As you know, students are applying to more colleges than ever in their college search process. To maximize yield efforts, colleges and universities must leverage CRM portals and microsites to offer personalized engagement to admitted students and their parents. Shoring up communication tactics, microsites/portals, and marketing campaigns for both students and families is critical to keeping your institution top of mind — and user-friendly for tech-savvy generations.

During SparkThink@JAM 2023, Spark451’s Senior CRM Strategist Ed Flaherty teamed up with Brewton-Parker College’s Associate VP of Admissions and Retention, Michael P. Moran, M.Ed., to discuss “Maximizing Engagement of Admits and Parents With Personalized Portals and Microsites.” Here are some of the key tips they offered during their session:

Whether you’re using Slate portals, Element451 Microsites, Salesforce Communities, or an SIS or homegrown solution, creating a personalized, engaging, and responsive space to share succinct information will help keep admitted students and families organized, excited, and engaged.

To keep students engaged, prioritize sharing relevant content, such as program and funnel stage-specific information and next steps. Also, be sure to share resources that are available on campus; add options to interact with students, faculty, and staff; and be sure to change content over time so that prospective students and their families will be compelled to come back again and again. After all, a student may log into your application status portal a dozen times until their decision is released — once they are admitted, you can conditionally display new, fresh, and hyper-personalized content creating a whole new experience in a comfortable space.

Think about ways to engage parents that work best for your tech abilities and systems. Here are a few things to try:

• Create email communications delivering parent-centric information (housing, deadlines, resources on campus, plus financial aid and ROI)
• Create a separate or shared portal space and encourage students and families to visit your portal/microsite together
• Consider deploying parent surveys, mailings, or other engagement tactics to keep parents feeling connected to your institution

To make sure that your microsite or portal is functioning optimally, be sure to:

• Test the site as much as possible
• Test the user experience (Share it with student workers or current students to test and break)
• Make sure it is mobile friendly
• Check for outdated content regularly
• Don’t let it get stale — share new videos, stats, and update staff contact information as turnover happens