If your studio has a WhatsApp group for each class, you're in good company. It's the go-to choice for lots of studios and clubs, and for good reason. However, as your studio grows, you can start to encounter problems with the keep-it-all-on-WhatsApp approach. Here's a look at what I think WhatsApp does well, where it struggles, and how Class Manager Chats can help.
Why Do Studios Use WhatsApp?
It's free and everyone has it
From grandparents to next-door neighbours, almost everyone already uses WhatsApp. Parents don't need to download anything or learn anything new, and it costs nothing to set up. Just grab their numbers, add them to the studio group chats, and go!
It's great for urgent updates
Snow on the roads, a burst pipe, a teacher off sick: WhatsApp is probably the app parents have push notifications turned on for, and check the most, so your message gets seen quickly.
It builds connections and creates community
Parents can answer each other's questions, arrange lift shares and, if their children get on, meet up outside class. That sense of community makes classes feel friendly and welcoming. As a dance studio owner, it's something that you're working hard to build.
You don't have to lose this. Class Manager Chats includes group chats too, and you decide who's in them.
Why Dance Studio Owners Should Move Away From WhatsApp
Groups are hard to keep up to date
Families come and go, and you can't expect everyone to leave the group when they stop coming. Over time, if you don't stay on top of things, the group fills up with families who've moved on or rarely come. Meanwhile, new parents, who have the most questions, often aren't added until they've already started. All this creates unnecessary admin tasks for you.
With Class Manager, all families have access to the parent portal where they can book classes, view their schedules, and communicate directly with the studio via Chats.
What Is Class Manager Chats?
Chats in Class Manager mean that studios can move away from WhatsApp and handle all communications inside their dance studio software, Class Manager.
With Chats, dance studio owners (and members) can communicate with one another inside of Class Manager, sending 1:1 messages, taking part in group chats, or studio owners can send broadcast messages to a select number of students.
What does this mean? With Class Manager Chats, everything is kept in one place: no searching through multiple messaging apps, no having to cross-reference class registers with phone numbers to make sure you're creating the correct group chats. Everything is seamless and easy.
How Class Manager Chats could help: Class group chats update themselves. Families are added when they enrol and removed when they leave. Joe drops out of the group while he's away and is added straight back when he re-enrols, and new parents are in from day one, so there's no admin for you.
Important messages get lost
You post: "Our Christmas show is at 7pm on Friday 11th December, and tickets are available on Stage Stubs." Within an hour it's buried under forty "Thank you!"s, a few "Sorry, Amelia's busy that evening"s and no end to the rows of emojis. The next day, Tom messages to ask what time the show starts because he couldn't find the original post.
How Class Manager Chats could help: Broadcasts arrive as a private message to each family, so there's no busy thread for your announcement to get lost in. If a parent has a question, they reply to you directly. And if you're selling tickets, Class Manager's sister company, Stage Stubs, is free for studios.
WhatsApp comes with a whole host of safeguarding issues
Safeguarding should be at the forefront of every studio owner's mind. WhatsApp groups are popular with schools and children's activities, but from a safeguarding point of view, they fall short in a few key ways:
No privacy for phone numbers. In a WhatsApp group, everyone can see everyone else's number, including yours. Some parents like that they can connect, but not everyone's comfortable sharing their number, and not everyone's agreed to it.
Photos aren't protected. Depending on each member's phone settings, images posted to the group can save automatically to their camera roll, whether or not that child's parent has given consent.
All your customer data lives in one place, with staff access. If a teacher leaves your studio and opens their own, they could use the numbers they had access to in that group to poach your customers.
How Class Manager Chats can help: every conversation happens inside Class Manager, so no one's phone number is ever on show, whether it's a broadcast, a group chat, or a 1:1. And because photo consent is recorded on each student's profile, you can check it before sharing anything, rather than relying on guesswork.
Work follows you home
It's 10pm. You've finally sat down after a long evening of classes, with a hot dinner, a blanket and the TV on. Then your phone buzzes. It's a parent letting you know Jonny's poorly and won't be in tomorrow. Very thoughtful of them to tell you, but the message is on your personal phone, in between messages from friends and family, and now you're thinking about work again.
How Class Manager Chats could help: Studio messages live in Class Manager, not on your personal number, so you can put work away for the evening without muting your friends and family.
When you're ready to reply, AI-suggested replies help you respond in seconds.
If someone calls in sick, the AI will also recommend suggested actions, ie marking them as absent on the relevant lessons.
You still need private messages anyway
A group chat doesn't replace one-to-one conversations. You'll still need to:
Chase late payments
Answer new parents
Send individual reminders
Often across WhatsApp, texts and email.
How Class Manager Chats could help: Chats sit right alongside your payments and bookings. When you open a conversation with a family, the family preview shows their classes and any balance owed, so you can sort it out there and then.
So, Should You Scrap WhatsApp?
Not necessarily. WhatsApp is great for a community feel, but it doesn't have to be where your studio's business happens.
You could consider moving your studio messages into Class Manager and sharing a link to an optional social WhatsApp group for parents who'd like to join:
Parents choose whether to share their number
You can mute the group or stay out of it altogether, with no more late-night notifications
Your announcements, payments and direct messages all stay in one place
The social stuff stays social, and the business stays business.
Want to See How Chats Works?
Want to find out more about Chats? Book a demo with our team, who can take you through it all. Or, create your free account. Or, see our team take you through it in more detail here.
