Helping families find the right fit in the age of AI: Insights from May 2025 Lunch & Learn
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our recent Lunch & Learn event. It was a pleasure connecting with so many schools, sharing ideas on how new technologies are reshaping the school selection process. Reflecting on the day, here are some useful highlights regarding how schools can respond strategically and continue building trust with families.
How AI is Reframing the Parent Journey
It may seem like AI tools like search summaries and zero-click results are creating new problems. In fact, they’re exposing existing problems, especially around trust.
While these tools give families quick answers, they don’t replace the extended, multi-step process parents need to go through when choosing a school. Parents don’t settle for surface-level answers—They can’t! They need confirmation and validation from multiple sources: your website, third-party platforms like OUR KIDS, and conversations with alumni, other parents, and education experts.
The challenge remains the same: how to best help families match what they’re looking for with what your school authentically offers, with clarity and confidence.
The increasing dominance of AI means having to play the long game
For schools, the real challenge isn’t visibility; it’s consideration. AI can boost reach, just as conventional ads do. But conversion still depends on trust and emotional alignment.
Families are much more likely to recommend a school that helped them make the right decision, even if it meant going elsewhere themselves. So the goal isn’t just to be a marketer, but a guide. What builds long-term credibility, instead of just short-term wins, is truthful guidance, demonstrating empathy, and focusing on the families’ best interests.
Getting found by AI: What we’ve learned so far
At OUR KIDS, we’ve already seen success in appearing in AI-generated results. This raises the question: Why? Content-rich, conversational pages. Our Insider Perspective interviews, which combine in-depth video and text, perform especially well. This kind of content helps AI tools understand context and relevance.
We recommend building out your FAQ section and investing in meaningful video content. It’s not about the high resolution, good lighting, or multiple cameras. It’s about addressing questions, offering genuine answers, and showing empathy toward the real concerns of families.
If the videos are posted on a third-party platform, as the Insider Perspective interviews are, it’s even better! It adds an extra layer of credibility in the eyes of families. These videos become evergreen assets that serve your school by guiding the parent journey.
Panel highlights: Alignment before marketing
In our afternoon panel, Michael O’Connor of Appleby College emphasized the value of transparency, clearly presenting the “Appleby experience” so families know early whether it’s the right fit.
Karen Wolff, an education consultant, highlighted the importance of helping families clarify their priorities before diving into school lists. A lot of what parents experience when evaluating their options is self-discovery; they’re becoming more aware of their own priorities, and we need to be mindful of that when offering guidance.
And OUR KIDS' David Hertzberg underscored the non-linear nature of the decision journey. Families revisit and revalidate their choices repeatedly. They draw from diverse sources of information, and there is no clear, predictable set of steps for which source comes first or last. What matters most is being present across the journey, wherever and whenever families are engaged.
Thanks again for being part of the conversation. If you'd like to continue discussing how to strengthen your presence and support families more effectively, we’d be happy to connect.
