Setting Up Your Enrollment Pipeline

Organizing your enrollment pipeline keeps every prospective family visible and moving forward. Think of it like setting up stations in your center—everything has a place, tours don't get forgotten, and families smoothly move from inquiry to enrolled.

With a structured enrollment pipeline, you can track inquiries effortlessly, automate follow-ups, and fill your classrooms faster.

What You'll Learn

  • Create your enrollment pipeline
  • Import existing families as enrollment opportunities
  • Add enrollment opportunities manually
  • Automatically create opportunities from forms and bookings

Create Your Enrollment Pipeline

Setting up your enrollment pipeline takes just a few minutes. Once it's ready, you'll see exactly where every family stands in your enrollment process.

  1. Navigate to Enrollment Opportunities
  2. Click Pipelines
  3. Click Create New Pipeline
  4. Fill in the pipeline name and stages
  5. Click Save

[SCREENSHOT: Enrollment Opportunities screen showing the Pipelines tab and Create New Pipeline button]

Recommended Pipeline Stages for Childcare

Customize your stages to match how families move through your enrollment process:

  • New Inquiry – Just reached out
  • Tour Scheduled – Booked a visit
  • Tour Completed – Visited your center
  • Application Started – Filling out paperwork
  • Enrolled – Signed and ready to start
  • Waitlisted – No current openings
  • Not Moving Forward – Decided on another center

[SCREENSHOT: Pipeline creation form with childcare-specific stage names filled in]

Pro Tip: Match your pipeline stages to your actual enrollment process. If you do phone screenings before tours, add that stage. If families apply before touring, adjust accordingly.

Import Families as Enrollment Opportunities

Got a spreadsheet of families from an event, waitlist, or previous system? Import them directly into your enrollment pipeline in minutes.

  1. Navigate to Enrollment Opportunities
  2. Click Import
  3. Select Enrollment Opportunities
  4. Click Next
  5. Upload your CSV file
  6. Click Next
  7. Map your file columns to Enrollio fields (name, email, phone, pipeline stage, etc.)
  8. Click Next
  9. Review everything and click Start Bulk Import

[SCREENSHOT: Import screen showing CSV upload interface with example childcare data]

[SCREENSHOT: Field mapping screen showing columns like "Parent Name," "Child Age," "Desired Start Date" mapped to Enrollio fields]

Pro Tip: Include custom fields like child's age, desired start date, or classroom preference in your import to keep all enrollment details organized from day one.

Create an Enrollment Opportunity Manually

When a parent calls or walks in, you can add them to your pipeline on the spot. It's quick and gives you complete control over every detail.

  1. Navigate to Enrollment Opportunities
  2. Click Add Opportunity
  3. Select an existing parent/family or enter details for a new one
  4. Fill in the enrollment details:
    • Pipeline name
    • Current stage
    • Enrollment value (monthly tuition)
    • Expected start date
  5. Click Create

[SCREENSHOT: Add Opportunity form with childcare-specific fields like "Child's Name," "Age Group," "Monthly Tuition," "Start Date"]

Automatically Create Opportunities

Save time by letting Enrollio create enrollment opportunities automatically when families submit forms, book tours, or take other actions. Set it up once, and every inquiry flows into your pipeline without lifting a finger.

Example: Create Opportunities from Tour Booking Form

Here's how to automatically add families to your pipeline when they book a tour:

  1. Go to Automation → Automations in the left menu
  2. Click + Create Automation → Start from Scratch
  3. Name your automation (e.g., "New Tour Booking → Pipeline")
  4. Click + Add New Trigger and choose Form Submitted
  5. Select your tour booking form
  6. Click Save Trigger
  7. Click the + button below the trigger
  8. Choose Enrollment Opportunity → Create/Update Opportunity
  9. Configure the action:
    • Pipeline: Your enrollment pipeline
    • Stage: "Tour Scheduled"
    • Status: Open
    • Value: Your monthly tuition rate (optional)
  10. Click Save Action
  11. Toggle from Draft to Published (top-right)

[SCREENSHOT: Automation builder showing Form Submitted trigger connected to Create Opportunity action]

Now every tour booking automatically appears in your "Tour Scheduled" stage—no manual entry needed.

Other Common Enrollment Automation Triggers

Trigger How to Use It
Tour Booked Move families to "Tour Scheduled" when they book a center visit
Tag Applied Move families with "Hot Lead" tag to your closing stage
Facebook Lead Form Add Facebook ad inquiries to "New Inquiry" stage for immediate follow-up
Payment Received Move families to "Enrolled" stage when registration fee is paid
Parent/Family Created Start every new inquiry in "New Inquiry" so nothing falls through the cracks
Call Completed Add answered phone calls to a follow-up stage
Form Submitted Route application submissions to "Application Started" stage

[SCREENSHOT: Trigger selection menu showing childcare-relevant triggers like Tour Booked, Form Submitted, Payment Received]

Pro Tip: The Create/Update Opportunity action works with any trigger. Pick the trigger that matches when you want a family to enter your pipeline, and Enrollio handles the rest.

Next Steps

Your enrollment pipeline is now set up and ready to track families from first inquiry to enrollment day. From here, you can:

  • Set up automated follow-ups for each pipeline stage
  • Create text and email templates for tour reminders
  • Build enrollment pages that feed directly into your pipeline
  • Track which marketing sources bring in the most enrollments

Want to dive deeper into pipeline management? Check out our guide on customizing pipeline stages and tracking enrollment metrics.