How to sell to Heads of Operations at Education companies
Heads of Operations in the education sector prioritize operational efficiency and student satisfaction. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their challenges, such as managing course delivery logistics and optimizing resource allocation. Highlighting how your solution can streamline their operations or enhance student engagement will capture their attention effectively.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 554 education company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- inefficient course delivery
- high student dropout rates
- resource allocation issues
- regulatory compliance headaches
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Filter for education companies that have recently secured funding, as this often indicates growth and potential operational changes. Use databases like Crunchbase or PitchBook to find this information. Targeting these companies allows you to present solutions that support scaling operations.
- 02
Analyze course completion rates
Look for organizations with declining course completion rates. This data can often be found in industry reports or education analytics platforms. When reaching out, position your solution as a way to improve student engagement and operational effectiveness.
- 03
Reach out after leadership changes
Monitor news for leadership changes within education companies. A new COO or VP of Operations may be looking to implement new systems. Tailor your messaging to address their potential need for fresh operational strategies during this transition.
- 04
Address compliance concerns directly
Identify organizations that have faced compliance issues recently, such as data security breaches or regulatory changes. Use this information to craft your outreach, focusing on how your solution can help them navigate these challenges effectively.
- 05
Follow up after course launch
After an education company launches a new course, follow up within a month. Many organizations reassess their operational processes post-launch. Position your outreach to discuss how your solution can optimize the operational aspects of their new offerings.
Can education companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 554 education companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.3% of 1–10-person companies against 80.2% of the largest — 64 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improve course completion rates
- Streamline your operations
- Navigating compliance challenges
Questions
- Why do Heads of Operations in education ignore outreach?
- Heads of Operations often receive numerous outreach messages that lack specificity to their unique challenges. If the outreach doesn't demonstrate an understanding of their operational pain points or how to improve student outcomes, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What operational challenges do education companies face?
- Education companies frequently struggle with managing course logistics, ensuring compliance with educational standards, and optimizing resource allocation. These challenges can lead to inefficiencies that impact student satisfaction and operational costs.
- How can I get a response from Heads of Operations in education?
- To get a response, tailor your outreach to address specific operational challenges they face, such as course delivery or compliance. Highlighting how your solution can directly alleviate these pain points is more likely to initiate a conversation.
- What recent trends are impacting education operations?
- Current trends affecting education operations include the shift to online learning, increased demand for personalized education, and the need for robust data security measures. Understanding these trends can help in crafting relevant outreach to Heads of Operations.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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