{"id":10181,"date":"2020-05-26T10:05:33","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T10:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/university-advice\/?p=934"},"modified":"2023-01-05T14:40:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-05T14:40:25","slug":"free-meetings-how-were-making-them-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/tutors\/free-meetings-how-were-making-them-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Meetings: how we\u2019re making them better"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>They say the best things in life are free, but we know this hasn\u2019t always been the case for our Free Meetings. In our recent Spring survey, you told us that one of your biggest tutoring frustrations is dealing with Free Meeting no-shows.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No-one likes being stood up, and we understand how inconvenient it is when you\u2019ve planned your whole day around a meeting, only to get ghosted. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve made lots of changes this academic year to improve parent attendance &#8211; here\u2019s an update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tutor-illustration-1-1024x658-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-938 lazyload\" width=\"433\" height=\"278\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 433px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 433\/278;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tutor-illustration-1-1024x658-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-938\" width=\"433\" height=\"278\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why parents miss Free Meetings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most times, when a parent misses a Free Meeting, it\u2019s either because they\u2019ve forgotten, or because they\u2019re confused about the platform. Lots of parents find themselves juggling busy jobs, childcare, relationships and household headaches &#8211; and, unfortunately, sometimes this means that appointments can fall off the list.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, some parents (especially if they aren\u2019t very tech-savvy), might be wary of finding a tutor online. Or, they might get confused about their password and how to log in, and end up missing a Free Meeting because of tech barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The changes we\u2019ve made are designed to tackle these issues. Which leads very nicely on to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What we\u2019ve done to improve Free Meeting attendance&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1.  Ask the right questions <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, when we\u2019re on the phone with parents, we\u2019re asking for much more information up-front, including how often they\u2019d like lessons, when they\u2019re available, and which exam board their child is studying for. We hope this means they\u2019ll have more confidence in the tutor we\u2019ve matched them with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2.  Make better introductions <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve given our Free Meeting notification emails a complete overhaul. Now, before a free meeting, parents get an email with a detailed introduction to their tutor, including a photo, name and bio snippet. We\u2019re also asking tutors to write a short intro message for each parent, to help build the relationship &#8211; and encourage them to remember that you\u2019re a real person behind the screen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of that, we\u2019re giving parents a clearer explanation of how Free Meetings work, and drilling in the importance of letting you know if they can\u2019t make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3.  Call in advance  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re now proactively calling parents ahead of Free Meetings to check that they\u2019re all set up and ready to go. If there are any issues, we\u2019ll cancel or reschedule the meeting for them, so you get a bit more warning. For these calls, we\u2019re focusing on parents who look especially risky &#8211; based on indicators like whether they\u2019ve logged into the platform since the meeting was booked.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Make logging in easier<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It may not be quite the stuff of Harry Potter, but we\u2019ve set up a new \u2018magic login\u2019 feature, which means that parents who have lost their login details can now get in just by clicking a link in an email &#8211; without having to remember their password. Yer a wizard \u2018Arry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What we\u2019re not doing <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve had lots of questions about whether we could introduce a deposit for first meetings, to make parents more likely to show up. Although this makes sense, we think the potential benefits would be outweighed by the number of parents who\u2019d find a deposit off-putting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lots of people are iffy about spending money on a new service that they\u2019ve never tried before, and the idea of a free \u2018trial\u2019 is a really effective motivator. So we\u2019ve got no plans to change this in the near-term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What you can do to get parents to attend <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Just be your usual charming self! It always helps if you can reassure the parent by dropping them a friendly message to let them know a bit about yourself and share your skills and experience. You could also ask about their child\u2019s interests and learning style to show that you\u2019re keen to tailor lessons to their needs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>With the changes we\u2019ve made so far, we\u2019ve already seen a 10% decrease in the number of missed Free Meetings, and we\u2019re constantly looking for ways to get that number down even further. If you have any questions or feedback on Free Meetings (or anything else!) please feel free to get in touch via <a href=\"mailto:support@mytutor.co.uk\">support@mytutor.co.uk<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They say the best things in life are free, but we know this hasn\u2019t always been the case for our Free Meetings. In our recent Spring survey, you told us that one of your biggest tutoring frustrations is dealing with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[792,790],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Free Meetings: how we\u2019re making them better | MyTutor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mytutor.co.uk\/blog\/tutors\/free-meetings-how-were-making-them-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Meetings: how we\u2019re making them better | MyTutor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They say the best things in life are free, but we know this hasn\u2019t always been the case for our Free Meetings. 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