IN THIS ARTICLE:
Learn about options for automating Waitlist management using the "Send Waitlist Offer" Autopilot workflow and how customers will interact with the communications sent in order to accept or decline the enrollment offer received.
- Configuring/locating classes to allow automated waitlist management
- Customizing the "Waitlist Offer" communication template
- Configuring and Enabling the "Send Waitlist Offer" workflow
- Communication with customers
At this time, the "Send Waitlist Offer" workflow only automates the Waitlist process for class enrollments. Waitlisted enrollments in camps will still need to be handled manually.
Configuring/locating classes to allow automated waitlist management
Every class has an "Autopilot Settings" area that allows staff to determine whether the "Send Waitlist Offer" Autopilot workflow will process for the class and if so, how the system should handle waitlist offers for students who do not meet class requirements.
- For more information about these settings and how they work, see our "How Do I Create or Edit a Class?" document.
These settings can be updated individually on each class, or staff can use the Classes Quick Edit tool to update them in bulk.
Staff can also use the "All Autopilot Settings" filters on the CLASSES page to quickly locate classes that have/do not have the "Waitlist Autopilot" option enabled.
Customizing the "Waitlist Offer" communication template
Before enabling the "Send Waitlist Offer" Autopilot workflow, you will need to customize the "Waitlist Offer" communication template located under SETTINGS>SETUP>GENERAL SETTINGS>COMMUNICATION TEMPLATES>AUTOPILOT.
Note that you may need to customize one or all of the email, SMS, or Push notifications templates depending on how you configure the workflow.
Configuring and Enabling the "Send Waitlist Offer" workflow
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How is it triggered?
- This is an Event-driven workflow. However, it can be triggered by two separate events:
- Class Opening Available - Triggers the workflow to send communication at a specified time after an opening becomes available in a class (as defined by the "Wait For Action").
- If no waitlist enrollments are found, the system will terminate the workflow.
- Send Waitlist Offer Immediately - Triggers the workflow to begin immediately when a waitlist offer is manually sent by a staff member.
- Scheduled Event (Schedule-driven) - This trigger is optional, and is disabled by default.
- If enabled, the system will check for new class openings and trigger communications on the scheduled weekday(s)/time. The purpose of this secondary check is to catch openings caused by other means, such as staff editing a class to increase the maximum occupancy, or a deleted enrollment. Since increasing max occupancy and deleting enrollments don't technically qualify as "drops", the scheduled event ensures that these openings are considered to be filled by Waitlist enrollments.
- If no waitlist enrollments are found, the system will terminate the workflow.
- If enabled, the system will check for new class openings and trigger communications on the scheduled weekday(s)/time. The purpose of this secondary check is to catch openings caused by other means, such as staff editing a class to increase the maximum occupancy, or a deleted enrollment. Since increasing max occupancy and deleting enrollments don't technically qualify as "drops", the scheduled event ensures that these openings are considered to be filled by Waitlist enrollments.
- Class Opening Available - Triggers the workflow to send communication at a specified time after an opening becomes available in a class (as defined by the "Wait For Action").
- This is an Event-driven workflow. However, it can be triggered by two separate events:
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What does it do?
- Sends waitlist offer communication to customers when an opening becomes available in a class for which they are waitlisted. The offer will contain a time-sensitive link allowing the customer to accept the enrollment offer, decline the offer but keep the student on the waitlist, or decline the offer and remove the student from the waitlist.
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Which communication template is used?
- Waitlist Offer
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Which criteria can be customized?
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- Trigger
- Scheduled Event
- Enable/Disable
- Days
- Select the day(s) of the week on which the workflow should be run to look for new openings.
- Time
- Select the time of day at which the workflow should be run to look for new openings.
- Scheduled Event
- Trigger
- Wait for Action
- Defines how many days/hours/minutes the system should wait after an opening becomes available in the class before triggering communication with the customer.
- NOTE: This period defaults to thirty (30) minutes. It allows the staff member time to fill the opening before the waitlist automation is invoked.
- Defines how many days/hours/minutes the system should wait after an opening becomes available in the class before triggering communication with the customer.
- Repeat
- Run up to "X" times
- Defines the maximum number of times an offer will be made when repeating the actions if no response is received or the opening is declined before completely stopping the workflow. The workflow will end automatically if a customer accepts the opening or all waitlisted enrollments have been notified.
- NOTE: This value defaults to three (3) times.
- Defines the maximum number of times an offer will be made when repeating the actions if no response is received or the opening is declined before completely stopping the workflow. The workflow will end automatically if a customer accepts the opening or all waitlisted enrollments have been notified.
- Run up to "X" times
- Generate Offer for Next Family on Waitlist
- Expire Offer after X Hours
- Defines how long a waitlist offer will be valid before it expires
- NOTE: This value defaults to four (4) hours.
- Defines how long a waitlist offer will be valid before it expires
- Don't Create an Offer for Same Waitlist Within X Days
- Defines how often the same family can be notified regarding the same waitlist enrollment.
- NOTE: This value defaults to seven (7) days.
- Defines how often the same family can be notified regarding the same waitlist enrollment.
- Expire Offer after X Hours
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Send Communication by Family
- Reply To Email
- Defaults to the Location email address if none is provided.
- Send Email / Send To All Emails
- Send SMS / Send To All SMS
- Send Push Notification
- Reply To Email
Important Notes
- To prevent any instances of a Waitlisted student being offered multiple openings in the same class, the system will only ever run one instance of this automation per class at a time. (e.g., if two enrollments drop in the same class, the system will fill the first spot before attempting to fill the second.)
- The system will loop through students to be notified in order of priority groups.
- If no priority groups are assigned, or if multiple students are assigned to the same priority group, the system will rank students according to their Waitlist enrollment start date.
- Therefore, if there are two students on the waitlist and one has a start date before the other, the system will offer the spot to the one who is available to fill the spot immediately/sooner.
- If no priority groups are assigned, or if multiple students are assigned to the same priority group, the system will rank students according to their Waitlist enrollment start date.
- Students associated with suspended families will be skipped when processing Waitlist requests.
- Students associated with families that do not have any contact information will be skipped when processing Waitlist requests.
- If "Send Push Notification" is the only selected communication method, only students associated with families that have downloaded the Mobile App will be notified of openings.
- Enrollments in classes designated as "Punch Pass/Single Day only" will be ignored when processing Waitlist requests.
Communication with customers
When an opening becomes available in a class for which a student is Waitlisted, the family will receive a notification containing a link to accept or decline the offer. This notification may arrive as an email, SMS, or Push notification, depending on how the "Send Waitlist Offer" Autopilot workflow is configured.
Waitlist offers will also be displayed as a notification when logging into the Customer Portal/Mobile App.
Accepting or declining the enrollment offer
To interact with Waitlist offers via the Mobile/Branded app, customers must have the most recent version of the app installed on their device.
To accept or decline the enrollment offer, customers will either click on the offer link in the communication received (email/SMS/Push notification), or click on the notification in the Mobile/Branded App. If the offer is still valid, the system will display the "Waitlist: Class Opening Available" screen:
From this screen, there are four options:
- "Yes, Enroll Me" - Accepts the offer and adds the enrollment to the shopping cart. Upon a successful checkout, a new ACTIVE type enrollment will be created in the class for the student and a drop date will be added to the existing waitlist enrollment. (The drop date for the Waitlist enrollment will be the day before the new ACTIVE type enrollment begins.)
- "Decline" - Declines the offer, but leaves the current Waitlist enrollment in place so the student will be offered another spot in the class if one opens up in the future.
- "Remove From This Waitlist" - Declines the offer and deletes the current Waitlist enrollment so the student will not be offered any spots in the class in the future.
- NOTE: This is the same behavior as if the family chooses the "Cancel Waitlist" option from the student Enrollments view.
- "Cancel" - Exits the screen without further action and returns the user to the Class List view. The Waitlist offer will remain open until it either expires or the family launches the screen again to accept or deny.
These options will also be available from the student's "Enrollments" view on the MY ACCOUNT page while the offer is valid.