By: Charles Parsons, VP of Product, Modern Campus
The world of higher education has seen rapid changes in recent years. Faced with generational shifts, shrinking staffs, and a decline in enrollment for “traditional” students, colleges and universities are learning to make the most of every interaction with students throughout the learner lifecycle.
Modern Campus is focused on addressing these challenges with a suite of Software as a Service (SaaS) tools designed to help improve outcomes for institutions and students alike. Modern Campus Message delivers conversational messaging that builds community and demonstrates how any organization can adapt to a rapidly changing industry.
Modern Campus drives engagement and loyalty in four key ways.
1. Meet people where they are
Text messages still maintain open rates of 98% or more with consistently high response rates. As of 2024, there were over 7 billion smartphones in use globally, and all of those smartphones have a native messaging app. That means that the majority of the global population has a phone with messaging capability.
But good text messaging is about more than just blasting generic messages to every smartphone in the vicinity. It’s about personalization and targeted messaging. According to McKinsey research, 71% of consumers expect marketing messages to be personalized, and even more–76%, get frustrated when marketing is not personalized.
Modern Campus Message uses 10DLC messaging to target students, prospective students, and alumni with the messages they need at the moment they need them. Whether helping a student navigate financial aid, register for classes, or just answer some frequent first day questions, Modern Campus Messaging builds community by being a dependable resource right in a student’s pocket.
2. Ease pressure on staff
Many industries are facing a worker shortage, and the forecast for improvement isn’t great. Organizations that need to do more with fewer people can struggle to deliver the customized, reliable interactions their customers need.
Messaging platforms can help reduce pressure on staff and small call centers. Our Messaging platform, for example, has robust AI tools that help answer frequently asked questions in a friendly and engaging way without escalating to a staff member. When questions can’t be resolved by a bot, the system will send the user to the right person, helping to bypass layers of staff and get students the answers they need quickly.
3. Nudge toward action
Completing a college degree takes commitment, and the process comes with a number of opportunities for disruption. In fact, 37.8% of higher education students don’t complete their degrees on time. That’s not just a challenge for students—it’s also a challenge for schools that rely on enrollment to continue operations.
Modern Campus is addressing the needs of that 37.8% with its Stop-Out Playbook. This purpose-built conversational message campaign addresses enrollment challenges with a blend of one-to-one text messages with automated nudges. The Stop-Out Playbook has helped colleges and universities increase student re-engagement by 35%.
When a customer is stuck somewhere in the sales or customer lifecycle, sometimes, all it takes is the right nudge at the right time to “unstick” the process. Text messaging can be the asynchronous tool that moves a prospect or customer to the next phase in the customer lifecycle.
4. Drive loyalty
It is very easy to interrupt what we call the “lifelong learner lifecycle.” Not every student attends college right after high school, leading to a growing number of “non-traditional” or adult students. In addition, students might have their education interrupted for any number of reasons—new career opportunities, family changes, or military service, for example.
When colleges and universities employ a conversational messaging approach, they see improvements not only in student retention and engagement, but also in alumni loyalty. By using Modern Campus to drive its Day of Giving Campaign, North Carolina State University generated $23 million in just 24 hours.
Consistent, conversational, trust-based text messaging can drive loyalty throughout a learning lifecycle—or a customer lifecycle!
At Modern Campus, text messaging is about more than just communication. It’s about connecting and supporting students in ways that feel human and responsive. Through platforms and campaigns that build community and drive trust, Modern Campus gives colleges and universities the tools to drive lifelong learning and loyalty.
Charles Parsons is VP of Product at Modern Campus. The platform helps higher education institutions attract, engage, and retain learners for life with software solutions that enable a modern student experience. Modern Campus’ unique Stop-Out Playbook messaging campaign and focus on building loyalty for life helped the company secure one of Bandwidth’s 2025 Textie Awards.
