Parent engagement best practices from CampusESP colleges
It's time for some shoutouts! Our Q1 Customer Highlights features current CampusESP customers that are connecting with families in thoughtful and creative ways.
Read on to learn how other institutions are generating extra revenue from families, collaborating with campus partners, acclimating parents to the portal, and generally killing it with their parent engagement strategy!
Our team has been very impressed with what we've seen this past quarter, and we're excited to share these ideas with the rest of the ESP community!
University of Arkansas uses portal campaigns to generate revenue from families
Over the last few months, University of Arkansas has made fantastic use of campaigns to generate additional revenue from families. They have sold Razorback Family Merchandise such as t-shirts and masks, and recently they have been selling Finals Care Packages.
Quincy Spencer, Director of New Student & Family Programs at University of Arkansas, said:
"Using the portal campaign feature has been the best way for us to generate additional revenue during the pandemic. Parents and family members like the convenience of having it on the front page which gets their attention right from the start!"
Arizona State creates bookstore discount campaigns to convert more users
We absolutely love this idea! ASU built a 2-part campaign to encourage families to customize their profile. The newsletter campaign that linked to the onboarding survey went to all unconverted imported users, while the portal campaign that linked to the bookstore coupon went to converted users/users who had signed up through the web.
Kellyn Johnson, Director of Family Programs at ASU, reflects on the process:
"The campaign provided a way for us to encourage imported families to convert, a process that we have seen significantly increases engagement, while also connecting them to our bookstore for spirited gear and resources to showcase their ASU pride and celebrate their Sun Devil. We were excited by the campaigns success and looking into other possible partnerships and utilizations of this feature to promote engagement."
The campaign for unconverted users ran for two months with over 120k impressions and more than 300 profile conversions!
University of Georgia collaborates with Auxiliary Services to push out engaging content
Shoutout to UGA for encouraging campus partners to create posts for families! UGA has a unique community called Auxiliary Services, where content admins have created engaging posts about a variety of topics, including but not limited to eating healthy on the meal plan, finding textbooks at the bookstore, and parking on campus.
They also shared an "Auxiliary Services Dawg Talk" video that featured staff members from the Bookstore, Dining Services, Retail Dining, Transportation and Parking Services, and the One Stop Shop, and having them show off the awesome services they offer to UGA students.
Way to go, UGA!
Cheyney University "nudges the nudger" to help boost student persistence
When midterm grades rolled in, Cheyney took the opportunity to let families know about important campus programs and services to help support their student's academic success.
Lauren Moffett, Associate Director of University Communications & Technology at Cheyney, notes that:
"Using CampusESP to connect with our students and their families has been an invaluable resource to our campus and leadership. Announcements, like these, give a level of assurance that our communications, goals, and updates are relayed to our campus community in an expedited manner."
For our partners using our FERPA Management Module — during important times of the year like when grades are released, sending an announcement like this one is also a great opportunity to remind families to connect with their student in the portal!
George Mason University hosts virtual portal tutorial and Q&A for families
George Mason launched the Mason Family Connection in March (yay!) In an effort to get families acclimated, they planned a special event to review how to navigate the new platform and answer any questions.
Hear from Rebecca McCrory, Associate Director of Family Programs at George Mason University:
"We determined that a campaign was the best way to promote the Q&A event to our entire family community because of its prominent display in the platform newsfeed and in the newsletter. We were very pleased with the results of our first campaign, and we are exploring how to further utilize this feature to promote our spring survey and fall events."
Fun fact: The graphic used in the campaign was created by one of GMU's student graphic designers!