Five stars (nearly!) all of the way

Word of Mouth continues to be the strongest source of referrals to Kidsfirst, making up almost half of all responses when we ask families where they heard of us first. However, we know that every enrolment is made up of a number of touch-points – places where people see the Kidsfirst name or something about us, often at just the right time.

Mall door advertising, billboards, signage and online ads all help keep the Kidsfirst name front of mind for those who might be looking for the right place for their tamariki and whānau. Individual kindergartens keep their own profile high by remaining visible in and around their neighbourhood and bringing the community into the kindergarten environment, too.

We work hard to get the messages and images that go with them just right, to ensure people have a clear understanding of what Kidsfirst and kindergarten are about, how we are different, and the benefits that a kindy brings to tamariki, families and communities. We are able to shape these messages and control how and where they are disseminated.

Online reviews are another matter altogether.

Google reviews, in particular, have become very influential in the decision making process as whānau research their options and compare providers. Reviews are seen as independent of organisations and unbiased, and are given a great deal of weight by prospective families.

Kidsfirst reviews are overwhelmingly positive – 82% of our kindergartens have reviews, 43 with 5 stars and 12 with a 4 to 4.9 star average.

Families genuinely love our kindergartens and are keen to share the aroha. It’s very rare for one of our kindergartens to receive a negative Google review, and while it’s important we learn from these, there are some that are clearly driven by something other than an honest opinion. In these instances, we work with Google to try and have reviews removed. It can take some time and we are not always successful, but persistence pays off.

There are some recurring themes across our reviews – our kaiako are mentioned in positive terms in 26% of comments, with environment and resources coming in at 17%. The enthusiasm tamariki show in attending kindy is mentioned by 12% of those who take the time to leave us feedback, while our iconic Big Backyards appear 10% of the time.

Google reviews are always a bit scary – we can’t control them and peoples’ opinions are so subjective. But they bring a lot of benefits to our own ako, to whānau seeing if kindergarten and Kidsfirst are the right place for them, and they now influence more than 80% of consumer decisions.