How to Create Personalized School Tours That Families Remember
Engaged Right-Fit Families
A school tour can make or break a family’s enrollment decision. It’s the moment when parents begin to picture their child in your classrooms and community. And while schools work hard to showcase their best qualities, many (unintentionally) create friction along the way: confusing timelines, clunky check-in processes, or impersonal walks through campus.
Often, this friction comes from a well-meaning place. Teams are focused on gathering the information they need to successfully move families forward in the admissions process. And they’re proud of their school! They want to spotlight all the things they already love about it.
While highlighting the “good stuff” is important, if it isn’t tailored to a family’s interests, they can walk away feeling unseen or unheard. With the right approach, schools can transform a tour into a campus experience where families feel understood, valued, and welcomed from the very first interaction.
The role of empathy and hospitality
Most tours take place during the Consideration Phase of the Family Journey™. Families are narrowing their options, weighing major life decisions, and imagining what daily life could look like at your school.
It’s an exciting stage, but one filled with pressure. Parents are facing deadlines, a significant financial commitment, the opinions of friends and family, and the long-term impact of their decision on their child’s future.
This is where leading with empathy and hospitality can make all the difference. Empathy helps schools tune into a family’s motivations, whether that’s philosophy, programs, people, or other priorities. Hospitality reassures families that they’re seen as soon as they step on campus.
At Tassel, we define these as:
- Empathy — not just feeling for families, but feeling with them.
- Hospitality — “We knew you were coming, and we’re glad you’re here.”
Without these guiding principles, even the most well-prepared tour risks feeling transactional rather than relational. And it often comes down to the details families notice before, during, and after their visit.
Five ways to make families feel welcome
Families remember how they felt on a tour, just as much (if not more) than they remember what they saw. The details you put into the experience, from the first email confirmation to the way staff greet them at the door, all communicate whether they are valued. Here are five ways schools can intentionally weave empathy and hospitality into their tours:
1. Process
Make scheduling and logistics simple. From the moment a family reaches out, the process should be clear and convenient. That means easy appointment booking, clear parking, and a smooth check-in experience. When families don’t have to fight through confusion just to arrive on time, they can focus their energy on imagining life at your school.
2. Communication
Tours should feel like a conversation, not a presentation. Ask thoughtful questions, listen well, and resist the urge to dominate the dialogue with everything you want to share. And if you commit to follow up with materials, answers, or introductions, be sure to follow through promptly. Broken promises erode trust.
3. Information
Families are making a high-stakes decision, and they need the right information at the right time. Be prepared to answer common questions with clarity and consistency, whether they’re about curriculum, culture, or logistics like tuition and extracurriculars. But remember: highlighting your programs and strengths is important, but not at the expense of listening well to what matters to the family in front of you. Providing clear, relevant answers builds trust and reduces anxiety, while keeping the focus where it belongs — on the needs and hopes of the prospective family.
4. Environment
First impressions matter. A clean, welcoming, and professional environment sets the tone for the visit. Families will notice restrooms, hallways, signage, and landscaping just as much as classrooms or offices. These details communicate care, excellence, and pride in your school community.
5. Experience
Finally, it’s the personal touches that often leave the deepest impression. Prepare staff to greet the family by name, but avoid making families repeat their story to multiple people along the way — capture details early and use them to personalize the visit. Pair a visiting student with a guide who shares their interests. Share authentic stories from teachers, students, or alumni that resonate with the family’s motivations. These moments transform a standard tour into something that feels warm, tailored, and memorable.
Moving families from tour to ‘what’s next?’
At the end of a tour, families should leave with more than just information. Parents should leave with materials that reinforce what they learned, and kids should leave with something small and meaningful to remind them of their visit.
The follow-up is just as important. A thank-you email or packet doesn’t have to be completely custom, but it should feel personal. Even if 95% of your message is from a template, include a detail that shows you were listening: “We’re excited to see Xander exploring our STEM program next fall!” or “We’re looking forward to seeing Auralie using her creative gifts in the art studio that she was so excited about.”
When families leave feeling cared for during the tour — and continue to feel remembered in the follow-up — they’re more confident and eager to take the next step in the admissions process.
Ready to strengthen your on-campus experience?
Contact a Tassel solutions advisor to learn how you can connect with more right-fit families.
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