Best practices for parent COVID communication
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, schools around the world had to think quickly about how they would navigate the crisis. Through the CampusESP platform, colleges and universities are able to inform and communicate with families at their fingertips. Over the past several months, CampusESP partners have crushed the crisis communication game. We’re seeing activity ten times higher than normal as colleges and universities send out COVID-19 updates!
We’ve gathered top best practices when it comes to managing your crisis communication strategy, and we are happy to share our tips with you!
1. Send out a weekly email with an update on reopening plans
Sending consistent emails to families allows you to push out important information while building trust with families and keeping them in the loop.
CampusESP’s Announcement feature allows you to schedule and send messages to families within just a few minutes. Some schools have also used this tool to send out weekly reminders for enrollment topics, such as enrollment forms, financial aid documents, and validation deadlines, which can help reduce summer melt.
Email alert from Samford University updating parents on new testing options
2. Offer virtual Q&A sessions so parents can ask questions
When there’s a crisis happening, parents and family members naturally have a lot of questions (we’re talking A LOT!) Organizing Q&A sessions or having a designated place for parents to ask questions prevents things from going haywire.
In CampusESP, you can create an “Ask Us Anything” styled post to serve as a virtual help desk where parents would be able to comment with their questions on the post and get their questions answered by Administrators. You can also send one-off Announcements that direct families to various Q&A sessions that are taking place.
Email alert from University of Pikeville inviting parents to a virtual Q&A session
View of the Wilkes University Parent Portal “Ask Us Anything” page
3. Send updates from senior leadership
Updates from your institution’s leadership team are important to parents because they’re coming from key decision makers. CampusESP content that includes messages from campus leaders such as the Chancellor or President will likely generate higher engagement results than usual. We also integrate with YouTube, which means that a personal video message can be embedded within posts. Parents will love the added touch! Kennesaw State and UNC both received thousands of clicks on these specific content pieces, by the way!
Email alert from Kennesaw State University’s President
Video message from UNC’s Chancellor
4. Create a form to capture parent feedback
It’s always a good idea to touch base with parents and ask for their perspective.
CampusESP’s form functionality makes it easy to survey parents and collect feedback. Some of our partners used CampusESP for Online Orientation this year and took the feedback form as an opportunity to see what questions parents still had and which topics they would like to receive more information about. Not only does it make the parents feel heard, but it also gives you free ideas on how you can continue to improve. Win-win!
University of New Orleans feedback form from Parent Orientation
We hope that these strategies get the wheels turning! While we never would wish for another crisis, we are confident that our technology would help your institution push through it.