At UNC Charlotte, we believe that the more information and experiences we provide families, the better they can serve as a resource for their students. We’ve aimed to improve our family engagement plan, regarding:

• The quality of information

• The frequency of communication

• Generally streamlining information from departments across the administration 

In March 2021, we decided to implement a new family engagement solution– and with CampusESP, we are hoping to continue this forward momentum and provide a great service to our families. 

Setting personalized goals for our family engagement strategies 

Our primary goals for family engagement strategies are to provide helpful, personalized content for families and to manage our Niner Nation Family Association. 

We wanted a way to ensure that information was not only accessible for families but curated to their needs as well. With CampusESP, we are able to target personalized content to many of our specialized groups, including first-year families, first-generation families, transfer families, in-state, and Family Association members. 

On the membership management side, we are able to:

• Track Family Association membership over time

• Advertise and sell memberships through the platform

• Provide special benefits to our members

Through our partnership with CampusESP, we have been not only able to create thoughtful content but create personalized experiences that improve the families’ sense of belonging within the UNC Charlotte community. 

CampusESP implementation only took three weeks

Our whole implementation took three weeks, from our first kick-off call with our Customer Success Manager, until the day we launched the 49er Family Hub to families. The process was much faster than we had anticipated, giving us plenty of time to explore the platform and test out its various features and functionalities. While the implementation period was short, we were continually provided with updates from the team at CampusESP. The speed and efficiency of implementation was the first major win achieved using CampusESP. 

Our Customer Success Manager was key in facilitating a smooth transition. Our CSM ensured that before implementation, we knew exactly what information she needed to get our portal up and running. We were able to proactively connect with various departments at the university, including our IT, eCommerce, Student Affairs Marketing, and Purchasing departments. The transparency in information from CampusESP helped us complete as many steps as possible before the portal was implemented. 

Our advice for new customers interested in CampusESP

As an institution that just completed our implementation process, we have two main tips that we believe will help other institutions achieve their goals with CampusESP:

1. Invest time in the process

2. Know the resources CampusESP offers

Implementation isn’t difficult, but we recommend institutions invest time in the process. Specifically, you should invest in creating a relationship with the CampusESP team, as they are your support system. The Customer Success team is there to make the platform easy to understand and eliminate roadblocks for you.

Collaboration is also an ingredient for success, so collaborate with team members at your university. Through collaboration, families using the CampusESP platform benefit from a dynamic experience. 

There is also a wealth of information about how to use CampusESP and best practices available at your fingertips, so we encourage you to make use of it! CampusESP offers help guides, product walkthroughs, customer newsletters and webinars. You can also always set up meetings with the CampusESP team.. 

We are excited about our future growth with CampusESP, which has made our institution and other institutions feel like a member of their family. We were immediately impressed by the engagement, support, and willingness to help the UNC Charlotte team. We always knew who to direct our questions to and had the information we needed to successfully implement the platform. CampusESP always checked in when presenting new information, ensuring we understood it. We will continue looking forward to our meetings and relationship with CampusESP! 

Interested in learning more about our easy 3 week implementation?