Kingsway Christian College is a holistic, coeducational Christian school located in the northern suburbs of Perth that has a lot to be proud of. Operating since 1984, nearly 40 years in education has earned them an impressive reputation and some 1,400 students across K to 12.
Their success has been boiled down to their values-based approach to education and dynamic multiculturalism, with their student cohort spanning 45 birth countries and all continents. Despite all this greatness, they had one problem. Their outdated technology was creating disjointed and inconsistent communication throughout the admissions journey. The hunt for a solution began.
A challenge bred from a traditional admissions system
Like so many schools, the team at Kingsway Christian College recently found itself facing a challenge: its traditional admissions system wasn’t keeping up with the demands of the school and its prospective families. Before reaching Digistorm, the College tracked all of its prospects without any tools or integrations. They handled enrolment enquiries in an outdated and manual fashion, involving tasks like taking notes, following up individually, and setting reminders in Outlook. As a relatively small team, it was tedious and time-consuming. But as an essential part of community engagement, they persevered, waiting patiently for a more advanced solution.
What Kingsway wanted to achieve
Kingsway Christian College had a big vision when looking for an admissions system. First and foremost, they needed technology that would seamlessly integrate with their Student Information System, TASS. Naturally, they also wanted something to save them time and modernise their systems.
Beyond sophisticated, simple, and TASS integrated, they wanted their new platform to be part of a wider communications strategy where everything synced smoothly. Ruston Long, Director of Community Engagement at Kingsway, explains that they knew they wanted an app down the track, and the ability to connect these technologies seamlessly was hugely important.
“We saw from the outset that there was going to be no issues in terms of that integration,” explains Ruston. “And that's one of the reasons we actually partnered with Digistorm. This is the direction that we're actually going in; an integration between all these communications.”
Why they opted for Funnel
Kingsway Christian College is now using Funnel as its prospective database, capturing every lead within this single tool, whether from a phone call, an email enquiry, or an event registration. For them, the decision to move to Digistorm was based on the ability to save time, as well as expand and integrate with all future and current technology, particularly TASS.
“Ultimately, that frees us up to spend time with people. Relating to parents on the phone, in person, that's what we're good at.” Ruston Long, Director of Community Engagement.
“Before Funnel, everything was a manual process. There's room for error when you're retyping data. It's much slower. So the integration means we've sped things up so much,” says Ruston. “Ultimately, that frees us up to spend time with people. Relating to parents on the phone, in person, that's what we're good at. That's what we enjoy doing. We're not locked into data entry; that's for the software to do.”
What Kingsway loves most about Funnel
Kingsway Christian College has set up numerous advanced automations within Funnel. The communications they send out do a sophisticated job of nurturing prospective families, sharing information and links to drive action and help them gain an understanding of the school.
“The goal we have is to get them on campus for our events to hear from the principal and the deans. When they're doing that, they're having their questions answered. And we're finding a really good conversion rate from that because they like what they're hearing.”
Ruston says he is finding the automations are very targeted to where families are in their buying cycle, whether they're looking years in advance or for enrolment the following year. This means they’re getting heavily targeted communication that’s actually relevant.
“I'm finding that's taking some pressure off me because I'm responding to parents in a timely way,” explains Ruston. “They're getting the right communication. So many that would normally have just come directly to me are actually getting the information from the tools.”
What it’s like working with Digistorm
The Kingsway team didn't have a system in place that they were happy with when they first approached Digistorm. They more or less started from scratch to create a sophisticated prospect database. Despite this potential for complexities, they found the process smooth and enjoyable.
When asked how it’s been working with Digistorm, Ruston shares that he has been very impressed with the service they were provided. “We've been really happy, to be honest. The communication worked extremely well and the software has done its job in freeing us up. The team is visiting Perth. There are in-person workshops. I'm often doing online meetings with my account manager and they're always available. I'm always learning and it's always growing.”
For Ruston, he likes the way that Funnel is always progressing. “It doesn't stand still. There's been constant improvements and additions, new things coming on all the time.”
Feel like your school could do with a more modern approach to admissions? We hear you. Reach out to our friendly team to learn more about how Funnel can support your school’s communication goals.