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How Communication During Admissions Impacts Retention
When you want to implement techniques to clear admission standards and boost retention, your teams should understand how communication strategies can affect retention.
1. Form Stronger Relationships
Communication during the admissions stages lets you connect more with your potential students and families, fostering lasting relationships that encourage them to stay part of your community. Answering questions and providing assurances can improve trust and make school environments more inviting. When families and students know what to expect and receive accurate information, they know they can continually rely on your resources and teams in the future.
Your communication efforts can also help you identify and cater to student interests. Students might apply to your school because of specific academic programs or offered extracurriculars. Your administration teams can remind students and families why they chose your school by sending more relevant information tailored to their interests, helping you learn more about your student body and showing applicants you care about their needs.
2. Clear Confusion
Communication is essential for clarifying information and ensuring comprehension. The admissions process involves many steps and procedures that families and students must complete. Without access to information or streamlined communication methods, they can complete applications incorrectly or miss vital forms and steps. Too much information at the wrong time can overwhelm individuals and make them unsure of how to proceed.
Communication can guide individuals throughout the admissions process, ensuring they are on the right track. Support can show you are invested in their progress and application submittal for more long-term investment, improving their chances of committing to your school.
3. Develop a Sense of Belonging
When your students feel like they belong in your community, they are more likely to stay through graduation. Your communication efforts can show students how they fit into your school community. Your tactics might include connecting students and families with ambassadors, teacher representatives and various faculty members, allowing applicants to meet individuals before enrolling. They can imagine themselves interacting with these people daily, encouraging them to continue filling out the application through completion.
4. Highlight Unique Offerings
Your communication efforts can strengthen your competitiveness in earlier processes like admissions. Students are searching for the schools that best fit their needs and offer services they can’t find at others. Communicating what makes your school unique can attract students and families that match your culture and target audience while keeping them interested. When they know you have what they want, they will continue working with your school rather than seeking alternative options.
5 Tips for Successful Admissions Communication
Establishing communication standards and tactics is essential when approaching the admissions season. With the right communication campaign, you can improve your student retention rate across the stages of student interest.
1. Leverage Student Data
Students and their behaviors have patterns and preferences your administrative teams can use to determine how to set admissions standards for communication and retention. Analyze how your students interact with materials, resources and current communication methods. For example, students might respond better to emailed newsletters than traditionally mailed versions. During the next admissions season, you can deploy more email campaigns to share information.
2. Implement Several Communication Types
Individuals often need a mix of communication methods to relay various information. For example, emails are great for communicating more information, while text campaigns can help quickly notify students and families about due dates, deadlines and other reminders. Exploring your communication methods can keep parties informed during the admission stage, so they understand your school is the right choice for them.
Promotional materials can also be a great source of information and communicate several factors to interested students and families. You can use your blog to go into greater depth about your programs, teachers, clubs and other experiences. Video can help you record virtual tours, so your students can explore your campus and facilities before applying. Posted content on social media can continually engage individuals, reminding them why your school is right for them and increasing student retention.
Understanding your school community’s generational breakdown can help you develop effective communication strategies. Each generation has different communication preferences and expectations. While your students might respond well to information shared on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, families can receive comprehensive support on Facebook and Twitter. You can use platforms alongside email and text campaigns to provide more connections and two-way communication opportunities.
3. Use Clear and Concise Language
Optimize your communication methods by using language your audience readily understands. Complex sentence structures, long paragraphs and academic vocabulary might impress some audiences, but they can cause students and families to lose interest in your content or misinterpret information.
Your communication methods share vital information with families, from your school’s programs and offerings to specific due dates and application requirements. Accessible, easy-to-understand language is essential to maintaining your target audience and keeping their attention.
4. Try Storytelling
While many schools try to stick to facts when sharing information with families, storytelling can be a powerful tactic when trying to engage and keep your target audience. This type of material will tell a story, keeping individuals interested throughout the duration while providing information they might need to assess your school or complete their application. Because it often features characters, students and families can better imagine themselves at your school in various situations, from studying to attending events and clubs.
5. Set Admissions Standards for Private Schools
Your school’s internal communication strategies and resources can help foster better retention rates. When your faculty establishes admissions standards to determine who to accept, you can enroll more students who fit your school’s expectations and culture. When deciding how to communicate admissions standards with your administration, outline your ideal candidate and factors you value in students above all else.
As you approach admissions season, communicating your candidate standards with your team can strengthen your admissions and acceptance efforts. You might initially go over your ideal student in a meeting with all faculty present to ask questions and receive clarification. Sharing standards in accessible resources lets individuals refresh and access data as needed to continue making strong decisions throughout the application review.
Implement Admissions Standards With Ravenna
With so many processes and standards to implement during admissions, your administration can strengthen operations with the right tools and resources. Ravenna is a robust admissions solution that helps private K-12 schools manage and run successful admissions seasons. With streamlined communication and automated features, your staff can increase reliability, accuracy and efficiency while using Ravenna, so you can devote more time to communicating with potential students and families.
Request a demo today and discover how Ravenna can support your next admissions season.
