Follow up every admission enquiry on WhatsApp: a 7-day plan

November 13, 2026 • 6 min read • By eKTextAI
WhatsApp replies to school admission enquiries, ready for the admissions office to send
An enquiry is won in the week after it arrives, not in the minute it arrives.

A parent fills in your admission enquiry form on a Tuesday evening. They fill in two other schools' forms the same evening.

By Saturday, one of those three schools has called, sent the fee structure, answered a question about the bus, and booked a campus visit. The other two have a name in a register.

The parent did not choose the best school. They chose the school that followed up.

Most admission enquiries are not lost. They are left.

Here is a plan any admissions office can run from next Monday: four WhatsApp messages in seven days, from an enquiry list everyone in the office can see.

First, get the number that matters

Follow-up starts on the form. If your enquiry form asks for "phone number", you get a landline, an office number or a number nobody answers during the day. Ask for the parent's WhatsApp number, by name, and make it required.

Keep the rest short: child's name, class applied for, parent's name, WhatsApp number, email, and "how did you hear about us". Everything else can wait for the visit. If you are starting from a paper form, our sister site has a free school admission enquiry form format you can edit and print on A4.

Then put the form where parents already are. An online admission enquiry form on your school website can be shared on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, and printed as a QR code on banners and pamphlets, so the enquiry that starts on a phone ends on a phone.

The 7-day plan

Day 0Reply the same day

Within the hour if you can, the same day without fail. The reply has one job: tell the parent a real person has the enquiry and what happens next.

Hello [Parent name], thank you for your enquiry for [Child name], Class [X], at [School name]. Your enquiry number is [ENQ-0001]. Our admissions office will call you tomorrow between 10 am and 1 pm. If another time suits you better, just reply here.

Day 1Send the next step, not a brochure

Make the call you promised. Then send one useful thing: the fee structure for that class, the admission timeline, or the list of documents. One, not all three.

As discussed, here is the fee structure for Class [X] for [2027-28]. Admission tests for Class [X] are on [date]. Would you like to visit the campus this week? We have slots on [Thursday] and [Saturday] morning.

Day 3Invite them in

A visit is where most admissions are decided. If the parent has not booked, offer two specific times. Two choices get answered; "let us know when you are free" does not.

Hello [Parent name], we would be happy to show you and [Child name] around [School name]. Would [Saturday 10 am] or [Monday 4 pm] work? The visit takes about 40 minutes.

Day 7One short, honest last check

No pressure, no "limited seats" unless it is true. Make it easy to say yes later, or no now.

Hello [Parent name], just checking whether you have any questions about admission for [Child name]. Seats for Class [X] are open until [date]. If you have decided on another school, no problem at all. We wish [Child name] the very best.

A parent who says "we chose another school" has done you a favour: you can close the enquiry and stop guessing. Mark it, and move on to the next one.

The list is what makes the plan work

Seven days and four messages sounds simple. It breaks the moment enquiries live in three places: a register at the front desk, a coordinator's phone, and a form whose emails nobody opens.

What admission enquiry management needs is unglamorous: one list, with every enquiry numbered, a status (new, called, visit booked, applied, closed), a next follow-up date, and a line of remarks. Every morning, the office opens the list, filters by today's follow-ups, and works down it.

That is what MarvelSoft's online admission enquiry form for school websites is built around. Parents fill it in online or print it; every enquiry is saved on the school's own website as ENQ-0001 onwards; and the office gets a private staff area to search and filter enquiries, fill in status, follow-up dates and remarks, and call or WhatsApp the parent in one tap. Staff can download every enquiry for Excel (CSV) and print the enquiry register. It is ₹1,900 + GST (₹2,242 in all) one time, with no monthly fee, and you can try it as a parent and as the office in the live demo.

Installing it is a one-time job: the setup guide shows every step, so you can install it yourself or give it to your website or IT team. If you would rather not, MarvelSoft's installation service does it for you: standard installation is included with the kit (within 48 hours of your request), and priority installation is ₹950 in all: we contact you within 4 hours of your request.

With the list in place, the plan stops depending on who is on leave this week.

When the questions outnumber the office

The four messages above are yours to send. The replies are where it gets busy. After day 1, parents ask: is there a sibling discount, which bus stops near us, is the test for Class 1 written or oral, what documents do we bring, is there a day-care after school.

In admission season, that is the same twenty questions, from a hundred families, mostly after 8 pm.

This is where eKTextAI comes in. It answers those questions on WhatsApp from the school's own admission circulars, in the school's words, at 9 pm as well as 9 am, and hands the parent to a member of staff when it should, rather than guessing. When the school needs to send rather than reply, such as an open day, a test date or the last week of admissions, it sends admission campaigns on WhatsApp and email from the same account parents already hear from.

The form collects the enquiry. The follow-up wins it.

A one-week checklist

  • The enquiry form asks for the parent's WhatsApp number, by name, and it is required.
  • The form is on your website, shared on WhatsApp and social media, and printed as a QR code.
  • Every enquiry gets a number and a same-day reply.
  • The office has one enquiry list with a status and a next follow-up date for each enquiry.
  • Day 1, day 3 and day 7 messages are saved and ready to send.
  • Parents' follow-up questions have an answer outside office hours.

Try both halves.

Send yourself a test enquiry in the live demo of the online admission enquiry form. Then bring one admission circular to a 15-minute eKTextAI demo and judge the answers.

Try the enquiry form demo Book a 15-minute demo

Questions schools ask

How quickly should a school reply to an admission enquiry?

The same day, and within the hour where possible. Parents usually enquire at three or four schools in the same week, and the first school that replies with a clear next step sets the tone for the others.

How many times should we follow up an enquiry?

Four touches in seven days is a good start: a reply on day 0, the next step on day 1, a visit invitation on day 3 and a short last check on day 7. After that, keep the enquiry in the list with a status, so the next open-day campaign still reaches it.

How do we get the parent's WhatsApp number?

Ask for it on the school admission enquiry form, by name. MarvelSoft's online form saves each enquiry on your own website, and staff call or WhatsApp the parent in one tap from the staff area.

Is it all right to message parents on WhatsApp after an enquiry?

Yes, when the parent gave you the number for that enquiry and you message them about it. Keep messages about the enquiry, stop when they say they have chosen another school, and do not add them to class groups or unrelated broadcasts.

Where does eKTextAI fit?

eKTextAI answers parents' follow-up questions on WhatsApp from your own admission circulars, hands them to staff when it should, and sends admission campaigns on WhatsApp and email. The enquiry form collects the enquiry; eKTextAI keeps the conversation going when there are too many for the office to answer one by one.

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