Austin ISD answers more than 100,000 inquiries from district stakeholders using Let’s Talk

With a strong commitment to superior customer service, Austin Independent School District has reached a new milestone answering over 100,000 dialogues through Let’s Talk — the only all-in-one customer experience and intelligence platform built for education. 

“This is a huge milestone for Austin ISD because it illustrates how implementing superior customer service has made a lasting impact on our district community,” said Jason Stanford, Austin ISD’s Chief of Communications & Community Engagement. “Let’s Talk has been a tremendous help in reaching our stakeholders and meeting them where they are, and we look forward to continuing to use this platform to keep our community engaged.”

With more than 70,000 students at 115 campuses, Austin ISD receives countless inbound communications each day. The district launched Let’s Talk in February 2019 to collect questions, comments, suggestions, concerns, and compliments from their district community. The platform also provides a unified inbox to streamline communications and route inquiries to the right person that way stakeholders receive accurate, timely responses. 

“Austin ISD is an exemplary example of superior customer service that helps improve community engagement and foster a thriving school environment,” said Krista Coleman, Chief Customer Officer at K12 Insight. “The district’s recent milestone demonstrates their commitment to providing better experiences, better engagement, and better education to their community.”

The district receives the highest volume of dialogues during the month of August, reaching nearly 10,000 dialogues in August 2020 and 8,000 in August 2021 — largely due to the back-to-school season.

Austin ISD receives dialogues from a variety of stakeholders, including parents or guardians, who make up 49% of their customers, and employees, who make up 31%. Austin ISD’s most common inquiries include topics like COVID-19, questions for the district’s central office, employee benefits and payroll, student enrollment, and virtual learning. 

Through Let’s Talk’s text-to-dialogue feature, Austin ISD created individualized text messaging lines for each campus for curbside pickup during the pandemic. Since then, the district has expanded its use of text lines to address popular topics like enrollment. Austin ISD’s Let’s Talk enrollment text line is promoted throughout the city of Austin on roadside banners and on vans. 

“Let’s Talk continues to serve as a powerful tool in enrollment,” Stanford said. “Without a solution like Let’s Talk, we would not be able to cater to communication preferences like texting or provide a level of customer service sought after by many families today.”

Let’s Talk is a cloud-based customer experience and intelligence platform that helps school districts deliver superior customer service. Features include: 

• 24/7 accessibility from any device, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops; and supports texting
• Translation tools that can translate dialogues to 13 languages to meet community needs and manage multilingual communications
• Data collection to help education leaders make informed decisions

Learn more about how Let’s Talk can transform school district communications.