SMS Broadcast in Education – Importance & Application
Did you know that 90% of SMS messages are opened and read within 3 minutes of sending them?
In such a scenario, it’s a highly beneficial mode of communication to convey immediate information.
It’s specifically helpful for the education sector that requires frequent transfer of information since the pandemic began.
Let’s move further and see how the education sector relies on SMS Broadcasting to convey relevant messages.
Keep Your Audience Updated Of The Happenings At All Times
After the pandemic, keeping personal touch alive became a hassle. Businesses started relying on varied forms of communication to ensure no relevant information remained unconveyed.
Let’s take a look at how The Australian Health & Management Institute-AHMI used SMS Broadcasting to its advantage.
This is one of those universities that relied on the traditional method of collecting information for recruitment. One of the significant flaws in this method is wrong information. Sometimes students input inaccurate information unintentionally, while other times, it’s hard to understand their language.
AHMI decided to change its ways of collecting information and shifted entirely to SMS surveys. The tools available on the web ensure the sent information gets inserted into the database. This saves the time of staff who otherwise completed the task manually.
The response rate was very high after the university inculcated SMS surveys. Apart from getting all relevant information regarding students, it also helped develop relationships.
The university kept the students updated with the happenings and sent timely reminders.
Don’t stay stuck with the myth that SMS Broadcasts have to be promotional. Apart from using it to inform students about admission openings, you can curate engaging and relevant messages. The goal is to stay connected with your target audience to ensure they don’t shift their preferences.
Remember that they plan on spending sufficient time on the campus. It’s your responsibility to add to their excitement.
Make your messages encouraging enough to make them ask questions. Your goal should be to answer all the queries in their minds.
After COVID-19, the traditional method ceased to exist, so universities were left with all the online forms of communication.
But emails hardly get opened, and phone calls are mostly ignored.
In such a scenario, relying on SMS Broadcast seems to be the most viable option.
Schools and universities that never sent out SMS Messages before the pandemic need a solid plan. Make sure you jot down relevant things to include in your messages to avoid annoyance.
Sending Timely Reminders
For the smooth working of the education sector, one must receive the fees on time. Sending consistent reminders will ensure any sort of delay is avoided.
You can easily show the breakdown of fees in the message to avoid confusion. Any specific or extra payment reminder can also be sent.
Another general delay is in the admission process. Students are unaware of the application forms being filled.
Reminding students that their application form date is near will keep them prepared.
Make sure you mention all important documents they must have to avoid any last-minute hassle.
Here is a case study showing how Guni SMS used two different methods to procure 100% college admissions.
Before taking admissions, students and parents have many doubts running through their heads.
In such a scenario, they tried to make it easier by sending bulk messages and using two different strategies.
- In the first case, they sent an SMS and inserted a number the student can give a missed call to. The college then contacts those students and provides all necessary information.
- Some students or even parents are hesitant about making calls. The second strategy goes in their favour as they insert a short URL. This URL takes them to varied options, including videos, audio, and text, to convey every relevant information.
After using these two strategies, the response from students was terrific. They were eager to have more information about the college.
You cannot expect your prospects to reach out to you directly. The best way is to lure them in at their convenience.
The college started receiving bulk queries and eventually succeeded in turning questions into admissions.
SMS Broadcasting for Education is specifically helpful for younger audiences since they are quick to respond.
SMS Broadcast Templates For Educational Institutions
In the educational sector, we often come across similar questions or queries.
To ensure your team replies to queries faster than ever, they need to be prepared with templates.
To make your task more accessible, we have some templates based on the most commonly-asked queries.
Admission Inquiry
“Hi <FIRST NAME>, thank you for reaching out to School Name>. I’m <STAFF FIRST NAME>, your admissions counsellor. I look forward to assisting you. Please feel free to text me here or drop a missed call at <NUMBER>if you have any questions.”
Follow Up
“Hi <FIRST NAME>, it’s <STAFF FIRST NAME>, your admissions counsellor at <School Name>. Do you have any questions for me? Looking forward to assisting you with any doubt you have.”
Application Deadline Reminder
“Hi <FIRST NAME>! This is <STAFF FIRST NAME> from <School Name>. I wanted to check in with you since the deadline to submit your application is near. Can I help you with any doubts that you still have before your ultimate decision? Are you still considering <School Name>? Thanks!”
Event Reminder
“Hi <FIRT NAME! We are excited to announce <NAME OF THE EVENT> being organized on the campus at <DATE AND TIMING> We heartily welcome you to participate in the event and share the fun with us. We are looking forward to your presence. For any further details, reply to this message. Thanks!
Giving Them A Space To Put Up Their Questions
As discussed earlier, students often struggle with many questions in their heads.
No one goes through the hassle of calling up individual institutions to get assisted.
Let’s look at a thoughtful strategy used by NC state to answer 6,672 questions during first-year orientation.
People always need a safe space to put up their queries without any burden. The first year plays a vital role in a student’s life as he gets acquainted with everything and everyone new.
Before COVID-19, the personal touch expected by students was provided. But giving a similar experience virtually was a big issue.
They conducted Zoom meetings to ensure students receive the personal touch they need in the initial year.
But somehow, the team knew that was not enough.
They gave them a safe space by starting an SMS hotline. This hotline ensures the urgent messages get answers ASAP. Emails remain a great option, but it could take a while to get back.
Students often suffered from technological errors quite frequently. Broadcasting every crucial detail through an SMS Gateway became a great option.
Right after the SMS hotline came into existence, they started receiving subscribers and a bunch of messages.
They delegated the tasks among their teams to ensure no students suffer delays.
Key Takeaway: By keeping the personal touch alive through reliable sources of communication, you’ll end up developing a long-lasting relationship.
Best For Sending Out Surveys
We already discussed above how the open rate in the case of SMS Broadcasting for educational Institutions is exceptionally high.
As compared to other communication channels, it’s quicker.
It works excellent in conducting surveys and collecting answers from a group of hundreds of people.
Sending Out Surveys To Students
Here is a case study showing how the psychology department of Wake Forest University (WFU) succeeded in the same.
Using a bulk SMS service, they sent out two surveys a day to 150 participants. They were delighted with the survey completion rate.
Apart from using SMS Messages for research projects, educational institutes often use them for collecting opinions.
Every time the institute starts with a new initiative, it’s crucial to know its opinions.
The opinions prove to be excellent in modifying the current decisions and future research ones.
Suitable For Delivering Urgent Messages
Calling every other parent for an urgent message is time-consuming and barely possible when the number of students is exceptionally high.
To ensure you don’t miss out on any important detail, communicating using an SMS Gateway becomes convenient.
You can easily miss out on details during calls. But a well-formatted message contains every relevant information.
Most Suitable For Areas With Extreme Weather Conditions
If you live in an area that suffers from drastic weather changes, you know the confusion.
Parents and students are always confused about whether or not the schools or institutes are open.
To avoid this confusion, you can instantly deliver bulk messages notifying them of delay or a day off.
There is nothing worse than spending time and resources reaching the final destination only to find it close.
Save time, effort, and resources by keeping the students and parents updated at all times.
Let’s take another example that shows how SMS messaging is always better than emails or calls.
Northwest University saw 15x better engagement when communicated via SMS Gateway.
This university was stuck with a response rate of 0.5%, which later increased to 15%.
Once you get into this form of communication, the response rates drastically increase.
People Prefer SMS Broadcasting Over Calling
An Open Market Survey has revealed that 75% of millennials will prefer losing the ability to talk than text.
This shows SMS texting has become an essential part of people’s lives than calling, emailing, video calling, and other methods of communication.
Let’s say you go for direct calling to convey any particular message. People won’t mind putting the number to spam if you disturb them in public places.
People are reluctant to pick up calls when they are out, but they always read messages.
HeyTutor is an online learning platform that was dealing with an inadequate response rate from busy parents.
After the pandemic began, the number of online classes or mentors drastically increased.
In such a scenario, effectively reach out to busy prospects became the need of the hour.
After switching from email communication to SMS messaging, they experienced a whopping 56% increase in response rate.
Tips For Educational Sector To Keep The Students Engaged
We all know how COVID-19 has disrupted students’ study schedules. A lack of school environment leads to procrastination, but a little motivation goes a long way.
According to the timetable, the institutions can send out a motivational SMS before the student begins.
Some schools make it a point to keep students engaged by sending them meanings of new words, interesting quizzes, etc.
If students are least motivated, parents might consider switching to a different school or institute. After the pandemic, parents are changing to homeschooling or various online learning sources for their kids.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, you must keep the students excited for what’s coming next.
COVID-19 showed how students with a weak academic background suffered due to online lectures.
Try to be creative with your SMS campaigns and give the prior announcements of something fun and knowledge coming across their ways.
Keeping The Parents Informed
Let’s go through a case study that shows why it’s crucial to keep the parents informed of their performance.
A large district in West Virginia tested three types of parents alert: missed assignments, low attendance, and low-class average.
They aimed to improve the overall performance of a child by keeping the parents aware.
This study was conducted on 1,137 students, and the results were beyond expectations.
The previous rate of course failures reduced to a great extent, improved attendance and overall scores.
This study took place before the COVID-19 pandemic came into existence. After the pandemic, the requirement of keeping parents informed drastically increased.
Teachers are caught up with demotivated and confused students who are least interested in the learning process.
To ensure they pay enough attention to the study pattern, teachers and parents need to work together.
A school that takes the slightest interest in keeping the students’ performance secured despite the current scenario will eventually drop.
Parents will look for better options that put enough emphasis on the learning and performance evaluation part.
You must schedule a weekly meeting with the parents of the students with extremely poor performance.
As said above, unmotivated children often miss classes, assignments, etc. Make sure an alert goes out to the parents every time that happens.
Keeping them informed will lead to relevant action when required.
Final Words
Instead of running after different communication channels, keep your focus intact to a strong SMS Broadcast campaign.
Keep people informed, make them feel valued, and they aren’t going anywhere in the long run.
Guni SMS, Australia’s No-1 SMS Gateway, would be the best choice. Their consultants provide custom made solutions and use-cases as per your requirements. They would also be providing a free campaign manager too throughout the SMS Broadcasting process. The best part is that you would only have to pay for the SMS sent, which would be pay as you use. Guni has helped many Educational Institutions across Australia tackle the pandemic by helping them capitalising on the power of SMS Broadcasting. It is safe to say that Guni would be with you and your Educational Institution full time, catering to all your needs and requirements.
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