Overview
During the Enrollment process, families can have a variety of questions about where they are in the process. Newly enrolling students will need to be introduced to your school's enrollment steps, while those returning to your school may need reminders of what forms to fill out or where to go in the Parent Portal to complete enrollment for the new year. With automated communication plans, you can set up automated emails that answer common questions and help families start off the school year right. In addition, you can automate internal reminders for follow-up actions your team needs to take, such as making phone calls, mailing packets home, etc.
To learn how to set up automated communication plan (ACP) steps and best practices for doing so, check out the following related content:
For ideas of ACPs that you can create for the Inquiry/Admissions process, click here.
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Information-Based Communication Plan Steps
Interest-Based Communication Plan Steps
Important Notes
- Please note, your field names and values may differ from these examples. Be sure to double-check on the fields setup page in your site by navigating to Settings > Fields & Data > Fields. You may also have custom statuses that you want to use to trigger your ACP steps, instead of the standard statuses described below.
- Communication plans trigger based on the first time a student enters a status and will not be duplicated if the student moves out of that status and then back into it.
- For example, if you have a communication plan set up to email students when they become applicants, that same communication plan will not be triggered to be sent again if the student were to move into Application Completed and then moved back to Applicant.
- For example, if you have a communication plan set up to email students when they become applicants, that same communication plan will not be triggered to be sent again if the student were to move into Application Completed and then moved back to Applicant.
- Enrollment ACPs: Any Automated Communication Plan that triggers based on the student's status becoming Enrollment in Progress must be set up and activated before rollover in order for the plan to trigger the communication.
Information-Based Communication Plan Steps
Enrollment Checklist Reminder Emails
This ACP step is for sending a reminder email to enrolling students who have not yet completed all required items on their checklist. You can specify the checklist items they still have pending, remind them of any upcoming deadlines, and provide information on who to contact if they need help.
This communication can be sent on multiple dates using multiple ACP steps. For example, the first reminder email can go out four (4) weeks before the deadline, a second reminder email can go out two (2) weeks before the deadline, and a third and final reminder email can go out a week before the deadline. The final email template may be different than the first two or you can use the same one.
1. Set the Trigger to be a Status of 'Enrollment in Progress'.
2. Set the Perform Action box to Send Email.
3. Select the desired Time to send the email.
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You can choose to send the email immediately, a set number of days after the trigger, or on a specific date.
4. If you selected the "N days after trigger" or "On date" time option, specify the number of days or date, as well as the time, you would like the email to go out.
5. Set the Email Recipients (i.e. 'send to') as applicable.
6. Select your pre-saved Enrollment Checklist Reminder email template.
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Note: We provide schools with this template, which you should customize with your brand and voice. If you don't have the email template, contact Support and they can add it for you.
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The merge field that brings in the student's checklist items can be found under the Contact grouping - 'Checklist Enrollment' (or 'Checklist Enrollment Incomplete'). Click here for more information on using the student checklist merge fields.
7. Click Save.
Repeat this for additional dates you want the email to go out. Anyone that becomes Enrolled (or another status) after the first reminder email went out will not receive any remaining notifications.
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Enrollment Complete Email to Parents
Once all required checklist items have been marked complete, you can automate an email to parents letting them know that all requirements have been met. You could also include a link to a school calendar, invitation to a welcome event, or any other relevant next steps.
1. Set the Trigger to be a Status of 'Enrolled'.
2. Set the Perform Action box to Send Email.
3. Select the desired Time to send the email.
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You can choose to send the email immediately, a set number of days after the trigger, or on a specific date.
4. If you selected the "N days after trigger" or "On date" time option, specify the number of days or date, as well as the time, you would like the email to go out.
5. Set the Email Recipients (i.e. 'send to') as applicable.
6. Select your pre-saved Enrollment Complete email template.
7. Click Save.
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Survey Link Email to Families Not Re-Enrolling
If you have an online 'Intent to Enroll' form containing a boolean (yes/no) field asking the family if they will be enrolling for the year, you can trigger an ACP step based on this field to collect more information.
1. Set the Trigger to be a Completed Checklist Item of 'Intent to Enroll' (name of your online form checklist item may vary).
2. Set Additional Criteria based on your intent to enroll field. For example:
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Field: Enroll Intent
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Operator: is
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Value: No
3. Set the Perform Action box to Send Email.
4. Select the desired Time to send the email.
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You can choose to send the email immediately, a set number of days after the trigger, or on a specific date.
5. If you selected the "N days after trigger" or "On date" time option, specify the number of days or date, as well as the time, you would like the email to go out.
6. Set the Email Recipients (i.e. 'send to') as applicable.
7. Select your pre-saved email template, which can request more information from the family or simply contain a link to an anonymous 'Reason for Not Re-Enrolling' survey.
8. Click Save.
You could also set up an internal reminder using the same Trigger and Additional Criteria in the above example if you want to have a member of your staff reach out to the family directly about their decision to not re-enroll.
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Reminder to Change Status of Students
If you have an online 'Intent to Enroll' form containing a boolean (yes/no) field asking the family if they will be enrolling for the year, you can trigger an ACP step based on this field to notify your internal team that a student's status should be changed in the system.
1. Set the Trigger to be a Completed Checklist Item of 'Intent to Enroll' (name of your online form checklist item may vary).
2. Set Additional Criteria based on your intent to enroll field. For example:
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Field: Enroll Intent
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Operator: is
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Value: No
3. Set the Perform Action box to Create Reminder.
4. Select the desired Time to create the reminder.
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You can choose to create the reminder immediately, a set number of days after the trigger, or on a specific date.
5. If you selected the "N days after trigger" or "On date" time option, specify the number of days or date, as well as the time, you would like the reminder to go out.
6. Set the Reminder Assignment (i.e. which team members are assigned the reminder) as appropriate.
7. Set the Reminder Text to change the student's status to not enrolling, declined offer, or any other relevant status.
8. Click Save.
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Interest-Based Communication Plan Steps
IMPORTANT: Please note, your field names and values may differ from these examples. Be sure to double-check on the fields setup page in your site by navigating to 'Settings' - 'Fields & Data' - 'Fields'. You may also have custom statuses that you want to use to trigger your ACP steps, instead of the standard statuses described below.
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Email Invitation to a Student Welcome Event
1. Set the Trigger to be a Completed Checklist Item of 'Contract'.
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You can also use a status trigger here. However, if you want flexibility in sending an invite email to students in various statuses (e.g. enrollment in progress, enrolled), then it's best to use a checklist item trigger since you can only pick one status when using the status trigger.
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If your event is only for New or only for Returning students, you can add Additional Criteria based on the 'Enrollment Type' field.
2. Set the Perform Action box to Send Email.
3. Select the desired Time to send the email.
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You can choose to send the email immediately, a set number of days after the trigger, or on a specific date.
4. If you selected the "N days after trigger" or "On date" time option, specify the number of days or date, as well as the time, you would like the email to go out.
5. Set the Email Recipients (i.e. 'send to') as applicable.
6. Select your pre-saved email template containing the invitation to the event and event details.
7. Click Save.
You could also set up an internal reminder using the same Trigger in the above example if you want to have a member of your staff reach out to the family directly to invite them to the event.
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