How to Follow Up with Parents After an Open Day

Most families don’t apply on the day they visit. They go home, compare notes with the other schools they’ve seen, and decide over the following weeks. What your school does in that window — your school admissions follow-up — often determines whether a warm visitor becomes an applicant or quietly disappears.

Here’s a follow-up process that converts.

Send a Thank-You Email Within 48 Hours

Speed signals professionalism and keeps your school top of mind while the visit is still fresh. Send a personalised email to every attending family that:

• Thanks them for coming, ideally referencing something specific (their child’s year group or a question they asked)
• Recaps one or two of your school’s distinctive strengths
• Links to application forms, key dates and useful resources
• Names a real person in admissions they can reply to

A message from “Sarah in Admissions” outperforms a faceless office email every time.

Answer the Questions Parents Actually Leave With

Families often leave with practical questions they didn’t ask on the day. Pre-empt them with follow-up resources:

• Fees, payment plans and bursary or scholarship information
• Admissions timeline and registration deadlines
• Transport routes and wraparound care
• Curriculum summaries and exam results context
• Details of taster days or private tours

Transparency about fees and deadlines builds trust; making parents hunt for them erodes it.

Segment and Nurture — Don’t Blast

Not every attendee is in the same place. A simple three-way split works well:

• Hot: said they’re likely to apply — a personal follow-up call from admissions within a week
• Warm: interested but comparing schools — a short email nurture sequence
• Cold/no-show: didn’t attend or lukewarm — invite to a private tour or the next event

A nurture sequence for warm leads might run over four to six weeks: a student success story, a look at pastoral care or co-curricular life, results and destinations, then a deadline reminder. Keep each email short and genuinely useful.

Ask for Feedback — and Use It

A two- or three-question survey (QR code on the day, link in the thank-you email) tells you what landed and what didn’t:

• What did you find most useful?
• Was anything unclear or disappointing?
• How likely are you to apply?

Feed the answers into your next event and flag families who say they’re likely to apply for priority follow-up.

Make the Next Step Effortless

Every follow-up should make applying feel like the natural, easy next move:

• One clear link to the application or registration form
• Key dates restated in every email
• A named contact who responds quickly

Friction at this stage — broken links, unanswered emails, hidden deadlines — quietly loses applicants you worked hard to attract. And remember to only email families who consented to follow-up communications under UK GDPR.

Final Thoughts

An open day doesn’t end when the last family leaves; it ends when that family applies or doesn’t. Schools that follow up quickly, personally and helpfully — with clear next steps and honest answers about fees and deadlines — convert dramatically more visitors into applicants. It’s the cheapest improvement most schools can make to their admissions results.