The Browning School Captured 340 Inquiries From Families It Never Would Have Met

Jan Abernathy has watched admissions change for a decade. As Chief Communications Officer at The Browning School in Manhattan, she has a name for what's happening: the ghost applicant.

"People used to submit an inquiry on a website, then wait and see what they would get back via email. But now people want to figure that out for themselves."

— Jan Abernathy, CCO, The Browning School

Families are doing deep research on private school websites — and leaving no trace. By the time they submit an application, admissions teams have no context: no background, no sense of what matters to them, no way to make a meaningful case for enrollment.

Abernathy wanted to close that gap. She connected with Halda to find a way to identify and engage those hidden visitors before they disappeared.

The Problem: Websites Got Better. Visibility Got Worse.

K-12 websites have improved significantly over the past decade. Navigation is clearer, information is easier to find, and families no longer need a one-on-one counselor to get through the inquiry process.

That's mostly good news. But it created a side effect: families don't need to raise their hand anymore.

"We already know that traditional form submission from families has fallen off a cliff. People are popping in with completed applications, but we've never metthem — we have no idea their background or specifically what they're looking for."

— Jan Abernathy

For Browning, connecting with families before the application stage isn't just nice to have. It's the difference between being able to influence a family's decision and simply receiving it.

"Connecting with families before that application stage is crucial. It gives us the potential to move prospective families further down the funnel toward that application."

— Jan Abernathy

The Solution: Personalized Website Engagement for Every Type of Researcher

Browning launched with Halda in April 2023. Halda's website tools position personalized engagement at key points in the funnel — designed to convert visitors at different stages of their research, not just the ones who are ready to fill out a form.

Abernathy collaborates with the Halda team to build out the student journey using web traffic, interaction, and marketing data. The goal: surface the right information to the right family at the right moment, early enough to matter.

Capturing Context Before the Application

Halda's tools help Browning identify and engage stealth visitors — the families who would otherwise research quietly and either disappear or show up as a cold application.

"What Halda has done is help us uncover that hidden visitor — that potential ghost applicant — much earlier in the research process. At our peak months we're now getting an inquiry submission every day, most of them from New York who can presumably afford the school. Many of these are not people that we would have known otherwise."

— Jan Abernathy

Fueling Ongoing Engagement

When a family does engage,Browning can now use that context to keep the conversation going — feeding relevant content that maintains momentum through the research process.

"Sometimes we see people who have already been in contact going into the Halda form, answering questions, and giving us the context we need to have better conversations. And now that we've started this dialogue we can continually feed them content that keeps their momentum going."

— Jan Abernathy

Meeting Different Families Where They Are

Not every prospective family wants the same experience. Some want to browse independently. Others want direct guidance. Abernathy thinks of Halda as a tool that serves both.

"Some people walk into a store and an employee asks them, 'Can I help you?' I'm probably not the kind of person who is going to say yes. But there are people who say 'Yes, please take me directly to what I'm looking for.'"

— Jan Abernathy

Halda's engagement tools are designed for both profiles — creating a path for the self-directed researcher and one for the family that wants a hand.

The Results

•     340 complete inquiries captured from website visitors since April 2023 — families Browning had no prior relationship with.

•     Inquiry submissions at peak months run roughly once per day, mostly from New York families who fit Browning's enrollment profile.

•     Browning now has early context on prospective families— enough to have meaningful conversations before those families decide whether to apply.

For Abernathy, the value isn't just volume. It's timing.

"What I'm most hopeful about is learning who people are early in the process so I can influence them to think more positively about The Browning School — to affect their decision to ultimately apply and matriculate."

— Jan Abernathy

The Support Model That Makes It Work

Abernathy is direct about what makes the Halda partnership different from other vendor relationships: the proactive support.

"We're extraordinarily happy with the customer service aspect. I get a lot of proactive attention with insights I might not have thought of. I don't have time to check the analytics every day. But Judson, my Halda rep, will totally be like 'Did you see this happen? What do you think of that? Let's get a meeting on the calendar.'"

— Jan Abernathy

The optimization loop — Halda surfacing data, Abernathy acting on it, adjusting the journey — is what keeps the system improving over time.

What K-12 Admissions Teams Can Take From This

The ghost applicant problem isn't going away. As websites get better at self-service, fewer families need to raise their hand — and more arrive as completed, context-free applications.

Browning's approach is to move the engagement point earlier. Not by adding friction or requiring form fills, but by creating personalized on-site experiences that meet families in the research phase — before they go quiet.

340 inquiries from families Browning never would have known otherwise. That's the number that matters.