signal vine slides for npea 2016

Txt4Success: Using Text Messages to Engage Low-Income Students

Alex Bartz, Summer Search Miranda Palter, Signal Vine

Haley Trost, Signal Vine

‣ Gain a better understanding of the power of text messaging as a tool to promote college access and success ‣ Learn how to implement effective text messaging

campaigns and content to engage students and encourage them to act ‣ Gain insight from students’ and practitioners’ initial

feedback in utilizing and implementing texting

LEARNING OUTCOMES

THE ROAD TO AND THROUGH COLLEGE IS FULL OF

COMPLEX INFORMATION

COMMUNICATION IS

CHANGING

STUDENTS DON’T READ

EMAIL

SOCIALMEDIA

ISFRAGMENTED

AND

90%+ OF STUDENTS TEXT

CAPTIVATE

TEXT MESSAGES:

CAPTIVATE

SIMPLIFY

TEXT MESSAGES:

CAPTIVATE

SIMPLIFY

INTERACT

TEXT MESSAGES:

CAPTIVATE

SIMPLIFY

INTERACT

NUDGE

TEXT MESSAGES:

TEXTING WORKS

Summer Nudging: Can Personalized Text

Messages and Peer Mentor Outreach

Increase College Going Among Low-

Income High School Graduates?

Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An

Experiment to Increase FAFSA Renewal

and College Persistence

Summer Melt: Supporting Low-Income

Students Through the Transition to College

Prompting Active Choice Among High-Risk

Borrowers: Evidence from a Student Loan

Counseling Experiment

Castleman & Page, January 2014

Castleman & Page, December 2014

Castleman & Page, October 2014

Barr, Bird, & Castleman, January 2016

11% increase in matriculation

20% increase in persistence

OUTCOMES IN COLLEGE ACCESS & SUCCESS

50

60

70

80

No Texts Texts Texts w/o Defined

College Plans

Impact on College Enrollment

S U M M E R S E A R C H

S U M M E R S E A R C H :H E L P I N G Y O U N G P E O P L E S O A R

APRIL 2016

1

S U M M E R S E A R C H

BEGIN. BELIEVE. BECOME.Summer Search offers a life-changing program for low-income students that transforms what they believe is possible for themselves.

2

S U M M E R S E A R C H

OUR REACHA national youth development nonprofit, Summer Search helps students develop the skills and character traits they need to become college educated leaders who give back to their families and communities.

3

S U M M E R S E A R C H

OUR APPROACH

4

S U M M E R S E A R C H

OUR IMPACT

5

S U M M E R S E A R C H

OUR RESULTS

6

5,700S i n c e o u r i n c e p t i o n w e h a v e

i n v e s t e d i n

s t u d e n t s n a t i o n a l l y a n d c u r r e n t l y s e r v e

a b o u t 3 , 4 0 0 s t u d e n t s p e r y e a r .

98%

o f o u r s t u d e n t s g r a d u a t e f r o m

h i g h s c h o o l .

89%

o f o u r g r a d u a t i n g s e n i o r s m a t r i c u l a t e

t o c o l l e g e

71%

o f c o l l e g e s t u d e n t sg r a d u a t e d w i t h aB a c h e l o r ’ s d e g r e e

S U M M E R S E A R C H

WHY THE TEXTING PILOT?

7

Launched in response to interest and momentum from the network to integrate texting into our service delivery model.

Two challenges we aim to address through pilot:1. Declining student engagement for students during re-entry after

their summer experience.2. Declining student engagement during senior year, particularly

during summer where disengagement can lead to failure to matriculate to the student's intended college.

The pilot also aims to increase time spent on insight mentoring.

S U M M E R S E A R C H

TEXTING PILOT OVERVIEWFrom October 2015 to October 2017, North Bay juniors and seniors receive actionable personalized messages twice per month that help them complete logistical steps as they prepare for second summer experiences and college.

Goals:1. Increase student engagement toward programmatic involvement

reaching various milestones.2. Increase students’ timely follow-through on critical steps toward

their summer experience and college matriculation.3. Free-up mentors to spend more time focused on insight

mentoring.

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S U M M E R S E A R C H

PILOT DETAILS: PLANNING

9 Research platforms

9 Participate in trainings

9 Learn from early adopters

9 Learn from other organizational users

9 Secure buy-in & funding

9

S U M M E R S E A R C H

PILOT DETAILS: COMMUNICATION

• Animated Video

• FAQ

• Newsletter Update

10

S U M M E R S E A R C H

PILOT DETAILS: IMPLEMENTATION• North Bay Students from Class of 2016

and Class of 2017

• One local site staff responding to all ~80 students, devoting about 90 minutes to respond with each scheduled message.

• Printed reports to share at staff meetings and platform data entered into student data base.

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S U M M E R S E A R C H

PILOT DETAILS: EVALUATION

The evaluation measures the impact of the texting platform on:1. Student engagement, satisfaction and outcomes. 2. Staff satisfaction.3. Time spent on insight mentoring.

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Pilot Year 1

• Implementation • Feasibility

Pilot Year 2

• Student engagement

• Student outcomes

S U M M E R S E A R C H

PRELIMINARY RESULTS: ENGAGEMENT

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87 students enrolled8 students opted out84% engagement56% high engagement69% avg response rate

S U M M E R S E A R C H

MESSAGES PROMPT STUDENT ACTION

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S U M M E R S E A R C H

MESSAGES HELP TRACK STUDENT PROGRESS

15

S U M M E R S E A R C H

MESSAGES ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION

16

S U M M E R S E A R C H

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Geni / Summer Search Class of 2016

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S U M M E R S E A R C H

KEY LESSONS LEARNED

1. Place key stakeholders at the center.

2. Iterate and adopt plans based on what you learn.

3. Build a system to collect and disseminate student information.

4. Students are responsive to the text messages.

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SCALE

TIME

PRIVACY

OVERSIGHT

METRICS

Hi [First_Name], this is [Advisor]. Have you signed up yet for orientation at [College]? Make sure you do this

by [Orientation_Date]. Register here! [College_Webpage]

SCALE COMMUNICATIONS WITH MESSAGE PROGRAMS

Hi Sara, this is Dave.

PERSONALIZATION

RELEVANCE

TIMELINESS/URGENCY

CALL TO ACTION

SAVE TIME WITH DATA-DRIVEN MESSAGING

Hi Sara, this is Dave. Have you signed up yet for orientation at The College of New Jersey?

PERSONALIZATION

RELEVANCE

TIMELINESS/URGENCY

CALL TO ACTION

SAVE TIME WITH DATA-DRIVEN MESSAGING

Hi Sara, this is Dave. Have you signed up yet for orientation at The College of New Jersey? Make sure you do this by 9/1/2016.

PERSONALIZATION

RELEVANCE

TIMELINESS/URGENCY

CALL TO ACTION

SAVE TIME WITH DATA-DRIVEN MESSAGING

Hi Sara, this is Dave. Have you signed up yet for orientation at The College of New Jersey? Make sure you do this by 9/1/2016. Register here! www.tcnj.pages.tcnj.edu

PERSONALIZATION

RELEVANCE

TIMELINESS/URGENCY

CALL TO ACTION

SAVE TIME WITH DATA-DRIVEN MESSAGING

SAVE TIME WITH DATA-DRIVEN MESSAGING

Hi Sara, this is Dave. Have you signed up yet for orientation at The

College of New Jersey?

Yes No

Make sure you do this by 9/1/2016. Register here!

www.tcnj.pages.tcnj.edu

Great! Your orientation date is 9/1/2016. For more information about what to bring, check out

www.tcnj.pages.tcnj.edu

ENSURE PRIVATE INTERACTIONS

Student Phone ViewPlatform View

Dave

Dave

OVERSEE COMMUNICATIONS

IN A MULTI-USER INBOX

CAPTURE METRICS IN A DASHBOARD

SIGNAL VINE IS AND IS NOT

One-Way Alerts

Mass Texting

Mobile Marketing

Downloaded

Two-Way Engagement

Personalized & Relevant

Education-Focused

Native SMS

INCREASING CONNECTIONS

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

QUESTIONS?

MIRANDA PALTER

Signal Vine, LLC

miranda@signalvine.com

(310) 985-1335

HALEY TROST

Signal Vine, LLC

haley@signalvine.com

(240) 672-4267

ALEX BARTZ

Summer Search

abartz@summersearch.org

(614) 499-2653