From Enquiry to Enrolment: How Nurseries Build Trust During Admissions

When parents choose a nursery, they are not only comparing fees, facilities and programs. They are deciding who they trust with their child, and every interaction from the first inquiry to the enrollment conversation shapes that decision. In this session for nursery leaders in the UAE, early years leader and education strategist Lara Hudson joined Purva Goyal, Co-Founder and CPO of illumine, to look at the research behind how parents decide, where trust leaks out of the admissions journey, and how to make every touch point count. This is the written recap. The full recording is at the top of this page.

Key takeaways

Where admissions are getting stuck

Lara opened by noting that many nurseries are struggling with admissions, and the first step is to work out where. The opening poll asked whether the biggest challenge was getting inquiries, turning inquiries into tours, or turning tours into registrations. Most attendees said converting tours into registrations. Lara had expected inquiries to be the problem, given the level of competition, and wondered whether parents are now seeing so many settings and so much information that the final decision becomes harder. Purva added that the answer may change with the season.

How parents really choose a nursery

A second poll asked what most influences a parent's decision: curriculum, fees, facilities or trust. The chat filled with fees, location and discounts. Lara agreed fees matter, and noted how much discounting there is at the moment, which she does not think is healthy for anyone. But the research, she said, points to trust: does the manager inspire confidence, are the children engaged and happy, is there a sense of belonging, and are safety measures clearly in place?

She walked through four ideas from research that are worth reading further:

What this means for your admissions team

Purva added that trust also shows in how quickly a nursery replies, how warm the message is and how consistent its tone of voice feels.

The first 7 to 30 seconds

Attendees were shown photos of two nurseries and asked which they would choose. Almost everyone picked the same one. Lara's point was that leaders are often too close to their own setting to see it with fresh eyes, and suggested asking a trusted peer in the industry to walk through and point out what they notice.

Lara stressed that a family can have eight excellent touch points and one poor one, and the poor one is often what they remember.

Review every touch point

• Website. When was it last updated, and can you edit it yourself? An outdated website raises questions about everything else.
• Reception. Is it warm, and is there something for children to do, such as a small book corner, while parents talk?
• Tour. Plan it around what each family needs to know. See our nursery tour guide for staff.
• Forms. Ask only for what you need at each stage. See enrollment forms that capture inquiries.
• Communication. Are letters professional, with correct spelling and grammar, sent at the right time with the right amount of information?

Trust is your admission strategy.

That means giving correct information the first time, and making sure whoever handles inquiries and tours knows the setting well.

How quickly do you respond?

A poll asked how quickly attendees respond to inquiries: within an hour, within 24 hours, or within 24 to 48 hours. The split was roughly even between within an hour and within 24 hours. Lara suggested larger teams consider a response-time policy, or include it in managers' or admissions teams' targets. She pointed out that a parent writing to one nursery is probably writing to six, and the one that replies quickly and personally is likely to get the first tour. Purva added that an inquiry already shows real intent, since most parents research before they reach out.

The three foundations of trust

Lara was clear that empathy is not the same as pleasing every parent. It means acknowledging their view, then explaining why something is or is not possible. Parents are usually fine once they understand the why. She also suggested reading your own vision and values, picturing what that setting would look like, and asking your team whether everyday practice matches.

Three more ideas worth knowing

Lara added one simple tip: tell parents what a day in their child's life would look like at their child's age, because that is what they most want to know.

Where trust leaks out of the journey

Lara proposed the full journey as awareness, inquiry, tour, follow-up, enrollment, onboarding and retention, and pointed to three more ideas: customer journey theory (satisfaction depends on the whole journey), touch point theory (every interaction shapes perception) and the Fogg Behavior Model (people act when motivation, ability and a prompt line up, such as an easy registration process or a timely follow-up).

Lara's practical suggestion was to mystery shop your own nursery. Ask a friend to inquire through WhatsApp, social media and the phone, and see whether response times and the quality of answers are consistent across channels.

How illumine supports admissions

Purva showed how nurseries can manage the journey in illumine:

• An inquiries dashboard showing new inquiries, conversions, tasks due today and conversions by source, such as walk-ins, phone and WhatsApp, so you can see which channels work best.
• A custom pipeline with stages such as interested, toured, waitlisted, on hold and admitted.
• Inquiry forms built by hand or from an AI prompt, branded and shared as a link, embedded on your website or printed as a QR code by the front door to capture inquiries out of hours.
• Tour scheduling with staff calendars and availability, rotation across a team, and a booking form that shows only open slots. See self-service tour scheduling.
• A full history for each inquiry, with calls, emails, chats, forms and tasks in one place, plus a suggested next step based on how recently the family was in touch.
• Automations that send a branded email, create a task, schedule a tour or share a form when an inquiry's status changes, a tour is completed or a form is submitted. See automating enrollment follow-up.
• Marketing campaigns to keep in touch with families who are not ready yet, with delivery, open and click rates.

Lara encouraged nurseries already using illumine to make the most of it, since many use only a small part of the system, and to ask the team for help setting up automations.

Questions from the session

How often should leaders look at inquiry data?

Purva said staff handling daily replies may not need the dashboard often. Leaders can review trends every two weeks or monthly, but should watch conversion rates closely during admissions season.

What should go on the first inquiry form?

Lara advised keeping it short so parents actually complete it. Purva listed the essentials: the parent's name, email and phone number, the child's age and the expected start date. Everything else can come later.

What should we do about leads who stop responding?

Lara's rule of thumb is three follow-ups, then mark the inquiry as no longer interested. Families go quiet for many reasons: fees, distance, or realizing after a tour that they are not ready to start nursery yet. Where possible, ask them why they chose not to continue. Purva added that families who are not ready now may be in a few months, so nurseries can keep sharing news through regular campaigns, perhaps for six months.

Can we see whether parents have read our emails?

Yes. Purva said campaign emails now show how many were delivered, how many were opened and how many recipients clicked a link.

Can the illumine team help set this up?

Yes. Both speakers encouraged nurseries to ask the team for help with forms and automations. Nurseries can share their own letters and responses, and the team will help sequence them so the tone stays the nursery's own.

Resources mentioned

• An admissions trust scorecard, an audit kit for reviewing your admissions journey, shared with attendees after the session.
• An earlier session with Lara on emergency preparedness. Watch Emergency Readiness for Nurseries in the UAE.

What to do next

For more on inquiries in the UAE, read the recap of The WhatsApp Playbook for UAE Nurseries or our guide to a connected inquiry-to-enrollment journey. To see how illumine supports admissions, explore admission management software or book a live demo.