What is a customer service mindset: 3 reasons every school district should adopt one

The rise of education technology, along with the expansion of school choice and other competing brands of education, are redefining how K-12 administrators approach their work.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that great academics — while critical to student success — aren’t enough to keep students and parents engaged and enrolled. Across the country, efforts are underway to improve every facet of the school experience, from the classroom to the front office.

Increasingly, how your schools make students, parents, and teachers feel is as important as what they teach. But what is a customer service mindset? And how can K-12 leaders adopt one? Here are three reasons it’s time to take the leap:  

1. Competition is here — and it’s growing

In the age of school choice, staff shortages, and political polarization, high-quality customer service is the best defense for school districts.

In fact, Rice University and the University of Texas at San Antonio found public schools can reverse student attrition and revitalize themselves by embracing a customer-focused approach to strategy planning and execution for improving student performance.

But here’s the thing: Truly good K-12 customer service takes more than a once-a-year professional development training. It requires realistic, expertise-driven systemic thinking, true prioritization, comprehensive, districtwide culture change management, and the right metrics and data to drive decision-making.

2. Quality service can help maintain school funding

Most school district budgets are tied to student enrollment, so when students leave, the money goes with them. The average cost for every full-time K-12 student at a public U.S. school is $11,392. The average teacher salary is $45,483. That means that for every four students a public school district loses, it also stands to lose a teacher’s salary in funding.

3. Customer service expectations are higher than ever before

What is a customer service mindset?

When you hear the term “customer service,” you probably think of your interactions with a company. But the concept isn’t just for businesses anymore — it’s a mindset schools can adopt, too. A customer service mindset means taking the customer-centric approach to every decision, big and small, related to interactions with your district. How does the enrollment process work? Is it difficult to locate answers after 5 p.m.? What about parents who don’t speak English as a first language — are there resources available for them?

Elevating customer service means proactively, intentionally, and consistently meeting the needs of every student, parent, teacher, and community member in your district’s network. So, we know what is a customer service mindset, but how can districts really start making the shift?

Here are the four things every K-12 leader needs to know when adopting a customer service mindset:

K-12 customer service must be a districtwide priority 

First things first: To make the changes listed below, customer service needs to be a clear, intentional priority — ideally mapped out in a strategic plan. It simply isn’t enough for school district leaders to say customer service matters: It must be part of every new hire’s training, intentionally considered with all additions to policy and procedure, and embedded in day-to-day operations.

Find guidance on adding customer service KPIs into your next strategic plan here >>

“Systems-oriented” thinking is required to elevate customer service in schools

All too often, school district operations exist in silos. Transportation processes are separate from HR, communications, or enrollment management — not to mention the totally different IT ticketing platform.

A customer-centric school district utilizes one omnichannel support system for every department, bringing all incoming and outgoing communications into one, unified inbox. This increases visibility across the district and allows for streamlined interdepartmental problem-solving.

Limiting the tech stack to a few districtwide necessities cuts down on budget, simplifies new hire onboarding, and reduces duplicative efforts. Most importantly, it allows staff to redirect inquiries to the correct person or department.

Using keyword recognition, K12 Insight’s Let’s Talk automatically reroutes incoming inquiries to the person best suited to respond.

For example, parents don’t often know that transportation is a district initiative, and most contact their child’s school when they have a bussing concern. Let’s Talk would identify words like “bus” “bus stop” or “bussing” and redirect the email to the transportation team where the first available department member could answer.

If the parent follows up with a phone call to their school’s front office, the campus staff member could look at the caller’s Let’s Talk profile to identify the status of their original inquiry.

After the issue is resolved, a log of the interaction is stored in the platform for future reference.

It’s more than just processes: The challenge of culture change management

But of course, implementing new systems and mindsets across a school district can be extremely challenging. New software is simple, new human behaviors can feel nearly impossible.

And because a successful K-12 customer service plan is not limited to one department or office, it demands a commitment to family satisfaction that extends from the superintendent’s office to every single campus principal and their staff.

In short, it takes time and energy.

Many districts, like Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), have managed districtwide culture change strategically and successfully thanks to a clear, comprehensive vision set by leadership. IPS’s Executive Director of Strategy & Integration Ashley Cowger used a three-pronged approach:

1. Implementing and sustaining new processes
2. Creative a culture of positive change
3. Enabling and engaging the district organization

Dive into Ashley’s culture change management tactics here >>

Data-driven decision-making for customer service in schools

Let’s Talk offers more than just streamlined communications — it also provides valuable insights and analytics to help K-12 school districts make data-driven decisions. The Let’s Talk data dashboard tracks customer service metrics like:

• Average response time
• Trending topics and themes
• Customer experience score
• General sentiment and message tone

With these data points — viewable at districtwide, department-specific, or campus-specific levels — leaders can analyze patterns in inquiries to identify areas for improvement and tailor their customer service strategies accordingly.

The K-12 marketplace is competitive, and providing exceptional customer service is no longer optional — it’s essential. Over 500 school districts nationwide are improving K-12 customer service using Let’s Talk, elevating the customer experience and setting themselves apart from the competition.

With this intentional approach to improving K-12 customer service, school districts must:

• Make customer service a districtwide priority
• Shift their approach to managing communications
• Develop a practical plan for creating positive culture changes
• Make data-driven decisions (instead of reacting to anecdotal evidence)

Customer service in schools matters. Connect with K12 Insight to start transforming your districtwide experience today.