How to keep in touch with your current clients

Why it's important to keep in touch with people

It is very important in times of crisis that people who rely on you know that you are there for them. That you didn't abandon them. To know that they can find support and security in you when everything else slips out from under their feet.
That is why it is very important as soon as possible to send them a message with the general message "Things have changed, a surprise has come for all of us. We cannot continue our activities now. We are now investigating what can be done and we will write to you soon with suggestions".
We should not hide from the storm until it is gone and after a few months we would crawl out of our cave and say "Heeey, remember about us! We are here again and again collecting fees for working with students".

See if they need help

Each of us wants to help and feel good about it. However, sometimes we do what we want or we can, not what the other person needs. And in this case, it turns out that even though we have done much for others, they are ungrateful, dissatisfied, or even angry and offended.
The reason for this is that we have done unwanted good. That is why it is very important to know if your people really need you and exactly what they need.
Our first letter to the parents of our students ended with a call to action "If you think we can help you in this new situation, respond to us with a simple YES to this letter".
Our goal was to know how active our comunity is. How many people look at e-mails and would make minimal the effort to answer us.

What questions to ask

It's important to know that the more complex questions you ask by email, the fewer people will answer you.
To the closed question "Can we help you, answer YES" we received answers from 33% of our people.
By comparison, our follow-up emails were answered by many fewer people, with the same number of emails open:
When we asked people with an open-ended question what they wanted, we had 2% answered.
When we sent out a survey of interest in a particular activity, we had 14% completed it.

Don't expect your people to tell you what they want. They rely on difficult thinking to be done by an expert they trust in their children's education. It's you.
Your people rely on you to choose the best for their children in the situation, to justify your decision and to follow you.

Email Communication Tools

You already have a club for STEM and robotics. You are communicating with your people through built channels.We have to tell you the following, just in case.
Use Email marketing tools like MailChimp, ElasticeMail, Sendy or use your favorite CRM system. They allow you to see % open, clicked, and unsubscribe customers statistics.

Talk on the phone too

Build a solution, send emails to everyone, and most of your people will start using it. Once you already have people in your new online system, take the time and talk to each of your current customers.
Ask those who use it how it is. Gather feedback, speak as a person to a person about what is happening to their children and at home. Write down the essentials of each conversation and then look for repetitive patterns.
Those who have not learned about your new system, you can familiarize them with it on the phone. Describe your idea and ​​highlighting the benefits. Sell that new solution on the phone.

In either case, your customers will be glad you paid them personal attention and you will once again receive bonus points as an expert and prestige in their eyes as someone who looks after them, and doesn't just try to collect their monthly fees.