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12 Ways Mobile Swim Schools Can Improve Customer Service | MarketBox

12 Ways Mobile Swim Schools Can Improve Customer Service

Excellent customer service keeps students at your mobile swim school satisfied and returning for more lessons. But maintaining high levels of customer service requires continuous effort from your whole team — it shouldn’t just fall to your swim instructors. Even if your mobile swim school is a one-person show, there are still plenty of steps to take that will improve your customer service. 

Read on to discover twelve ways you can improve customer service for your mobile swim school, no matter its size. 

How to Improve Your Swim School’s Customer Service

how to improve customer service for mobile swim schools

1. Review your onboarding process for new students 

Your onboarding process for new students sets the tone for how your customers perceive your mobile swim school and the customer service they can expect. Neglecting your onboarding process may result in lost sales or, at the very least, a lot of inquiries for your office team to deal with.  

If you’re trying to improve your mobile swim school’s customer service experience, consider what information you give parents/students when they sign up for their first lesson. Helpful information to include in your onboarding process could include

  • Tips on how to prepare for the first lesson, e.g., tips for getting children excited or steps parents can take at bath time to get infants used to the water
  • The average time a student spends in each swim level 
  • What to expect from the first lesson, e.g., how much time is spent in the water, what skills are introduced, etc. 
  • What to bring to the lesson — for mobile swim lessons, it’s expected that instructors provide equipment unless stated otherwise, but a reminder to bring a towel and apply sunscreen doesn’t go amiss! 

2. Optimize customer service channels 

Another great way to improve your swim school’s customer service is to review and optimize your communication channels

How can your students get in touch if they have questions or issues? 

Do your current communication channels match your customer's preferred communication methods? 

It can be tempting to offer too many communication channels in an effort to please everyone. But if you can contact your swim school via Facebook, Instagram, email, phone, text, live chat, a contact form, and a mailing address, it can be a lot for your team to monitor, which leads to longer customer response times. 

Consider the size of your team and their current workload before introducing a new communication method. If you have a current communication channel that rarely gets used, consider streamlining your options. 

3. Introduce online booking & payment options (purpose-built for mobile swim lessons)

75% of customers want to book and manage their appointments online. Introducing online booking options to your website is an easy way to improve customer service for your mobile swim school. 

However, booking in-home swim lessons isn’t as easy as scheduling lessons out of a fixed pool location because you have to manage scheduling providers across multiple locations while accounting for travel time. That’s why it’s essential to choose Appointment Management Software that can handle the complex requirements of a mobile business.

MarketBox is the only Appointment Management Software that’s purpose-built for businesses offering in-home and mobile services. The all-in-one platform makes scheduling appointments, coordinating providers, and processing payments easy. 

To learn more about how MarketBox can benefit your mobile swim school, book a personalized platform walkthrough with one of our experts. 

4. Simplify your website navigation 

Customer service starts the minute a prospective customer lands on your website. If your website is challenging to navigate and visitors can’t find the information they’re looking for, they will likely leave without taking action. 

The three main reasons someone visits your mobile swim school’s website are

  1. To find out what you offer & how much it costs
  2. To find out your availability & book 
  3. To ask a question 

With that in mind, ensure your contact and pricing pages are easy to find and that your online booking link is clearly labeled. If you have an FAQ page, review the questions to ensure it covers the main topics a potential or existing customer might have. 

Some questions to cover include

  • What is your refund/cancellation policy?
  • What happens if the weather is bad on the day of my lesson? 
  • How do I reschedule a lesson?
  • Do you offer trial lessons? 
  • Are your swim instructors certified? 
  • What age can my student start swimming? 

You should also have dedicated landing pages for each of your services so customers can find out more before booking. Dedicated landing pages will also help improve your SEO and get more eyes on your website because they’re another opportunity to add keywords. 

5. Clearly explain your refund/cancellation policy 

We touched on it briefly above, but clearly displaying your refund/cancellation policy on your website is important for improving customer service. It reduces the number of inquiries your team has to deal with by giving customers the information they need upfront.

Not only should your refund and cancellation policies be easy to find on your website, but they should also be easy to understand. Clearly state your terms, and don’t overcomplicate things. If you need guidance, plenty of templates are available online to help. 

6. Launch a customer loyalty program 

A survey of Millennial and Gen Z consumers found that 63% would not commit to a brand that doesn’t offer loyalty benefits. 

A customer loyalty program is a simple way to encourage repeat sales and keep students returning to your mobile swim school. You could allow customers to accrue points or collect stamps on each order that earns them a free swim lesson or money off their next booking. 

Tip: Introduce a referral program alongside it to encourage your customers to bring new students to your swim school. After all, your customers are your most valuable marketing tool

7. Offer lesson packs or discount rates on bulk orders 

Offering customers convenience is another way to improve customer service for your mobile swim school. You can’t learn to swim in just one lesson, so why restrict customers to only booking one lesson at a time?

Create lesson packs and offer discounts when customers book lessons in bulk; for example, if one lesson is $100, offer ten lessons at $80 each. 

Most Swim School Software has a package feature allowing you to offer lesson packs in addition to one-off bookings. MarketBox even allows customers to purchase lesson packs upfront and store the credits for use in the future. That way, they can still take advantage of the discounted rate if they’re not ready to schedule all their lessons at once. 

8. Hire quality swim instructors & focus on training 

Although your whole team is responsible for upholding high customer service standards, it’s your swim instructors that customers interact with most. They’re the face of your mobile swim school, so focus on hiring experienced instructors and investing in training to ensure they’re always ready to perform at their best. 

9. Reduce customer response times 

Another great way to improve customer service levels in your mobile swim school is to reduce customer response times. For good customer service, customer inquiries should be responded to as quickly as possible and always within 24 hours (Monday-Friday).

You should also reduce delays between a booking request and confirmation. Introducing online booking options that let customers self-schedule their swim lessons will help, as they can get instant confirmations. 

To avoid answering customer inquiries 24/7, create (or update) an FAQ page or introduce a chatbot that answers common questions — just make sure a customer can still get through to a human (or leave them a message) if needed.   

10. Automate appointment reminders 

Customer service is all about supporting your customers and making it easier for them to do business with your swim school. Automated appointment reminders are just one easy way to do this. 

For something like swim lessons, which are often scheduled in advance and booked more than one at a time, appointment reminders are a great way to notify students of upcoming classes they might have forgotten about. By automating your reminders through your Appointment Management Software, your team has one less thing to remember and you know the reminders got sent on time. 

11. Collect feedback & action it quickly 

If your goal is to improve customer service, the easiest way to identify areas of improvement is to ask your customers! Make it a habit to ask for feedback from students, and if you get negative feedback, take action on it quickly. 

Collecting feedback could involve sending review requests, customer satisfaction surveys, or simply a call to action at the bottom of emails encouraging customers to reach out. 

12. Send student progress reports 

Lastly, sending regular progress reports is a great way to make students feel valued and encourage them to book more lessons. You can improve customer satisfaction levels by highlighting their progress (and, therefore, the value you’re offering). 

This regular correspondence also opens up a communication channel that students can use to voice concerns, give praise, or send feedback. 

As you can see, there are a number of ways to improve customer service for your mobile swim school. If you’re interested in learning more about customer service topics, take a look at our article on how to handle customer complaints or this short guide to asking customers for reviews.

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