4-minute read

After about 15 minutes of trying to register for a local class, I finally gave up.

I had my credit card ready. I’d been waiting for a class date that fit my schedule. The class was even at my preferred location.

But after running into repeated “Invalid Password” errors, never getting a reset email, and facing a login screen that seemed impossible to get past, I did what most people do when they get stuck.

I closed the tab.

Not only did I leave the website, but I’m also unlikely to try again.

For me, this was an exercise in micro frustrations that resulted in exasperation. I got fed up trying to register for a parks and rec bird-watching class. (Yes, really … I am that big of a nerd. And a proud one at that.)

In my case, this was just a one-time, low-cost community class I punted on because I got fed up and didn’t want to waste any more time. But for your independent school, the stakes are much higher.

Every inquiry, every application, and every visit is a chance to build a relationship … to bring a family deeper into the fold. But when we make any of those steps more difficult than they need to be, we aren’t just testing a prospective family’s patience — we’re giving them a reason to walk away before they ever see how their child may benefit from what our school has to offer.

They don’t close the tab because they aren’t interested. They close it because we make it too hard to stay.

The Perspective Trap

As school leaders, we often look at our processes from our desks, and not from the perspective of a busy family.

We might think, “It only takes three clicks to inquire,” or “They just need to set up an account to take a campus tour, and the form connects to our admissions database.”

But imagine the parent who has worked all day, fed their famished family, helped their child struggle through their “new math” homework, tucked them into bed after two stories, and now … finally now … has 10 minutes to sit down and schedule that tour they’ve had on their to-do list for weeks.

And then …. your website asks them to “Create an Account” and verify their email just to see the tour calendar. They switch over to their mail app to find the verification code, get distracted by a late-night work notification, and — poof — they’re gone.

When we create hurdles, we’re making it even harder than it already is to win the fight for a tiny bit of attention in an overcrowded life. If a parent gets halfway through a form and hits a snag, they think, “I’ll try again later when I have more time and headspace.”

And “later,” my friends, is where inquiries go to die.

Where We Accidentally Build Walls

These unintended barriers tell a story about your school before you ever get a chance to speak for yourself: It’s complicated here.

• The data-entry inquiry: If your initial inquiry form asks for a child’s middle name and a list of hobbies just to receive more information, you’re creating a job for a busy family before they’ve even entered your admissions funnel.
  
• The login wall: Making a parent create a username and password just to find out your tuition rates or view a public tour date. Most will close the tab before they ever hit “Submit.”
  
• Application “window dressing”: When was the last time you gave your application questions—both for parents and students—an objective look? Are you really reading and using every answer to make a decision, or is it just there because “that’s how we’ve always done it”? If a question is just window dressing, it’s just another unnecessary hoop.
  
• Overly-cute navigation: If you label your tuition page “The Value of Investment” or your inquiry form “Begin Your Odyssey,” you’re forcing a tired brain to solve a riddle it didn’t ask for.

Run Your Own Mini-Audit

If you want to see your school through your families’ eyes, you have to get out of your own head and into theirs. To start, try these three things:

1. Use your phone. Open your website. Try requesting information or filling out an inquiry form. Count the clicks. If it takes more than 60 seconds or requires a password, you’ve created a hurdle.
   
2. Interrogate your application. Sit down with your team and review every question on your student and parent forms. If you can’t point to exactly how a specific answer impacts your admission decision or provides real value to the process, consider cutting it.
   
3. Empower a volunteer. Ask someone who doesn’t work at the school to try to register for a tour or schedule a call with an admissions officer. Watch over their shoulder — don’t help. Notice exactly where they pause or look confused. That hesitation is exactly where your prospective families are closing the tab.

Our schools are built on relationships, and those relationships start long before the first day of school. When we clear the path for our families, we aren’t just improving a process — we’re making it easier for them to choose us.

Is your process unintentionally turning families away? If you’re looking for an objective perspective, let’s chat.