Building trust with digital pre-sales measures: beating the drum 2.0

Now’s the time! – Digitalisation made easy, part III

In the last post of our series we saw, using a booking agency as an example, how an app can be used effectively. In this part we would like to focus on pre-sales and present a somewhat more unusual example of how an app can be used.

As the term suggests, pre-sales is about the services and support you can offer your customers before they buy or use something. Far more important, though, is that these measures pave the way to you as a provider and, above all, build your customers’ trust.

The added value of your main product can and should already come into play at this stage, to whet the customer’s appetite for the complete solution. In a variety of ways, a mobile app – even one put together quickly with one of the app builders available – can be a great help here.

We won’t go any further here into the basic advantages of a so-called digital touchpoint and the more efficient business processes that come with it. Instead, we would like to use a rather unusual real-life example from a school in Cologne to show how not only businesses but also organisations and other institutions can move their digitalisation forward and put it to good use for new “customers”.

A digital notice board: a Cologne school relies on its own app

The Cologne-Porz school “GGS Don Bosco” has proved that even a school can transform itself digitally and score in pre-sales thanks to the new possibilities. Since mid-2015 it has been active with its app – tried and tested on mobile, and successful.

The aim of the project was obvious: the app was to be the central point of contact for teachers, pupils and parents, a digital notice board – with one big plus: at the same time, it makes the first steps before a child starts school easy, informative and entertaining.

Content, features, design – added value for every target group

The app makes everyday work easier and gives pupils, teachers and parents all the important data and facts: the teaching staff, timetables, current and planned events, sign-ups and cancellations, and long-term plans. On top of that there is content such as sickness reports, and the weekly menus too.

Everyone involved can look up dates and news and interact in a standardised way – for example with the sickness reports. The app also makes it easy to contact the teachers directly and has further forms ready to download.

The advantages are obvious: less paperwork, a faster flow of information, one consistent channel. Push notifications to everyone involved – whether individual classes, all the teachers or new pupils – make it particularly easy.

The app’s design was deliberately kept simple and functional, to appeal to every target group, to put the focus on the content and to make it easy to use. No big distractions, no unnecessary frills.

At a school you don’t have to look far for smartphones: pupils always carry them and like the quick communication of WhatsApp and co. But for teachers and parents, too, being able to share information quickly and intuitively has many advantages.

Pre-sales? Through the usual channels – to everyone

To promote the app, the school regularly uses all its familiar information channels, from leaflets to the website. Every new class is told about the app, and its features are briefly explained.

For the open day, a flyer was made especially for all potential newcomers, showing examples of how it can be put into practice. The lower part in particular points out the clear benefits of the mobile app.

To make it easy for the new starters to get going, a very simple step-by-step pre-registration was built in. Upcoming dates for information and introductory events can also be shown, with registration built in.

Besides its regular use in everyday school life, the app was also designed to present the school attractively to new parents and pupils. That way a second goal was reached: showing the school to the outside world as modern and efficient for everyone.

A success with manageable effort

Since it was introduced, the school app has been very popular. Usage keeps growing, while the school can share and collect information with less effort. New features are added regularly, some of them suggested by the users themselves. The channel is alive – and brings great benefits for everyone.

This example makes it fairly clear that any area of life and business, however unusual, can be optimised with a mobile offering – in this case, specifically an app. Even simple approaches bring many times the added value for prospects and for the operator, make processes easier and noticeably lower the barrier to getting started.

Which industry do you work in, with which target groups and which structures? Write to us and share your ideas and the features you would like in an app – we look forward to your suggestions!