This is a short post today as I’ve written about this topic previously in greater detail.  Still, I think it’s worth revisiting.  If we want to improve communication on campuses that actually increases retention, then we need to meet students where they live…on their devices.  I’m a huge believer in the power of campus apps to improve student outcomes.  I’m briefly going to illustrate why campus apps are such powerful tools.  Let’s start with the facts:

• This generation of students are digital natives.  They do everything on their phones (Uber, Amazon, banking, etc.) and according to Webex, Gen Z and Millenials prefer communicating over digital channels.
• A Purdue University study found that students spend less than 6 minutes per day (on average) checking email.
• Good smartphone apps are intuitive and easy to navigate and are personalized – websites aren’t.
• It’s simple and quick to view a notification.  Emails require individuals to open an email service to view the communication.
• Campus apps allow students to access everything they need to conduct the business of being a student in one place.

Why doesn’t every college or university have a campus app?  Are college and university leaders still clinging to the way they prefer to work and communicate?  Here are some additional reasons why school leaders should consider adopting a campus app:

• Campus apps have millions of datapoints, all in one spot that can provide valuable insights: which messages are being read and acted on, which students are attending campus events (assuming the school is using the check-in feature), which students are accessing critical university systems integrated with the app, and which students are connecting to other students, groups, advisors, etc.
• They can serve as an early alert system, providing insights as early as the first week of classes (or sooner in some cases).  My research has shown that campus app usage can predict the likelihood that a student will dropout or persist through school.
• When utilized to check in and out of events and services, its simple to pull a report to see who is doing what.  It’s also a great way to get immediate feedback as apps can usually send out a micro-survey to a student at a set time after their meeting/attendance.  This is feedback in real time – and the number of students who actually provide feedback is higher when they receive the micro-survey via notification than with other forms of feedback loops.  Additionally, this kind of information allows schools to make “in flight corrections” because they receive it in real time. For example, if an advising office receives the same feedback from students about their hours of operation or the length of appointments, the Director can adjust their service offerings accordingly.  I’ve seen departments that do this increase service usage by 20% in a few short weeks.
• Campus apps streamline communication making it easy to send targeted messages to specific groups of students.  Bonus* Notifications are easier to glance at and take action than emails which may or may not get read.

If your school does not currently have a campus app, I encourage you to start a conversation about app adoption with the powers that be on your campus.

We need to make sure we are using every tool at our disposal effectively to support students!