketing

Simplify your marketing calendar with built-in automatic email marketing. CourseStorm can send customized automated emails to customers letting them know about classes they might be interested in. 

Imagine the busy single dad with two daughters. One has taken your Fairy Tale Improv class. The other took Playwriting for Kids. When you add Graphic Novels on Stage to the class calendar, dad gets an email letting him know it’s time to sign up.

See all of these modern registration features (and more) in action, start your free trial of CourseStorm today.

Support and Integrations to Help You Modernize Class Registration

We know change can be challenging, especially for bootstrapped nonprofits working with volunteers and small staffs. As part of our commitment to simplicity, we’ve built an easy-to-use software tool.

One of our users recently told us: “If you can use email, you can use CourseStorm.” 

Even though our software is impossibly simple, we still offer live group webinars to help you set up your program and get accustomed to the software. Our robust help site and responsive email support team are also there for you whenever a question pops up.

CourseStorm software also integrates with many of the tools you’re already using, including Little Green Light and PatronManager. We have an easy-to-install WordPress plug-in, a calendar feed that works with all your favorite calendar programs, and tons of other integrations available through Zapier. 

We believe an upgrade should make everything easier. 

Claim All the Modern Conveniences Your Learners and Instructors Deserve With CourseStorm

It’s time to claim all the time-creating, satisfaction building, peace-of-mind offering solutions of a modern class registration system. Your learners and instructors deserve them, and your nonprofit will run better with them in place. 

Start your free trial of CourseStorm today and see what modern class registration software can do for your program.

Aubrey Bergauer has been called “the Steve Jobs of classical music” and “the Sheryl Sandberg of the symphony” for her customer-focused, data-backed strategies to help performing arts organizations be as profitable as corporate heavy-hitters like Amazon, Zappos, and Netflix. 

“I believe that nonprofit is a tax status, not a scarcity mindset or can’t-make-money mandate.” – author and arts consultant Aubrey Bergauer

A former chief executive of the California Symphony, Bergauer led the organization to double the size of its audience and nearly quadruple its donor base. As a speaker, consultant, podcaster, and now author, she encourages arts and culture nonprofit organizations to take lessons from the for-profit sector to become more relevant, inclusive, and growth-minded to reach modern audiences. 

“I believe that nonprofit is a tax status, not a scarcity mindset or can’t-make-money mandate,” Aubrey Bergauer writes in the introduction of her new book, Run it Like a Business: Strategies for Arts Organizations to Increase Audiences, Remain Relevant, and Multiply Money—Without Losing the Art. Here are some other takeaways from the book. 

Create a Better Customer Experience

While the industry cry is, “We need new audiences!” Bergauer says we have misidentified the problem. An analysis of 400 arts databases in North America and the U.K. found that more than half of all ticket-buyers are first-time bookers. Yet in the U.S., 90% of first-time orchestra attendees never return. Yikes. “The issue isn’t getting people to come to the arts; it’s getting people to come back,” writes Bergauer. 

The issue isn’t getting new audiences to come to the arts; it’s getting people to come back.

That matters because those first-time audiences are the entry point from which all other relationships develop. Concert attendees may become donors who then sign up their kids for music camp and so on. So what’s keeping them from coming back? The user experience. 

In focus groups for the California Symphony, Bergauer found that participants’ frustrations included not being able to understand the organization’s website, which was written for insiders familiar with music terminology. 

In fact, many arts organizations make this mistake and end up confusing their customers with unfamiliar jargon or terminology. If your art class enrollments are low, perhaps course listings for classes in “dramaturgy” or “handbuilding” need to be rewritten as “playwriting” and “pottery.” 

Action step: Consider asking a few people outside of your organization to read over your website and share feedback from a newcomer’s perspective. Is it clear and welcoming? Is it easy to understand or confusing? 

Bergauer calls these the three Fs of the new customer experience: having a newcomer focus on the website, being newcomer friendly in the venue, and creating newcomer-facing marketing. 

Engage Customers With Multiple Offerings

If someone buys a ticket to a performance, offering them an annual subscription is not the only opportunity—and in fact, it may turn them off. Many arts orgs are guilty of upselling too much, too soon, according to Bergauer. A first-time concert attendee is likely not going to respond to a request for a donation or to purchase a gala table. 

A better strategy is to get patrons to repeat the behaviors we want through what’s called “behavioral segmentation.” Starbucks did it right with their “treat receipt” program that gave customers a discount off beverage purchases later the same day—encouraging them to repeat a behavior they’ve already done: buying coffee.

For an arts education program, this may look like sending personalized emails to students who’ve taken, say, your Intro to Beadwork class, letting them know about an upcoming Beaded Jewelry Class they may be interested in. (By the way, CourseStorm has an automatic email marketing feature that does just that. Customers attribute 14% of enrollments to these emails alone.) 

A smart strategy is to get people to repeat behaviors. For example, if someone has taken a pottery class, send them an email suggesting other classes they might enjoy. 

Bergauer advises arts orgs to also get customers involved with a second type of content, like a pre-show talk, an artist meet-and-greet, or a special exhibit opening. An organization she worked for ran a report and found that 75% of their donors were consuming multiple content types. 

This is true for many arts organizations. They may have performances, membership, gallery exhibits, classes, and more. As Bergauer illustrated with the above example, it’s important to have software that integrates customer data from all these areas so you can run reports to get a true picture of participant behavior and target your offerings accordingly. 

Action step: Your second type of content can be as simple as packaging your classes as products that people can purchase to give as gifts. Here’s how to do it. 

Strive for Relevance 

Studying top brands like Apple and Peloton, Bergauer found that relevance is the most reliable indicator of a brand’s long-term success. So what is relevance, and what does it mean for arts and culture organizations?

The first criterion for relevance is meeting the needs of your customers. In the case of arts education programs, that requires asking for and responding to student feedback. Only 4% of dissatisfied customers will tell you they’re unhappy, so proactively requesting input is a good idea. 

Staying relevant requires proactively gathering feedback from your customers and knowing what matters to them. 

Another way to stay relevant is by staying on top of trends and knowing what matters to your audience. Current marketing trends show that consumers care about supporting local businesses, sustainability, and quality of life. Highlight those aspects of your program, whether that’s a partnership with a local business, an art class using upcycled materials, or enhancing connection among older people in your community through creative aging programs.  

“The benefits of relevance are generally obvious: customers give us free marketing with their posts online, this positive organic endorsement results in five times more sales than direct advertising, buzz about the organization swells, our patron base grows, donations increase,” writes Bergauer. 

Action step: Collect valuable student feedback by writing better course evaluation questions and downloading our customizable template. 

Resources to Run Your Arts Ed Program Like a Business

Run It Like a Business is packed with practical tips and strategies arts nonprofits can start implementing immediately, along with real-world case studies of successful organizations. 

For more data-backed info specifically for arts education programs, check out CourseStorm’s new State of the Arts Report. We dug into 10+ years of our customer data to find out what profitable programs are doing to enroll and retain more students. Download your free copy here.

Jargon, buzzwords, industry speak — whatever you call it, most organizations have an internal language that doesn’t make sense to outsiders. That’s fine in a board meeting, but it can lead to confused customers when you’re marketing your classes. 

Even the most down-to-earth organization can evolve its own language over time. What sounds like a perfectly clear offer to you can end up confusing your potential students. That’s a problem because people don’t buy what they can’t understand. 

As part of our commitment to simplicity, we want to help you clarify your message. Let’s talk about how to notice when your message is confusing, and what you can do to fix it. 

How to Tell if Customers Are Confused

Most organizations could benefit from making their messaging clearer. Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell that a message isn’t as clear as you thought. After all, you know what you mean. Keep an eye out for these four signals that you might have a messaging problem.

1. People don’t seem to understand your offer. 
2. You hear the same questions over and over.
3. Registration is low overall (or for a specific class).
4. You get no response from a normally engaged audience.

Any of these four situations can point to a messaging problem. Stay alert for these signals, because most customers won’t reach out and say, “Hey, I didn’t understand your last email at all.” They’ll just ignore it. 

Clearer messaging in your course marketing can lead to more engagement, fewer questions, and higher registration numbers.

It’s up to you to notice that there’s a potential problem. Then you can test and see if clearer messaging leads to more engagement, fewer questions, and higher registration numbers. Before we get into how to do that, let’s consider some common sources of customer confusion. 

Common Sources of Customer Confusion

Any email, social media post, or class listing you publish has the potential to cause confusion. Everyone has their own perspective and context. So what’s perfectly clear to you might be as muddy as old paintbrush water to your students. Here are a few circumstances that often result in confused customers.

Offering too many options in a single class listing or email. 
You might think that offering lots of choices is the best way to meet student needs. In reality, too many choices can be overwhelming. If you’re offering multiple sessions or formats for the same class, set these up as unique course listings. 

Assuming knowledge of your registration system or process. 
You’ve been using the same system or process for a while, so you assume that everyone knows how to use it. Keep in mind that someone might have just discovered your program for the first time, and they won’t know anything about how it works. So you have to tell them. Include clear directions on where and how to register.

Offering too many options, assuming people know how to register, and using unfamiliar jargon or language are all common sources of customer confusion.

Sharing non-essential details in the class listing. 
You don’t want to assume knowledge, but you also don’t want to bombard students with too much information. Think about which information they need to know up front, and what can wait until the first class. For example, the time and location of your class are essential, but you can wait until the first day to tell them that they’ll need to bring a photo of themselves to the third session.

Using unconventional language in headings and descriptions.
You may have strong opinions about how your industry should work. Sometimes that is reflected in the language you use. You might think that we should stop talking about “art” and start exploring creative play, but parents looking for an art class for their child may skip right past your listing for a creative play class because they don’t immediately understand what it means. 

Besides, using common words and phrases helps people discover your classes. Try to use the words and phrases people are most likely to type into a search engine when looking for classes like yours.

Using confusing language anywhere. 
Jargon, acronyms, and overly formal language can confuse potential registrants. The word “dramaturgy” may be correct, but inviting students to a “playwriting” class is more straightforward. Unless you’re offering an advanced course, keep the language simple and accessible. 

How to Fix Your Messaging Problem

If you suspect you have a messaging problem, take action. The longer you delay, the more students are likely to miss out on your classes. Here’s a four-step process to help. 

Step 1: Identify the source of the confusion using the list above.

Step 2: Rewrite or redesign your message for clarity.

Step 3: Talk to students and ask for feedback on the changes.

Step 4: Monitor your results.

The best way to tell if your changes worked is to track the number of questions and registrations you receive. If questions decrease and registrations increase, you’ve probably made your message clearer. 

“We’ve increased enrollments and eliminated nearly all the phone calls we used to receive from confused parents.” – a CourseStorm customer

By using CourseStorm, Princeton Academy of Art has reduced the time they previously spent managing enrollment by 80% and increased enrollments in their classes. In addition, “We’ve eliminated nearly all the phone calls we used to receive from confused parents,” they shared.

One Last Tip to Eliminate Customer Confusion

A convoluted registration process can confuse customers as quickly as poor messaging. CourseStorm’s integrated online registration and payment platform keeps registration simple. Registrants can easily fill out your registration form, pay for the class, and even get class meeting reminders all on one simple platform. 

To see how easy it is, start your free trial of CourseStorm today.