CLIENT STORIES

Camp Anglewood

Registration Success at Camp Anglewood

Camp Anglewood has been with Regpack since March of 2022. Greg sat down with us to discuss how Regpack’s registration and processing software changed how Camp Anglewood handles camp registration from start to finish.

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Where were you in your registration process when you found Regpack, and why were you looking for a new registration system?

I would say 2019 into 2020. We were doing paper and hard copy registrations. We were emailing out forms or emailing and mailing physical snail mail forms and applications. So our campers, we’ve been doing that for the longest time. I then helped try to put together our own solution for online registration.

So, just like me, I’m messing around with JavaScript and PHP to try to get forms, WP forms, WordPress, and Stripe. We went from all paper to kind of a mismatch, finding the tools to get the job done and make it work.

I quickly realized that it was a lot to manage and was getting a little bit complicated. So I was like, okay, Let’s try to simplify this as well. So, we quickly went from hard copies to a fully automated Regpack system.

How did going fully automated change things for you and make things better?

It sped things up a lot. We would be doing open enrollment now, but we’d still be sending out those applications and receiving them in the past, and enrollment would be filled until April or May when we reach full enrollment.

Our whole process has been condensed, sped up, and moved earlier in the calendar year. We’re fully enrolled by the beginning of October, which allowed us to move our registration right after our season ends.

Because it was so easy for the parents to log in, set up their accounts, and make payments, we were able to condense re-enrollment into August and September and then have open enrollment from September and October. When October hits, we’re just managing small changes and additions from October, March, and April.

Whereas before, it was like the whole thing happening through all those months. So, it’s way better now, and it relieves that headache. It’s allowed us to focus on other things. If I were the one huge takeaway from that, it would be that we have a lot more bandwidth to do other stuff and not be bogged down with managing the registration system.

What made Regpack stand out from other systems you considered?

I come from a programming tech kind of background with my personal career before camp because I was helping with a little bit of software maintenance and support for a company I used to work for.

I was open to managing a slightly more advanced system. I’m actually just getting into it right now, but the API access with Regpack stood out to me. I was looking for a system that would be super dynamic because we didn’t want to change the way we do business to fit in someone’s software platform. I wanted a system that would be dynamic and could conform to how we do business, which is a little bit different, I think, than some other camps.

I went to a couple at the Tri-State Convention. I went to a few different booths and asked them that question.

They told me, “Unfortunately, we don’t even offer connections to other applications.” I thought, wait a second. Everybody’s got a tech stack with different apps. Now, wouldn’t you want to be able to connect those? Or condense like the tools that you use?

That was a huge benefit. When I spoke to Edgar, he said, “We have an API, and we’re looking to use Zapier, too.” I was like, yes, that’s exactly what we’re into and looking for.

When you started using RegPack, did how you charge people and use payment plans improve or change? How did it affect your business?

One thing we were very apprehensive about when we were getting into online registration was the cost of taking payment transactions through payment platforms. Now, the system can put that either in our pocket or on them, and we put the deposits all in the customer network.

All electronic payment service fees are now charged to our customers; we pass that on directly to them. We take deposits via the online account in Regpack for parents to reserve a spot, but many parents opt to submit the rest of the payment via SamLCheck.

The fact that we can modify how those transactions are made and who pays for the cost of making that transaction, as well as the system handling the manual payments. It can really do both, so that’s nice.

The last thing I’ll say about that is auto pay. Many customers are seeing that more and more; they actually didn’t realize it because all our customers are used to paying via check. We’ve been telling them tuition is due in April, and they make the final payment.

At first, they didn’t really know that there were payment plans, but now, more parents are becoming aware of them. Between last year and this year, I want to say we have a dozen more people who picked up on that and are doing more online.

Monthly payments are nice to see because they help smooth our cash flow throughout the off-season.

I wanted to discuss how you showcase your offerings via Regpack and how that’s helping you better serve your clients and increase your sales.

A really good thing is we haven’t had to change how we showcase our offerings. As I mentioned, we do not have to conform to how we do business. The way the software platform operates it’s been quite the opposite. We actually made sure we could set up the system exactly how we wanted to.

So we can operate the same way. What that looks like for us is that, in 2011 and 2012, we wanted to get more campers, and we realized that summer plans are pretty hectic for everybody, and people do a lot of different stuff. We realized that most camps were offering four-week programs or eight-week programs.

No one was really accommodating to the families who wanted to go to camp on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or had a partial week between childcare. For example, maybe grandparents were taking care of the kids on Mondays, and parents didn’t know what to do the rest of the week. Families were losing out on the opportunity to do partial weeks.

So we tried to set up a registration where you could pretty much do a la carte and pick any days you want. As long as it reached them, you had a minimum amount of days we would take campers. We didn’t want to lose that when we went to online registration. So we have a lot of products with a lot of sessions.

We have 44 camp days and different age groups, which generates a lot of wait lists and registration buckets. Regpack handled all that complexity, which was great on our end. The triggers make it easy for the parents not to see that complexity.

And it looks really simple to them. It’s like they choose their camper’s grade and automatically know which products to put in their cart based on their weekly selection. So, it really conforms to the way we do business. It’s quite nice.

How are you using the reporting, and how is it important to your workflow?

The biggest benefit of the reporting would be that we have roll cards with attendance for staff and campers during camp. I think that’s a big benefit. I can export the role or certain reports on the products and the sessions and have the ability to post-process that into Excel files that can produce much more than what we like to see.

When we had camp days, it took a while because, as I mentioned, our system is complex and offers many different sessions and age groups. So, I would say that that’s the biggest one for the reports.

The other one is managing the wait lists. We have 16 different camp groups, and they’re usually in pairs. For instance, groups 15 and 16 are together. The kids typically are in 7th grade. So, all the 7th graders get put on those waitlists. The reports allow me to choose which age groups to filter out and then generate waitlists so that we can contact parents when spots open up.

Certain counties can have a list right in front of them with the kids, those seventh graders, who are available for certain days or certain weeks. So that definitely helps.

How can other camps take advantage of RegPack for their programs?

I would say just get started. I mean, get started pretty quickly, and I would map out. First, map out your products, price points, and everything else. Then, work with the support team. It was so easy because the project managers liked to work with us.

Dina and Nicole were great when we started. They really helped a lot with creating the forms. Jump right in, I’d say.

Awesome! So, would you recommend Regpack to other camps?

Absolutely. 

I have one question. I manage our social media here and I started our Be Less Busy campaign. It’s become kind of like our slogan. Have time for their life and spend less time working and more time living. So, what would you do if you were less busy? 

It sounds crazy, but do more stuff. I would do different stuff; I should say, processing and attendance changes for enrollment. These things used to be pretty time-consuming, but now I can do other things.

My brother and I are pretty hands-on with building stuff, so we have more time to build sheds, benches, tables, and other camp items, like our facility. We also spend time planning and focusing on what you were just talking about, which is our marketing.

What are we going to do with social media? What type of campaigns would we like to design that kind of follows some sort of format content, like thinking about how we can generate better content for our parents? These are all things that you just don’t have time for when you’re bogged down in the processing.

So, to sum up, there is other stuff that can be more valuable to the company as we grow.

A: Okay, so you would still work more?

G: I would still work more or I would golf.

A: That’s nice! It shows that you love what you do, which is cool.

G: Yeah, We definitely are very passionate, passionate about camp and what we do.

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Regpack has streamlined our online registration process.

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