By then they had walked into two other classes. Admission season is decided in a fortnight, and most of it is decided by who replied.
For coaching classes, tuition centres, hobby classes, test prep, play schools — anywhere a parent is choosing.
Nine minutes from enquiry to a demo booked, at seven in the evening when the office was shut.
Not in the teaching, and not in the price. Almost all of it happens in the first two days, while somebody is waiting to hear back.
The thirty-eight at the top are the cheapest students you will ever get. They already found you, already asked, and are lost to a reply that came on Wednesday.
Three days before, on the day, and a week after — each worded differently, with a UPI link on it. The job nobody at the front desk wants, and the one the whole class runs on.
One line, the same morning. A parent who finds out at four in the afternoon has already spent the day not knowing, and that is the message that loses trust.
Marks and the class average, so a number means something. Sent the day it is marked rather than at the next PTM.
Which chapter, what to bring, and any change of room — instead of a group where sixty people reply "ok".
The one that has to arrive, and arrive now. It goes to the batch rather than to a broadcast list, so nobody outside it is woken up.
To the parents you already have, before it opens to anybody else. The easiest admission of the season.
Fee reminders, attendance, results and schedules are updates — they cost little and reach everybody, because they are the reason the parent gave you the number.
Offers, referral schemes and "admissions open" messages are marketing, and they need the parent to have agreed to them. A class that blurs the two ends up with a number nobody trusts, and then even the fee reminder goes unread.
The product keeps them apart, and tells you which one you are about to send.