Know-How Exchange : Strategy

For a preschool, probably low chance of online conversion (unless you mean have people sign up for a face-to-face meeting) - since you need to establish trust & safety before people will consider enrolling their children.

It's unlikely you will be able to MAKE the target audience "convert online." You can probably whet their appetite for more information and encourage them to call for an appointment, but you are not likely to MAKE them do anything.

Perhaps the place to start is by considering your marketing plan for the business. Who exactly is the primary target audience? Where? How do they learn about the alternatives? What are the most important considerations when they look for preschool alternatives? What unique benefit do you offer them -- other than being their only real option? What do they do today before their children are ready for public school?

For a preschool, parents would want to meet the child minders, see the facilities and generally feel comfortable to have their child at your institution. I'd be really surprised if anyone signed up online without having met you first. If the facility isn't ready yet, at least hire a hall, or have an outdoor open fun day so you can meet potential parents and explain what the preschool will be about when it opens.

you might be able to get them to sign up for a short-term low risk fun event (free pony rides?) online, giving you an example to showcase your staff and facilities and programs.

The others are right -- you won't get parents to convert when their Number One concern is the safety and well-being of their kids. That's definitely a personal meeting. But, you can warm them up substantially with informational videos that acquaint them in advance with the people who will be dealing with their children and perhaps a preview of the facility. Video (or even non-video) testimonials from satisfied parents are also very effective in warming up a prospective audience.

You might also use heat map analysis to see where prospective parents are spending their time on your site, and from that learn what is most important to them, and then incorporate those important aspects into the rest of your marketing. Some heat map tools are free; Google for more information.

Hope these ideas are constructive.