How a Nanny Matching Membership Site Beats Increased Competition With A/B Tests, Price Changes & Better Search Marketing

See how a membership site that matches families with nannies has thrived for a decade, even as more competitors came on the scene. In

Quick Overview

ENannySource was one of the first websites to match families with child care providers when it launched in 2001. See how it’s thrived for 10 years even as bigger competitors have come on the scene. President Steve Lampert shares details on why their “nannies only” niche helps differentiate the site from competitors. Plus, check out the win-win partnership they have with a doctor in a related field to produce keyword-rich site content for SEO and email marketing, and why it was important to find the right email service provide to deliver the kind of dynamic content needed for their marketing efforts.

 Company Snapshot

Founded: 2001
No. of Employees: 2
Business Model: Hybrid (85% subscriptions, 15% online background checks)
Headquarters: West Hills, CA
http://www.enannysource.com

Target Market

The site targets families looking for childcare and nannies looking to advertise their services. On the family side, the primary market is upper-income families that need full-time childcare (such as two-income families or single parents).

On the nanny side, the primary markets are young, college-educated women in their early 20s and what Lampert calls “professional” nannies in their 30s and older.

Content Model

ENannySource matches families looking for childcare with nannies seeking work.

Nannies register for free to post detailed profiles about their personal backgrounds, education, work experience, and types of jobs they are seeking.

Families can search the database of 4,000+ nannies for free, but must pay a membership fee to receive contact information for a nanny. Families who pay for a membership also can create a profile of their family and post job opening notice to have nannies contact them directly.

Additional content on the site includes articles, videos, and other resources to help with the nanny search and hiring process. For example, the site’s “Learning Center” section includes dozens of articles on interviewing nannies, performing background checks, tax implications for nanny salaries, safety issues, and special concerns for nannies working with newborns.

Lampert has outsourced all of this writing to a host of contractors over the years, working with everyone from super cheap SEO content mills to professional writers. As you might expect, he’s discovered that higher quality content typically costs more and requires some expertise in the field.

“The best kind of writer for this content is a person who can relate to the subject matter,” he says.

One of the site’s best content sources is a partnership with a clinical psychologist named Dr. Laura Heller, who provides nanny consulting services for families under the name “The Nanny Doctor.” She provides videos and articles on eNannySource in exchange for links to her site. “She is building a practice and reputation for herself and we give her a lot of exposure, so there’s a nice quid pro quo there.”

Revenue Streams

The majority of site revenues come from premium membership fees paid by families. Ecommerce revenues from nanny background checks are a secondary revenue stream.

1. Membership fees

Families can sign up for two autorenewal membership plans: A monthly membership costs $49.85, and includes the ability to contact nannies, post a job opening, a basic nanny background check ($19.95 value), and a “safe nanny hiring kit.”

A 90-day membership costs $119.85, and includes everything in the monthly plan plus a comprehensive background check ($49.00 value).

Pricing has been a moving target during the site’s 10-year history. Originally Lampert was able to charge closer to $100 for a monthly membership, but growing competition from other babysitter/nanny matching sites has put pressure prices. “I’m continually looking at that pricing model to see where I can make adjustments and how elastic that price curve is.”

He also has been looking at supplemental revenue streams, such as adding premium options for free nanny memberships, such as paying to have a profile made a featured listings.

Like a dating site, eNannySource also has the challenge that if it does its job well, members won’t stick around very long. They find a nanny within a month or two, and they’re gone. However, Lampert says that the site does a strong business in repeat customers, many of whom have come back several times since the site launched 10 years ago.

“The backbone of the business is repeat customers, because with nannies… things happen.”

2. Background checks

Members and site visitors also can pay for a range of background check services through the site. Basic, Gold, and Platinum background checks cost $19, $49, and $89. Additional searches, such as driving records, reference checks, and county court records, can be added for $25-$30 each.

Marketing Tactics

Niche focus on nannies

ENannySource is in a hypercompetitive market, facing big competitors such as Care.com and SitterCity.com.

The site’s strategy to differentiate itself is to stay focused solely on the nanny niche. By contrast, many competitors are focused on all sorts of in-home caregivers, from nannies to babysitters and even pet sitters.

“Our marketing approach is that we know nannies, we can simply do better for a family that’s trying to hire a nanny than a company where also you can find a pet sitter.”

Search marketing

Search visits are one of the primary sources of traffic and conversions, and the site uses both SEO and pay-per-click search ads to maintain that volume.

Educational site content, such as the materials in the “Learning Center,” is written to include major key words and phrases, such as “nanny salary and pay guide,” and “hiring nannies for newborns.” A Google search for the latter phrase features links to eNannySource in the top four positions.

The homepage footer also includes search-optimized links to target specific geographic searches, such as “New York Nannies,” “San Francisco Nannies,” “Boston Nannies,” etc.

The site also buys PPC ads for many of the same phrases on its SEO keyword list, but does not specifically try to coordinate SEO with PPC to dominate specific phrases or buy their way onto a page when they can’t crack the organic results. PPC buys are based on ROI — they continue to buy phrases that perform well and drop the ones that don’t.

All PPC ads send visitors directly to the homepage, which isn’t a search marketing best practice. However, the team has tested customized PPC landing pages and sending visitors directly to a sign up page, but neither worked better. “We’ve found that so far the plain old homepage converts best because it’s geared toward families in the first place.”

Free trial

The site offers a 7-day free trial that allows families unlimited searches of the nanny database. The trial does not require a credit card, but members must provide contact information such as name and email addresses.

Conversion rate optimization testing

Lampert and his team are continually testing specific parts of the site to improve conversions. For example, a recent homepage A/B test boosted family registrations by 40% (This test received Insider’s Best Homepage Test of 2010. See the creative samples in the on-demand awards presentation in the Relevant Links section, below.)

They’ve also tested and optimized family and nanny registration pages to improve form completion rates. “We’ve found that sometimes none of your good ideas work out,” says Lampert. “That’s the beauty of testing — you may have an idea you think is dynamite, but the public doesn’t think so.”

Email marketing

The team conducts email marketing to its house list, which is made up of free trial takers and past users. For example, during the 7-day trial free users receive a daily email showing new nanny profiles added on the previous day, and promotional emails reminding them of the benefits of a paid membership.

They also receive emails customized to the preferences they listed during the registration process. For example, if a member indicated they had a newborn baby, they would receive emails containing articles and other site resources that help you choose a nanny for a newborn.

Past members still on the opt-in email list receive occasional messages offering them a special deal, such as a 20% discount, to return to the site. Fall is a good time for sending these win-back messages, as families are often looking for part-time child care once school starts.

Technology and Vendors Used

Working Planet Marketing Group: The site’s marketing agency, which handles PPC, SEO and conversion rate optimization testing.
http://www.workingplanet.com/

JangoMail: The site’s email service provider, which offers the technology to create database-driven, customized email messages. “I’ve used them all,” says Lampert of email service providers, “and for a company like ours that has a very dynamic database, JangoMail is the best. It’s designed to interface with your database.”
https://www.jangomail.com/

Intelgain Technologies: India-based web development company that built the site’s custom database and website.
http://www.intelgain.com/

Backgroundchecks.com: Wholesale provider of the site’s background check services.
http://www.backgroundchecks.com/

About Steve Lampert

Lampert started in the nanny-matching business in 1994 with a brick-and-mortar agency. Toward the end of the 90s he saw an emerging opportunity for an online nanny matching service, and by 2001 had created eNannySource.com.

Although the business model always included a membership fee for families to access the database, he didn’t expect the site to be anything more than a sideline. But by 2004 the site had grown so big he decided to sell his agency and focus on eNannySource full time. “It was a whole new frontier, and it was fun,” he says. “I didn’t know that it was going to evolve the way it did.”

Subscription Site Insider’s Analysis

You don’t survive for 10 years as an online subscription business without the kind of continual testing and tweaking that Lampert has done with eNannySource. We’re not just talking about the formal A/B testing — although that’s a hugely important piece. Whether it’s trying a range of content producers before hitting on the right partnership, or testing different email service providers until he found one that could deliver the dynamic functionality he needed, Lampert’s example shows how you can always improve operations or tweak around the edges of your basic content model.

For the next round of improvements, we agree that there’s an opportunity to expand paid, premium options for nannies. Dating sites and some of his competitors are already offering users the chance to enhance their listings, so it’s definitely worth testing. We’d also recommend he test a referral program to harness the natural word-of-mouth marketing that happens between families looking for child care help. For example, his web team might be able to develop a referral-at-birth program that identifies when a past customer is returning to the site and includes a referral marketing offer when they are registering for a new paid membership.

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