When it comes to providing their children with an academic boost, there’s almost nothing parents won’t do.
But students and parents also lead incredibly busy lives. Finding the right time for tutoring and academic development can be tricky between work, class, sports practice, and clubs/organizations. Huntington Learning Center (HLC) has found that Apptoto makes the entire experience easier for its staff and customers. It allows them to manage their appointments with less legwork and lets parents find just the right time for their students to get educational assistance.
HLC provides personalized, one-on-one help for students in a range of subjects. They also provide test preparation help for ACT, SAT, AP tests, and more. Customers can book sessions on the website for an available time that’s convenient for them.
Apptoto’s appointment management system has allowed the staff to focus more time and energy on the important work with students rather than setting and managing appointment times.
Meet Mallory Gazda
Imagine being in charge of helping hundreds of students meet their academic goals every year. It’s rewarding work but also confers a great deal of responsibility.
Mallory Gazda and her team help hundreds of families and students each year at two HLC locations in New Jersey. Needless to say, being dependable and managing a schedule is a huge part of her business.
When she set out to find a way to streamline her company, Gazda wasn’t specifically looking for appointment reminder software for her tutoring business. But she’s now found that the appointment reminder and scheduling features Apptoto offers have become indispensable as part of their business.
We met with Mallory to learn exactly how Apptoto has created value for the company.
Can you briefly describe your business?
At Huntington Learning Center, we understand that one size does not fit all students. Our method is a four-step approach that works and truly sets our programs apart. We have decades of experience and countless success stories to prove it. If your student needs a tutor who can provide personalized, one-on-one attention, come to one of our learning centers to find out how we can help enrich his or her academic journey.
What were some common challenges HLC used to face that have been reduced or eliminated by Apptoto?
An important aspect of our program is that we meet with families frequently regarding student progress and instruction. With Apptoto, we’ve been able to provide parents the opportunity to schedule a conference time that is convenient for them by using the booking pages, versus playing phone tag to check calendars. Once a conference has been scheduled, we’ve been able to use the automatic reminders/confirmation messages to keep in touch with parents. This has almost entirely eliminated our no-show conferences. For those who need to reschedule, being able to message them back right away to reschedule has also been incredibly helpful at reducing the no-shows. They have an easy option to respond that the time doesn’t work, and we can work together to find another time.
How did you discover and decide to use Apptoto?
Was there something that set it apart?
I’m not sure how we came across Apptoto. We were looking for an easy-to-implement service to be able to remind parents of our scheduled conferences. What set it apart initially was that it would integrate with Google Calendar, which we use religiously for all of our appointments. As we started to look around at the features and the customization ability we would have, it was clear that Apptoto was the best option for us.
How easy was it to implement and get going? Any features you enjoy most?
The initial setup was incredibly easy. As I started to play around with some of the features, it took a little bit of time to get things just right for what we wanted/needed, but it was not hard to do at all! There are so many great features overall. Definitely, the most beneficial have been that the reminders are automatically sent, and the booking page lets families take care of their own scheduling within my availability. I love that parents can text back to the same number. And, I can do one-time messages to them as a conversation when needed! This is a feature we haven’t really seen in any other programs. It is an absolute must-have for us now.
How do you use Apptoto specifically in your business?
Do you use both the reminder feature and the online booking feature?
We do use both but currently using the reminder feature more frequently. With so many appointments to keep track of, on top of all the other parts of running a center, being able to rely on the automatic reminders saves us so much time to not have to call and leave messages for parents. As I work in two different locations, being able to customize the reminders to have where we’re meeting and easily let parents add to their own calendars is extremely helpful.
Overall, how has Apptoto helped your business?
Our no-show appointments have been cut in half easily, if not more! Parents are quick on the responses, either to confirm or reschedule if needed. But we get very few cancellations & no-shows now! We used to spend quite a bit of time calling to confirm all of our appointments each week and ended up having to leave a lot of messages or worse, find the voicemail was full and couldn’t even leave a message. With Apptoto, parents are able to get the reminder when it’s convenient and can even forward it on to anyone else they may be bringing to the appointments.
What is your customer feedback like using Apptoto?
The most frequent thing we hear is how great it is to have the text reminders & confirmations that they can also text back with other messages. Additionally, the booking page has been a lifesaver for some families. Trying to coordinate with both parents, student, and myself over the phone vs. seeing my availability and picking the best time for themselves is wonderful.
Any advice for others in your field that may be considering reminder software?
It’s definitely a time-saver that is worth the investment and can help improve customer service in a very customer-service-orientated field!
Conclusion
Apptoto often saves tutoring businesses time and money. But the real value is found in the better service they can provide their customers because of those savings. Each second, minute, and hour not spent managing appointments is that much more time staff can spend providing great service to students.
When each of those minutes is spent helping a student succeed, it’s an investment well worth making.
