We kicked off the New Year with a few of our friends and the most important, needle-moving data points we’d collected through all our research in 2021. Watch the recording below and start working these four major takeaways into your parent engagement strategy today.

Don’t have 30 minutes to watch? Let’s give you the highlights…

Parents want — and expect — schools to email frequently

The research we did with our strategic partner, Ruffalo Noel Levitiz, looking at both prospective families and current families delivered the same result: families want their student’s institution to reach out with pertinent information weekly or more. And when we say the same result, we mean it literally — in both populations that level of communication was requested by 76% of parents.

Another similarity: for both audiences, email was the top channel requested for that outreach, with 91% of families looking for you in their inbox.

So no matter if you’re just getting started with a parent engagement strategy or are determining the best places to scale one, email is the obvious place to start. Create an email communications plan that sends timely, informative content to families on a regular basis, and you’re on the right track.

More parents than ever are engaging with colleges since the start of the pandemic

Have you seen my favorite chart? There’s a reason this gets so much screen time from the CampusESP crew — it’s kinda amazing. It shows average monthly users in our platform over time, and the up-and-to-the-right trend cannot be ignored.

Take a closer look and you’ll see something else you can capitalize on: Every August that average spikes as both new and current families gear up for another school year and their interest and need for information grows. Are you engaging that eager audience?

Whether you use CampusESP now or not, this basically tells us parents need a place to go to get their answers. Make sure you have a destination for them — a portal, a landing page, a section of your website — that provides the answers they’re likely searching for.

Financial aid is the most important topic for parents

Speaking of the answers families are on the hunt for, there’s no denying that financial aid is at the top of the list. Higher education is an investment, and one that often requires a confusing to-do list of forms, applications, and processes. Guidance on how to help their child navigate the cost of college has always been in demand.

But the pandemic has made it even more crucial: our research showed that 46% of families plan to borrow more now to pay for college than they had prior to COVID-19.

A combination of straightforward to-do lists and reminders on the financial aid process at your institution and content focused on the ROI and positive outcomes of an investment in higher education is sure to engage families.

Higher family engagement is highly correlated with higher student yield

A lot of family communications are done to benefit the parents and provide them with the information they want. But a strong family engagement strategy can also be highly beneficial for you, the institution.

Got enrollment goals? Students with parents in CampusESP in the top quartile of engagement are 3x more likely to enroll. And if the parent is highly engaged in the content and personalizes their profile and preferences, that jumps to 11x more likely.

The sooner you start engaging families (think inquiry stage), the more impactful your approach can be and the better results you’ll experience.

These stats are worth saving — and sharing. Get the full deck and start putting all the data into practice.