Making Life Easier
By Rob Carmichael T
he term online registration in the camp world has come to mean a lot more than just having parents choose their session and complete a brief registration form via the web. As one might expect, the breadth and depth of what parents are doing online has expanded significantly in the past several years. The push to provide more convenience and better information to parents along with a desire to reduce office administration has driven an ever expanding list of things that camps are moving online. To help camps improve their online registration program, here are some pop- ular features they should consider:
16 Canada Camps Fall 2010
• Registration: Of course, collecting a camper’s registration remains the major priority. Making it easy for the parent is the key. Displaying only camps, sessions and options that are appropriate for that camper’s age or grade is a nice touch. Providing the ability to register for “sub- options,” such as lunch and after care for day camps or horseback riding and unique trips for overnight camps, is important. You will want the system to handle all capacity monitoring, including gender-specific.
• Payment Plans: It is quite common for camps to request an initial deposit and then have the remaining balance due on a
specific date or series of dates. Why not establish that upfront with the parent and then let the system organize and process those payments when they are due? It removes the need for you to chase pay- ment and the need for the parent to remember to send the next cheque or login to make another payment.
• Credit Card Processing: With the high- ly-publicized credit card theft issues in recent years, it is not surprising that the industry is demanding a very high level of security. Briefly, you do not want to store actual credit card numbers. Ideally, you want parents entering credit card infor- mation directly into a payment gateway.
As more and more administrative forms and tools for parents move onto a camp’s online registration system, it is important for camps to understand the risks associated with collecting all of this data
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