Why we didn't make families download an app

In short: A worry that stops many leaders from trying something new is simple: half the families won’t sign up. It’s a fair worry, because a new tool usually asks families to do work before they get anything back. We built Grouperly so families hear from you from the first day, by email, with nothing to install, and join only when they want to.

Someone at the parent meeting has found a new app. It does everything, they say, and everyone should download it.

You can already picture how it goes. Most families will get it set up. Some won’t get around to it. One parent’s phone is full. One family shares a single phone, and the person who has it isn’t the one who handles “the team stuff”. A grandparent does pickup twice a week and has never installed an app in their life. And the parents who already juggle four group apps will sigh and add a fifth, or won’t.

By October you’ll be posting everything in the new app and in the old group chat, because the families who never joined are exactly the ones you most need to reach.

Half-adopted means twice the work

A tool that only some families use doesn’t simplify anything. It doubles it.

Now there are two places to post, two places to check, and a new question at every pickup: “Did you see it in the app?” The leader ends up as the bridge between the families who joined and the ones who didn’t, re-sending everything by hand. That’s the second job with an extra step.

And the families who fall through aren’t the ones who don’t care. Often they’re the busiest families, or the least comfortable with technology: the families a group most needs to keep close.

The wall in front of every new tool

Many new tools ask a family to climb a small wall before they get anything: install an app, create an account, confirm an email, find the right group, join it, then turn on notifications. Each step is small. Together, they’re enough for a busy parent to put it off until later, and later doesn’t always come.

It’s not laziness. Families have full phones and full weeks, and many have been asked to sign up for something that took a lot and gave back little. They’ve learned to wait and see whether a new tool is worth it.

What helps, whatever you choose

1. Start where families already are. Email asks nothing new of families. Begin there, not with a request to install something.
2. Make the first message useful on its own. Send the next event’s date, place and what to bring, not “please sign up”. A message worth reading earns the next one.
3. Don’t make joining the price of hearing from you. Families should get the news whether or not they’ve signed up for anything.
4. Keep the old channel running for a while. Move families over by being more useful, not by switching off what they’re used to.
5. Help the stragglers personally. A two-minute call to the three families who haven’t joined does more than a fifth reminder.

Why we built Grouperly the way we did

We started from the families who never install the app, and built Grouperly so they’re included from the first day.

• Families hear from you before they join. Everyone on your roster gets your announcements by email from the start, whether or not they’ve signed up.
• Until they join, every announcement is an invitation. Each one carries that family’s own link to join, for when they want to RSVP, pay or see the calendar.
• Signing in is quick. Families join with Google, Apple, or an email and password.
• There’s nothing to install. Grouperly works in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer. There’s no app in the app stores to download, update or find room for.
• It fits the calendar they already use. Families see every group they’re in on Grouperly on one calendar, and can subscribe from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook so your events show up next to everything else.

Today, everything goes by email; texts are coming soon on Grouperly Plus. And your group chat can stay while families settle in. Here’s what families see.

Meet families where they are

Families don’t need another app to stay in the loop. Start with the place they already check, make every message worth reading, and let them join when they’re ready. You can reach the families you were worried about, and spend a lot less time being the bridge.