As you prepare for the admissions process, start considering how to communicate with parents. Establishing reliable and consistent communication methods is essential for maintaining trusting and strong relationships with parents, especially during admissions.
Why Do You Need to Communicate With Parents?
The importance of communicating with parents as school administration can’t be overstated, as it helps create stronger relationships between the school and parents. When you regularly communicate with parents, you show them you appreciate and value their questions, concerns, interest and feedback. Taking the time to communicate with parents thoroughly and listening to their input helps them feel more comfortable continuing communication in the future since you’ve established that you trust their opinions and will hear them out.
Communication with parents will reflect in faculty relationships, but it can also benefit students and teachers. When parents show interest in their child’s education by involving themselves with the school, students may perform better. Many teachers feel more assured and confident in a teachers’ teaching abilities with open communication. Establishing good communication at the admissions step lets you reap benefits later when students begin learning.
Communicating With Today’s Parents
When determining how to communicate with parents, consider the generational makeup of interested parents. You will communicate differently with each generation because they have their own goals and values as parents, in addition to their preferred methods of communication. Right now, Millennials are the majority of parents for students entering K-12 educational institutions, so understanding their values and how they communicate is essential.
Millennial Demographics
Also called Gen Y, Millennials are the generation of people born between 1981 and 1996. They are the generation below Gen X and above Gen Z. They grew up with the rapid rise of technology, starting with the introduction of at-home computers and through the growth of personal cellphones and social media.
Millennial families look different than other generations, reporting lower levels of people committing to marriages and families. In 2019, only 55% of Millennials lived with their spouse and child, compared to 66% of Gen X and 69% of Baby Boomers. Thirteen percent of Millennials were married to someone who doesn’t share their ethnicity, whereas these rates were around 9% for Gen X.
The average age for first-time parents is increasing as well — in 1994, the average woman had her first child at 22, but this number rose to 27 in 2021. This occurrence is similar for fathers, with the average age of first-time fathers rising to 31 from 27.
Overall, Millennials value education. Thirty-nine percent of Millennials have a bachelor’s degree or higher, while only 29% of Gen X and around 25% of Baby Boomers have the same education. Millennials are more likely to marry someone with a college education, with 75% of Millennial college graduates marrying someone with the same education level. Because of this, they’re likely to value their children’s education as well.
Communicating With Millennials
Each generation has its preferred method of communication, mainly depending on the technology available to them and their values. Each generation goes to different sources to receive new information, which can help educators and school administration know how to best share general information and announcements with parents.
Around 86% of Millennials use social media and texting to share and receive information, compared to Gen X, who prefers online publications, and Baby Boomers, who like newspapers, magazines or other print sources. Consider starting various school social media pages to reach parents and share news and announcements.
Millennials also prefer communicating through text with teachers, school faculty and staff. In the past, Gen X used email when talking to school officials, while Baby Boomers preferred in-person meetings or phone conversations. As people with access to faster modes of communication, many Millennials prefer the convenience that texting offers.
When establishing your primary mode of communication with your students’ parents, considering their age and generational preferences can help you optimize your communication efforts.
Successful Strategies for Communications With Parents
When determining how to communicate best with parents, consider implementing some successful strategies to enhance communication efforts and make better impressions with parents, including:
- Contact them first: Be the first to reach out to the family at the beginning of the admissions process. Take the opportunity to introduce yourself and share your appreciation for having their student at your institution. Initiating the conversation with parents lets you establish expectations and clarify how parents would like to continue communicating in the future.
- Return messages quickly: Prompt communication is essential when there is an issue or parents have a question. Efficiently communicating with parents ensures they get the most accurate information from the source and reduces the risk of confusion or frustration. Communicating quickly lets parents schedule conversations into their existing schedules.
- Stay consistent: Before admissions season begins, determine how you will communicate with parents and stick with that method. Parents will better anticipate conversations with faculty and teachers, and you can avoid surprising them. They can better control their discussions with the school, like muting phones at work to minimize disruptions.
- Provide all communication means: When establishing communication standards and expectations, give parents multiple ways to contact the school and stay up-to-date with news. While this includes updating new and returning parents with phone numbers and emails, you should also share any Facebook groups or Twitter pages where parents can receive additional information and ask questions.
Implementing strong communication strategies can set your school apart from others, especially when determining how to attract parents for admissions. Parents may recommend family, friends and neighbors to your school, so let them list strong communication skills along with your other benefits.
Establish a Reliable Admissions Process With TADS
Communicating with parents throughout the admissions process can establish strong relationships benefiting students and the school. Your approach for communicating with parents should fit their generational preferences and include successful habits to strengthen your relationship with them.
At TADS, you can simplify the admissions process for parents by using our enrollment and admissions solution. Our program is easy-to-use and comes with customer support and a training module teaching parents how to use it to navigate the admissions process better. Our solution lets you organize and find files and documents, and it helps parents track payments and fees, including tuition.
As you approach the enrollment and admissions season, invest in TADS software to help parents throughout every step of the process. Request a demo today!