Amplify your parent engagement with CampusESP’s new SMS Module
CampusESP recently released a new set of features to help schools communicate with parents and families through bulk SMS texting. Our research shows that texting is a growing communication preference for families.
SMS was also the #1 requested feature in last summer’s customer product survey. We’re proud to announce that less than one year later, our new SMS Module is launched, ready to be implemented, and already yielding awesome early results.
SMS campaigns are game-changing for parent engagement
You already know that families can support your enrollment, retention, and fundraising goals — if you can effectively reach them. With evolving generational communication preferences and increasingly noisy email and social channels, SMS has become one of the best ways to connect with families.
According to college administrators and parents themselves, these are the top 3 reasons to build an SMS strategy:
1. SMS campaigns reach the families who need the most support.
In our recent survey of more than 6,400 parents, 36% responded that SMS is one of their top preferred communication channels. Nearly 50% of Black, Hispanic, first-generation, and low-income families said that SMS is a top preferred communication channel. If you’re looking for better ways to connect with these key demographics, as most institutions are, start by offering them the option to receive information and ask questions over text.
2. Nudge the nudgers (with the strongest nudge).
Text messages have open rates of up to 98% (think about it: don’t you open all of your text messages?), which makes SMS one of the best ways to spread the word about important deadlines, events, and campus updates.
3. Synchronize multi-channel parent communication in one place.
CampusESP is the only all-in-one parent engagement platform that supports communication across email, social media, a web and mobile platform — and now SMS, too. Incorporating SMS into your parent engagement strategy allows you to amplify the most important messages delivered across other channels.
So, what’s included in the CampusESP SMS Module?
Host two-way text conversation, managed in CampusESP, to offer real-time support and track interactions with families.
Opt-in management makes it easy for families to consent to receive text messages from your institution. CampusESP promotes opt-ins via email, forms, and portal campaigns to get your opt-in rate as high as possible.
Build an SMS campaign that can be personalized according to parent type or student status. Deposit reminders for parents of admitted students? Check. Move-in information for parents of incoming first-year students? Yep. Language support for Spanish-speaking families? We can do that, too.
Host two-way SMS conversations with families managed in the CampusESP admin platform. Allow families to respond to SMS campaigns with questions, comments, and concerns — and have real-time conversations to resolve their issues quickly.
Set optional auto-responders, so families know when your team is unavailable to monitor the SMS inbox.
Track SMS campaign results to learn what’s working and not working and develop your engagement strategy over time. SMS metrics include campaign sends, responses, and clicks, plus SMS credit balance and opt-in reporting.
Early results from the Beta Group are promising!
Special shout-out to our Beta Group: Conner Ellinghuysen, Director of Admissions at Buena Vista University; Nathan Cheesman, Associate Director of Admissions: Orientation & Visit Experience, and Ileana Saenz, Graduate Family Ambassador at New Mexico State University; Joe Benyish, Director of Orientation, Transition & Family Programs, and Charles Overholt, Assistant Director of Freshman Admissions at Salisbury University; Mary Beth Marks, Executive Director for Strategic Enrollment Marketing at University of the Pacific; Stephanie Stiltner, Director of Family Connections at University of Pikeville. Thanks for all your help!
We wouldn’t have made it to this point without an awesome group of strategic, creative, early adopters — who offered their time and product feedback along the way. Our Beta Group included a host of customers hailing from different institution types, sizes, and regions, plus a range of departments and experiences using CampusESP.
SMS strategy results
A few weeks after SMS launched, our team collected the following results:
5 schools are live with the SMS Module. The Beta Group has used SMS to communicate with families about deposit reminders, registration reminders, housing deadlines, and covid updates.
Over 3,500 parents have opted-in to receive SMS.
Over 4,200 text messages have been sent.
Two-way SMS conversations are happening as college administrators help current and prospective families navigate various student support issues.
“Having an SMS option to communicate with families has helped in those unique situations in which a family doesn’t know where to turn. It has allowed our staff to help families solve issues on campus for their students – without a drawn out back-and-forth email chain, or arranging time to talk on the phone.”
Nathan Cheesman, Associate Director of Admissions, Orientation & Visit Experience at New Mexico State University
Ready to learn more about texting software for universities?
Current customers: Simply contact your Account Manager, or shoot us a line at support@campusesp.com for more information on the SMS Module.
New to CampusESP? Reach out here to learn how parent engagement can improve student success on your campus.