CASE STUDY
VIPKid Launches Teacher Recognition Program with Help From InstantCard
“Once a teacher signs up for a card, we take care of all the details,” said David Finkelstein, founder and CEO of InstantCard.
Summary
- VIPKid, an online ESL platform, wanted to create a teacher ID card to provide its network of teachers access to the same perks and rewards offered to traditional teachers.
- VIPKid turned to InstantCard to provide a customized, turnkey solution to managing the process.
- With the self-serve ordering platform, VIPKid was able to implement the teacher ID card program at no cost to themselves.
- Nearly 15,000 teachers have taken advantage of the Six Apples program.
Situation
In 2013, online English learning platform VIPKid launched in China, providing a way to connect English-learners in China with ESL teachers in the US and Canada. By 2018, the company had grown to more than 65,000 ESL teach-ers providing online lessons to more than half a million Chinese students. For many of these teachers, VIPKid provides a full-time career with a flexibility that traditional schools cannot provide.
VIPKid wanted a way to provide its teachers with some of the same benefits and recognition afforded to in-class-room teachers.
Solution
The Six Apples program launched in 2018 as a membership and reward system for its network of teachers. VIPKid teachers who join the program receive exclusive discounts for partnering products and services-and a physical teacher ID card that can be used at any brick-and-mortar store that offers teacher discounts.
Implementing a membership card program that serves thousands of teachers across North America could have been both financially and logistically prohibitive. VIPKid turned to the InstantCard Individual Card Ordering (ICO) system to provide a customized, turnkey solution to managing the process.
InstantCard worked with VIPKid to create a customized interface that allowed teachers to order a branded teacher ID card directly from their VIPKid account. When a teacher signed up for the Six Apples program, InstantCard printed the teacher ID card, packaged it in a VIPKid-branded envelope with a personal letter from VIPKid and mailed it directly to their home or office.
“For the teacher, it is a seamless experience. We are the anonymous vendor behind the scenes, but all communication comes from VIPKid. By simply embed-ding our interface onto their website, VIPKid was able to create a hands-off solution to issuing teacher ID cards. Once a teacher signs up for a card, we take care of all the details,” said David Finkelstein, founder and CEO of InstantCard. “For us, sometimes the best customer service is when the customer doesn’t even know we are there.”
Results
The Six Apple program was an instant success.
“They announced the program in their newsletter on a Sunday night, and by the next morning, 600 teachers signed up,” said Finkelstein. Today, nearly 15,000 teach-ers have taken advantage of the opportunity.
VIPKid sells the teacher ID cards at-cost, as a membership perk. The $10 fee pays for the cards, and allows the teachers to access thousands of dollars worth of teach-er discounts. For VIPKids, outsourcing membership cards allowed them to offer a teacher benefit at no cost to themselves, and with minimal staff resources.
For teachers, it is not just about the discounts.
“I think there is something about feeling like they have joined the family. They have the card. They are part of it. Maybe it’s not even the loyalty program, but it’s a branding exercise. They are proud to hold that card,” VIPKid Head of Community and Growth, Kevyn Klein, wrote in The Global Classroom: How VIPKID Transformed Online Learning*.
*Source: Jones, Li. “The Global Classroom: How VIPKID Transformed Online Learning.” Skyhorse, 2021.</.span>
600
teachers signed up by the next morning
15k
teachers have taken advantage of this opportunity