HSC results come out, and within two hours a Farmgate admission coaching centre's WhatsApp number has 300 unread chats. "Medical batch er fee koto?" "Engineering + varsity combined ache?" "Online batch hobe?" Half are students. The other half are parents who want to talk to someone senior before paying.
The office has three people and one phone. By evening the newest chats are answered and the morning's chats are cold. Some of those students have already paid somewhere else, because a rival centre replied first with a fee and a batch time.
This guide is about running that season properly on WhatsApp: what to answer, how fast, how to follow up without irritating guardians, and how to know which enquiries became admissions.
What do students and guardians ask during admission season?
The same ten questions make up most of the traffic. Sort them by who should answer, and most of the work becomes copy and paste from one sheet.
| Question | Example message | Who should answer |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | "Medical batch er total fee koto?" | Fee chart, any staff or a chatbot |
| Batch timing | "Morning batch ache?" | Batch schedule |
| Branch | "Mirpur branch kothay?" | Branch list with directions |
| Online or offline | "Online e class kora jabe?" | Course list |
| Start date | "Class kobe theke shuru?" | Batch schedule |
| Documents | "Admission e ki ki lagbe?" | Admission rules |
| Discount or scholarship | "GPA 5 hole waiver ache?" | A counsellor, always |
| Results and track record | "Gotobar koyjon chance peyeche?" | A counsellor, with numbers you can prove |
| Refund | "Majhe chere dile taka ferot?" | Written refund policy, then a counsellor |
| Talk to someone | "Sir er sathe kotha bolte chai" | A counsellor |
The first six have one correct answer each, and it should be the same no matter who replies. The last four need judgement, and a person should handle them.
How fast should a coaching centre reply?
Within minutes for the first reply, if you can. During admission season a student often messages three or four centres in one sitting. The centre that answers with a clear fee and a batch time is the one that gets the follow-up question.
Speed matters less after the first reply. A thoughtful answer from a counsellor an hour later is fine, as long as the student already has the basics.
What should the first reply say?
Answer the question asked, give one useful extra, and end with one question. For example:
Student: Medical admission batch er fee koto?
Reply: Medical admission full course er fee ৳18,000 (2 kistite deya jay). Morning (8 tay) ar evening (5 tay) duita batch, Farmgate ar Mirpur branch e. Apni kon branch e korte chan?
(The fee is an example. Use your own chart.)
Avoid three things in the first reply:
- A full prospectus as a PDF with no text. Many students will not open it. Give the answer in the message, then attach the PDF.
- "Call us for details." The student messaged because they did not want to call yet.
- Five questions at once. Ask one, get the answer, then ask the next.
How do you follow up an enquiry that goes quiet?
Use a fixed schedule so every counsellor does the same thing. WhatsApp's 24-hour window shapes it: within 24 hours of the student's last message you can send anything, and after that only an approved template.
| When | What to send | Message type |
|---|---|---|
| Same day | A short nudge: "Prospectus ta dekhechen? Kono proshno thakle janaben." | Free text |
| Next day | Demo class invite or batch start date | Approved template |
| One week later | Last admission date or a new batch | Approved template, only to opted-in contacts |
| After that | Nothing, unless they reply | None |
Demo-class invites, new batches and admission offers are marketing messages. Send them only to people who agreed to hear from you. Our guide to WhatsApp template categories explains how Meta sorts marketing and utility templates.
Stop after the third follow-up. Guardians remember the centre that kept messaging after they said "pore janabo".
How do you handle guardians and students in the same chat?
Answer the guardian's questions with more detail and the student's with more speed. They want different things.
Students ask about batch times, online options and which teachers take which subject. Guardians ask about safety, fees in instalments, results, attendance reports and refunds. Often the student starts the chat and then forwards the number to a parent.
Two habits help:
- Ask who is writing when it is not obvious: "Apni student naki obhibhabok?" One question saves a lot of mismatched answers.
- Give guardians a person. A guardian who asks for a senior teacher or the director should get a named counsellor quickly, not another automated reply.
Some guardians are not on WhatsApp at all. For them, SMS is still the reliable channel for notices like the first class date.
How do you know which enquiries enrolled?
Tag every enquiry with a stage and count the tags every week. Without stages, you only know how many messages came in, not how many students joined.
A simple set of stages:
- Enquiry: asked a question.
- Qualified: told you the class, group and branch.
- Demo booked and demo attended.
- Enrolled: paid the admission fee.
- Not now: said no or went silent after the follow-ups.
Add the source too, such as "Facebook ad", "walk-in" or "referral". At the end of the season you can see which source and which counsellor produced admissions, not just chats.
How does SaleMag handle coaching centre admissions?
SaleMag puts WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Telegram chats in one shared inbox, and its AI chatbot answers fee, batch and branch questions from the documents you upload, in Bangla, Banglish or English. When the answer is not in your material, it hands the chat to a counsellor instead of guessing. It also stays quiet for 15 minutes after a counsellor replies, so a guardian never gets two answers at once.
For tracking, SaleMag uses tags, contact fields and assignment on the contact record, not a separate pipeline. Counsellors with the agent role see the chats assigned to them plus unassigned ones. A keyword such as "admission" can start an automation that assigns a counsellor and asks for the student's class and branch, saving each answer to the contact.
Follow-ups go out as approved WhatsApp templates to opted-in contacts, or by SMS through Bangladeshi gateways such as REVE or MimSMS. SMS replies do not come back into the SaleMag inbox, so put your WhatsApp number in every SMS. The education page shows the full setup. If you are building the knowledge base, our AI chatbot knowledge base guide covers what to put in it.
Which mistakes cost coaching centres admissions?
Most lost admissions come from slow first replies, inconsistent fees and no follow-up owner.
- Last year's fee chart. If an old file is still in the system, someone will quote it. Delete it.
- Different fees from different staff. One sheet, one number.
- Nobody owns the follow-up. "The office" is not a person.
- Promising seats or results. Never promise a seat count or a pass rate you cannot prove.
- No end to the follow-ups. Three messages, then stop.
Next steps
Before the next results day, put this season's fees, batches and branches in one document and write your ten first replies. Decide who owns follow-ups and what your three follow-up messages say, and get the templates approved early. Then start free or see pricing.
Step by step
- 1
Prepare one fee and batch sheet
Put every course, batch time, branch and fee for this season in one document and remove last year's version.
- 2
Write first replies
Write short answers to the top ten questions, each ending with one question that moves the enquiry forward.
- 3
Assign counsellors
Give every serious enquiry a named counsellor who owns the follow-up.
- 4
Set a follow-up schedule
Follow up the same day in free text, the next day with an approved template, and again only with real news.
- 5
Tag the stages
Tag each enquiry as enquiry, demo attended, enrolled or not now, and review the counts every week.
Frequently asked questions
How should a coaching centre reply to admission enquiries on WhatsApp?
Reply within minutes with the exact fee, batch time and branch the person asked about, then ask one question, such as which class or group the student is in. Use your current fee chart so every counsellor quotes the same number.
Can a coaching centre send follow-up messages on WhatsApp after 24 hours?
Yes, with a Meta-approved message template. Within 24 hours of the student's or guardian's last message you can send any message; after that, only templates are allowed.
Is a 'new batch starting' message a marketing or utility template?
A new batch, an admission offer or a free demo class is a marketing template. Class reschedules or exam routines for students who already enrolled are usually utility templates, but Meta makes the final decision.
Can an AI chatbot answer coaching admission questions in Bangla?
Yes. A good AI chatbot answers in the language the student writes in, including Bangla and Banglish, as long as it answers from your own fee chart and batch schedule rather than guessing.
How many times should a coaching centre follow up an enquiry?
Two or three times is usually enough: once the same day, once the next day, and once more when you have real news, such as a demo class or the last admission date. More than that tends to feel like spam to guardians.
Can students pay coaching fees inside WhatsApp with SaleMag?
No. SaleMag has no bKash, Nagad or card payment step, so the office collects fees the way it already does.
About the author
WhatsApp & F-commerce automation, Dhaka
The Dhaka team that builds SaleMag, the AI sales inbox for WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram used by online sellers in Bangladesh.