How Creative Listening Helps Institutions Better Serve Students

• 02/27/23

Don't try to evaluate every moment. Choose a few moments that matter most, starting with the above, and tune your listening antenna. Get highly curious. Asking about students' decision-drivers and satisfaction levels at these key touch points will allow you to identify the sources of friction causing students to struggle or give up. Once you understand what is happening with students on this level, you'll be able to identify opportunities to make life better for students and improve their overall education experience.

Listening Creatively

Listening creatively means moving beyond traditional e-mail-solicited outreach like surveys. Candidly, surveys are not enough and when e-mail is your only channel for feedback, you risk missing digitally disadvantaged students, as well as those who prefer SMS/text, in-app notifications, and social media. Where are students already talking, how are we remembering what they already told us, and what are we doing to act on that information? Adding channels for listening not only increases response rates, it also demonstrates to students that your institution understands their needs and preferences.

Listening creatively also means embedding listening posts within the student experience. For example, many of us are familiar with filling out a short in-app survey after a rideshare trip or food delivery. As consumers, students are far more likely to provide feedback in the moment than via an e-mail survey received a day (or more) later. It isn't possible to integrate feedback into every experience, but for each point of criticality, look for the most natural and timely channels for feedback.

Finally, listening creatively involves finding ways to hear how students feel about their experiences without having to ask. With advanced conversational analytics, you can listen to what your students are saying about your institution in whatever venue they're saying it — from the contact center to social media to online reviews and rating sites. Integrating this kind of always-on listening provides richer data and deeper insights.

Adjusting and Adjusting Again

Just as students need to take what they learn in class and eventually apply it in the real world, the real power of listening comes from acting on what is learned — boldly or incrementally.

What you hear from students might spark a dramatic policy reversal or radical realignment of a business process, but far more likely, their feedback will point to many small-to-medium changes that reduce friction. After making initial adjustments, listen carefully to the student response and then make further adjustments as necessary to demonstrate that you really care.

While seemingly small negative experiences can accumulate until the proverbial last straw causes a student to drop out, reducing friction at the points of criticality can turn previous challenges into moments of support or even delight. These moments can make all the difference.