Walking in Their Shoes: How Secret Shopping Helps Colleges Create Student-Centered Experiences
For community colleges, one of the most effective ways to improve services and increase enrollment is by understanding the student experience from an applicant’s point of view. That’s exactly what secret shopping is designed to do. By simulating the real paths that prospective students take—from first inquiry to enrollment—this method can provide actionable insights into where a community college shines and where it may be leaving students in the dark. GradComm, a marketing agency specializing in supporting colleges and universities with their communication efforts, offers this type of service.
Each secret shopping project begins with custom student personas that reflect the demographics of real community college students—such as working parents, adult English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, and recent high school graduates. These personas guide the research, capturing the full student journey: exploring the college website, reaching out by phone or email, applying, and even attempting to enroll in a class. Every step is documented to identify roadblocks, highlight missed opportunities, and then assess how each interaction shapes the overall student experience.
This hands-on approach offers a holistic and human-centered view of the student experience—something internal reviews may not always capture. Secret shopping brings data and empathy together, focusing not just on processes, but on how each interaction makes students feel.
The unfortunate reality is that minor missteps, like confusing websites or unreturned messages, can discourage already struggling prospects from continuing. On the other hand, responsive staff and clear communication can make all the difference in helping them stay on track.
Southwestern College, for example, partnered with GradComm to gain a deeper understanding of its student experience, particularly for adult ESL learners and first-time students. Their secret shoppers uncovered critical issues, including confusing navigation, a lack of Spanish-language resources, and delayed responses that often disrupted the enrollment journey. These findings helped the college identify key areas for improvement.
“The results of our Secret Shopper experience were enlightening and, at times, a bit uncomfortable, but provided us with essential feedback that will help guide us to improving our services for students. GradComm was our catalyst for improved student success,” shared Jennifer Lewis, Dean, Continuing Education and Workforce Development, Southwestern College.
Meanwhile, MiraCosta College’s Continuing Education Division leveraged secret shopping to examine how students navigated the college’s application and enrollment systems. GradComm’s findings exposed all-too-common friction points—complex phone trees, inconsistent messaging, and broken links—but also highlighted wins, such as responsive staff and timely email replies. These insights provided MiraCosta College with a clear roadmap for reducing confusion, increasing follow-through, and enhancing its enrollment pipeline.
“The Secret Shopper project gave us powerful, real-time insights into how students experience our systems,” said John Makevich, Dean, Continuing and Community Education at MiraCosta College. “It confirmed what was working—and, more importantly, helped us pinpoint where we were unintentionally creating barriers. It sparked meaningful conversations about how we can better support our students from the first click to the classroom.”
Fundamentally, secret shopping is about uncovering blind spots and bringing student perspectives into decision-making. For colleges committed to equity, retention, and real student success, secret shopping can be a powerful learning tool. After all, if you want to help students get where they want to go, you may first need to walk in their shoes. If you are interested in learning more about leveraging the FoundationCCC’s agreement with GradComm, please contact cbcontracts@foundationccc.org.
