The Martial Arts School Owner’s Guide to Lead Follow-Up
Getting someone interested in your martial arts school is only half the battle. Turning that initial interest into a trial class, and eventually a new student, takes timely communication, consistent follow-up, and a little strategy.
The good news? You don’t have to leave enrollment to chance. With the right approach to lead follow-up, you can build stronger connections with prospective students, address their concerns, and make it easier for them to take the next step. Here’s how to create a lead follow-up process that keeps your martial arts school top of mind and turns more inquiries into new enrollments.
Quickly make your initial outreach
It might sound obvious, but fast initial lead outreach can drastically improve your chances of getting potential students into your martial arts school for a trial class. But when we say quick, how quick are we talking?
Within 5 minutes. It might sound drastic, but it’s rooted in real data. The nearly universal “5 minute rule” stems from a 2007 study by Dr. James Oldroyd and Dave Elkington where they analyzed lead management habits and subsequent close rates across a wide range of companies. They found that responding to leads within 5 minutes can increase conversion rates by up to 100x compared to waiting 30 minutes.
Though it’s a nearly 20-year-old study, the message still rings true today. Leads go cold fast, and the quicker you can make initial contact, the less likely they are to move on to exploring another martial arts school in your city.
If 5 minutes seems daunting, you should at least aim to respond in the first hour. A 2011 Harvard Business Review study found that businesses making contact within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify the lead compared to those that waited until the 2-hour mark.
And whatever you do, don’t wait until the next day to make that first outreach. At that point, you might as well assume your lead is already working on earning their next belt at another school.
Follow up multiple times (but spread it out)
We wish we could say that contacting a lead within the first five minutes results in a guaranteed response and conversion every time. But in reality, lead follow-up is a long-term game. Giving up early not only does your martial arts school a disservice, but it also ignores the statistics surrounding how much effort it can take to convert a lead.
There’s a dizzying amount of data out there about how many touches are required for successful lead follow-up. But one message is relatively consistent, regardless of source: you should expect to follow up at least 5 times after your initial outreach. This is a minimum— some leads may require more touches than that to successfully convert, but 5 follow-ups should be your baseline minimum expectation.
The other factor that comes into play here is the timing of that outreach. You don’t want to frontload them all, jamming 5 follow-ups into the first 5 days. Strategically space out your follow-ups so you’re not overwhelming your lead or coming across as a pest. What exactly should that look like? Here’s a solid recommendation:
Day 1: Initial outreach
Day 3: First follow-up
Day 6 to 7: Second follow-up
Day 12: Third follow-up
Day 20 to 24: Fourth follow-up
After that: move to a monthly or quarterly outreach for continued nurturing
Diversify your messaging
Another important factor to consider as you map out lead follow-up plans is the actual content of your messaging. You don’t want to sound like a broken record, repeating the exact same script every time. Different types of messages resonate with different individuals, so you’re better suited mixing it up during the follow-up process.
Utilizing the follow-up schedule recommended above, your associated content could look something like this:
Day 1: Initial outreach
Express gratitude for their interest and let them know what next steps are for coming in to get started.
Day 3: First follow-up
Address a common pain point or concern that people often have before stepping into the world of martial arts. Consider detailing what the first class will consist of or giving reassurance that you provide a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers.
Day 6 to 7: Second follow-up
Check in and ask if they have questions. Don’t overthink this one. Simply reach out to make sure they’ve received your prior messages, and let them know you’re available to answer any questions they have that might be holding them back. If they entered your prospect flow through a special offer, reiterate the offer details.
Day 12: Third follow-up
Tell a student success story. You have plenty of people right there in your school who have achieved great things since they signed up. Maybe it’s a notable belt promotion, a high-level competition win, or a weight loss/fitness journey. Sharing real results tells leads that your martial arts programs are effective and that you’re focused on student achievement.
Day 20 to 24: Fourth follow-up
Share a testimonial or review. Social proof is vital for successful marketing these days, regardless of industry or audience. Sure, you can sing your own praises, but it means a whole lot more to the average person when an actual student speaks to their positive experience and how training with you has helped them.
After that: A soft break-up: let them know you’re ready whenever they are. The first message after you shift to monthly or quarterly follow-up can be something as simple as: “If the timing isn’t quite right to start your martial arts journey, we understand. Just know that whenever you’re ready, we’re ready. Let us know if you need anything!”
Utilize multiple communication channels
These days, cell phones are practically an extension of our bodies; just about everyone has near-constant access to email, text, and calls. But relying on just one channel for your lead follow-up is a big mistake. It’s crucial to use multiple methods of outreach to increase your chances of catching someone in the right place at the right time.
First and foremost: ensure that your lead capture forms gather both email address and phone number. And, most importantly, include an opt-in box for SMS communications. Legally, you cannot send text message marketing to a prospect if they have not directly opted in and agreed to it.
But why should your lead follow-up plans include a mix of email, text, and calling? Each method has its own benefits and drawbacks:
Benefits: Email follow-up gives you the most space to be creative and tell a story. You can be more thorough in your writing, embed images, and easily include hyperlinks and buttons. While highly-stylized or branded emails aren’t an absolute must for lead follow-up, it’s a nice touch if you have the time and know-how to make it happen.
Drawbacks: Email open rates can vary considerably. It’s estimated that the fitness and gym industry sees email open rates ranging anywhere from 22.8% to 48.9%. Email is further complicated by increasingly strict deliverability requirements and Gmail’s tendency to funnel emails to the Promotions folder without any surefire way to control how your emails land.
Despite the noted drawbacks, email is still a vital piece of lead follow-up, particularly for multi-touch, longer-tail nurturing campaigns.
Texting
Benefits: It’s impossible to ignore the stats on text message open rates. While email might max out around the 50% mark, it’s regularly noted that text messages have a whopping 98% open rate. Even more impressive, it’s estimated that 90% of text messages are read within 3 minutes.
Drawbacks: As mentioned above, text message marketing requires opt-in from the prospect when they fill out your school’s lead capture form. If they don’t? Well…sorry, no texting. And if they do opt in, text messaging doesn’t give you the creative flexibility and content depth that email marketing does.
Although it does carry its own challenges, text messaging should be an absolute must for your lead follow-up plans. At a minimum, you should plan to have a text message sent out to a lead as soon as they submit your form, catching them in a moment of high intent for your initial outreach.
Calling
Benefits: Simply put, a good old-fashioned phone call is the most personal way to reach out to a potential student who’s considering your martial arts school. They get to hear your voice, ask questions in real-time, and have the opportunity to genuinely connect with you in a way that simply can’t be accomplished through text or email.
Drawbacks: Society has developed a strong aversion to answering calls from numbers they don’t recognize. Increases in spam, scam, and robo-calls have made people far more likely to ignore or straight up decline calls from unknown numbers. This isn’t just anecdotal: according to call avoidance research, 81% of people say they won’t answer calls from unknown numbers and 44% of voicemails go unheard.
Given these drawbacks, you might wonder why you should even consider calling your martial arts school’s prospects. It all goes back to the benefit: when you do connect on those calls, there’s a level of personal connection that is entirely unique and unlikely to be achieved via email or text.
Write strong CTAs to improve conversion
Your emails are being opened. Your texts are being read. But for some reason that lead just won’t reply or commit. Your Call-To-Action (CTA), or lack thereof, could be worth reviewing. A few general tips for developing effective CTAs:
Keep it simple
Your CTA should communicate a single, straightforward action that doesn’t overwhelm the recipient. If you’re reaching out to a lead and in one message asking them to fill out your waiver, review your school guidelines, and pick a time for their first class, they’ll be far less likely to take action. Choose a low-barrier-to-entry action they can take that will keep them engaged and moving forward.
Don’t ask open-ended questions
Rather than saying something like, “What day and time works best for you to come take a tour?,” give highly-specific options for the lead to choose. Instead, try “Would Thursday at 3pm or Friday at 5pm work better for you to come tour the academy?”
Use action words
This advice is specifically relevant for email follow-ups where you’re including buttons or hyperlinked text as a CTA for the recipient to click. Avoid generic wording like ‘Submit’ or ‘Click here’. Instead, utilize CTAs like “Get started now,” “Claim a free trial,” “Join today,“ or “Reserve your spot.” These not only use stronger language, but more directly communicate the benefit and, if desired, time-sensitivity.
How Kicksite can help with lead follow-up
Implementing all of the recommendations above might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be if you have the right tools to give you an assist. If you’re ready to enhance the follow-up processes at your martial arts school, Kicksite has a number of lead management tools that can help you make it happen!
Lead Capture Forms and Landing Pages
By utilizing Kicksite marketing tools to capture leads, you’ll be able to:
- Gather their phone number and get SMS consent right up front
- Embed a waiver that leads can sign during the form submission process, eliminating a barrier lead follow-up and conversion
- Funnel your new prospects directly into your Kicksite software, making it easy to manage follow-up
Prospects List
When leads fill out your form and get funneled into your Kicksite software, you’ll be able to view and manage them all from the Prospects List that includes:
- Custom lead stages so you can build a Prospect journey that makes sense for your school
- A drag-and-drop board view that makes it easy to move Prospects through different lead stages
- The ability to add comments, schedule appointments, and assign tasks to staff members directly on a Prospect’s lead card
- Adjustable lead priority status that allows you to mark a lead as hot, warm, or cold depending on their level of engagement
- Conversion data that shows you how many total leads you’ve converted and your conversion percentage
Message Flows
With our Message Flows tool, you’re able to set up a series of follow-ups that can begin rolling out as soon as a new lead enters your system:
- Send immediate welcome messages or thank you messages via text or email
- Create a series of follow-up messages with the customized cadence/timing of your choosing
- Save a series of messages as a Template for easy re-use in future follow-up campaigns
Two-Way Texting and Conversations Inbox
With Kicksite’s two-way texting capability, your lead follow-up messages don’t have to disappear into the ether:
- If a lead responds to one of your follow-up texts, it will appear in your Conversations inbox so you can reply and keep them engaged
- On the Kicksite mobile web app, set up phone notifications so you get a heads up when you have a new Conversation
- Create custom Message Templates for easy responses to commonly asked questions. Getting asked what your hours are again? Drop them in a Message Template for fast replies!
- Attach images to your messages so you can share key information or marketing materials
Turn More Martial Arts Leads Into Students
Effective lead follow-up isn’t about sending as many messages as possible. It’s about reaching out at the right time, providing helpful information, and making it easy for prospective students to take the next step. By responding quickly, following up consistently, varying your messaging, and using clear calls to action across multiple communication channels, you can build a stronger enrollment process for your martial arts school.
Of course, keeping track of every new inquiry and managing follow-up messages can quickly become a challenge as your school grows. That’s where the right software can make a difference. Kicksite helps you organize prospects, automate follow-up messages, and manage two-way text conversations in one place, so you can spend less time juggling leads and more time helping new students get started.
Struggling to keep up with new leads?
Continue Growing Your School
Strong lead follow-up is just one part of building a successful enrollment process—explore more ways to attract prospective students, turn inquiries into trial classes, and create a great first experience at your martial arts school.
