Survey Timing Considerations

Many schools do survey research to learn about why families do not choose to enroll after an admission offer (we’ll call these “declining families”). Often this work is done in the late spring, but I have recently been asked a few times about whether it’s too late to do the work now, in the middle of the fall. “It depends,” of course, but here are some considerations.

What will you do with the information you gather? For example, are you trying to explain low yield to the board? Or are you making a case for needing more financial aid? Is your team considering a program change that this data will inform? Different desired outcomes will inform time-sensitivity, as well as the formulation of questions.

Did you attempt to survey this group earlier? If so, you might consider a personal email with a link to a much shorter survey that acknowledges the earlier communication. Or, depending on the actual list of people, you might reach out personally to just a few and ask if they’d be willing to hop on the phone for a few minutes.

Are you worried about low response rates? My general rule of thumb is that some data is better than no data at all. It is nearly impossible to get statistically significant results in schools because our sample sizes are just too small. I wouldn’t worry about low response rates as long as the development and implementation of the survey is not too time-consuming for your team.

When is it just too late? When surveying families who have left your school (attrition), I don’t think it’s ever too late. Families who have something to say will often appreciate the opportunity to share. For the declining families, though, I’d say it’s probably not worth doing after November 1. By that point, families are embedded in their new school and are probably not thinking a lot about their experience with you anymore. Having said that, I do think that if you take the uber-personalized approach and reach out to people one-on-one for specific reasons, you might get good feedback at any time. It’s just about asking the right questions and framing the conversation effectively.

The bottom line is that survey research is an extremely valuable tool as you assess and understand the family experience with your school at various points in the journey. Timing is very important, but it’s not the only consideration when deciding whether to embark on the work.

Surveying Newly Enrolled Families

Aaaah. The group that you picked, and that picked you! A treasure trove of information awaits when you survey families that are newly enrolled at your school. 

• They have (probably) just gone through the admission process at more than just your school, so have front-of-mind the ways you knocked it out of the park and ways other schools managed their process more effectively.
• You picked them, and they picked you, fitting them into the ideal customer persona that you are trying to get more of. What matters to them is, in theory, a "perfect fit" for what you should be focused on.
• They are excited about your school and have a lot of skin in the game in this moment, so they are likely to be more responsive and forthcoming than in subsequent years as “current” parents.

A survey of newly enrolled parents can be simple, asking a couple of key questions such as “why, ultimately, did you choose our school?”, or, you can use a very detailed survey in order to dive in more deeply.

Don’t be afraid to ask about ways you can improve your process, as well. Again, these are friends and fans, and you want to attract more of people like them! So, their constructive advice is very useful.

Many schools will use online surveys for this group, which can be very effective. To uplevel your efforts, offer an opt-in phone call for follow up. Remember that it is hard to capture emotion and story online, so the phone call route generally garners more complete information. 

If I can be of any assistance as you develop your surveys or in the interpretation of them, feel free to reach out at any time. I’d be happy to hop on the phone to help!

The Middle Management Conundrum

In my work with enrollment managers, I often hear about the frustrations associated with being part of middle management. The truth is that middle managers across many professional fields face similar struggles: a tremendous amount of responsibility without a lot of control. You are responsible for enrollment, and you carry essential knowledge about both internal and external communities. You may be the only person with one eye on each. But you aren’t the decision maker regarding staffing, programmatic priorities, or scheduling. You certainly don’t want to be in the middle of what can become a complicated landscape of personalities and priorities. 

While this conundrum is not unique, the circumstances are specific to your school. However, there is one thing that all schools can do in order to support the difficult position of being in the middle: procure great data.

The combination of both quantitative and qualitative data is powerful and clarifying. Armed with real numbers coupled with qualitative information, you have a much stronger leg to stand on when discussing feedback and recommendations with your leadership team.

You still may not be the decision maker, but when you walk into the room prepared with a well constructed portfolio of data, your chances are much better that you can influence the direction and strategy your school chooses in support of enrollment goals.

To start, consider running a demographic trend projection report for your service area to learn, in broad strokes, what the market conditions may be in the coming years. Couple this with qualitative information and you will be in a much stronger position to make your case for the strategy you want to put in place.