Digital natives currently constitute the largest cohort of students on campus. Mobile devices, applications and social media are integral to their daily lives. They want to access everything on-demand from the palm of their hand.

Mobile apps increasingly drive how students gather information, learn, work, and socialize. It is therefore critical for colleges to have a dedicated campus app as an engagement tool.

The aim is to have a mobile app that is the go-to resource for students. It should provide them with all campus-related information in one place. For a student mobile app to be successful it needs to be designed with the end-user in mind.

However, having a well-designed app is only half the battle. It is also important to implement a mobile app adoption and engagement strategy, targeting new and existing students.

As the providers of a campus community platform, serving 70% of the top universities in the United States, we have put together some tips for increasing campus app adoption.

Design and Features

Having a well-designed and user-friendly app is the first step. The app should be easy to set up and highly customizable. It is important to personalize the look and feel of your mobile app to meet the needs of your campus.

Having an app that is branded for your school, including your school’s colors and logo, helps with brand recognition. It also contributes to developing a sense of belonging.

Customizing the menu and features to the specific requirements of your institution also helps create a better user experience. To keep this seamless, we also recommend that, to the extent possible, the mobile app menu be aligned with that of the web platform.

Features we consider central to a well-designed and comprehensive campus app include:

Activity Feed: Lets users know what’s happening on campus. It also provides them with the tools to post news, photos and interact with others.

Events: Students can browse upcoming events, see who's attending, view dress code & other details, RSVP, retrieve tickets and receive confirmation.
Push Notifications: Users can send mobile reminders to all or a subset of students, promoting the latest news or updates (e.g., event location moved).
Campus Maps: Colleges can upload custom maps of buildings, floors, and rooms on campus. This helps students locate and orient themselves on the go.
Directory: Students and administrators can easily browse the campus directory to expand their network or communicate directly with personal contacts.
Chat: Allows students to connect and message classmates anywhere, anytime one-on-one or in groups.
Custom Lists: Users can create item lists for various information, such as FAQs, Locations, Resources, Staff Directory, and more.
Web Views: Administrators can include specific and responsive website pages directly into the app.
Deep Links: Allow users to open other mobile apps for students (LMS, careers)
Groups: Student organization leaders can create and manage their group page, members, and news. Users can also browse, join, and interact here.
Attendance Tracking: Users can scan QR Codes or swipe student IDs with a Mobile Card Reader.
Leaderboard: Users can quickly identify the most active users and groups based on earned “Involvement Badges”.
Forms: Lists all important forms students need as part of campus life.
Checklist: Users are guided through specific to-do lists and learning pathways, helping them keep on-track in achieving their goals.
Payments: Students can make payments via the mobile app and see a history of their payments.
Social Media: Include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels for easy access to news and photos.

Mobile App Adoption

Once your custom campus app has been created, the next step is to build the user base. To promote the app, leverage channels students use most to consume their information (i.e. social media, printed materials, the college website).

In marketing the app, ensure the call to action (downloading the app) is clear. Some apps make this step easy, by automatically creating a downloadable flyer with custom slogans and instructions to install the app.

A good practice is to take advantage of specific events to broaden the reach. This includes launching the app during orientation or other events with a high footfall. Not only does this enable you to instantly reach a wide student base but it also makes the app part of the experience.

Sending a monthly targeted email highlighting benefits of the mobile app to those that haven’t yet downloaded it is also effective. Incentives through gamification are also a great way to increase adoption. For example, students that download the app or are active users could receive a badge.

Further, training group leaders on how to use the app and best practices for maximizing the tool is key to expanding adoption. Identifying “app champions” among group leaders or students is one way of doing this. By regularly holding webinars or knowledge sharing sessions these app champions will help the expertise trickle down and drive organic growth.

Mobile App Engagement

Once the Mobile app has launched, engagement is key to its success. There are several ways to achieve this growth. One way of increasing app usage and engagement is through timely, personalized, and actionable communications.

Enabling users to personalize the app to display content they would like to receive is a great way to do this. Push notifications or in-app banners for upcoming events a user has signed up to, keep users engaged through targeted messaging.

It is also important to post on the community feeds regularly with daily photos and videos. One way of ensuring this is to create a team of creating team of campus Community Managers (students or staff) that regularly post quality and timely content on the feed.

Featuring campus events and news on a regular basis helps keep the feed dynamic and engaging. Community Managers can also create feed topics for the community feed to further encourage student involvement. They can also and implement automated welcome messages in chat to promote a feeling of belonging for new students.

Among the most successful engagement strategies is to create the maximum number of campus events using the app. According to several campus partners, “event registration and check-in have been amazing funnels for getting students to use the app on a regular basis”. Building out the profile of each event with photos, videos and links is also important.

In an age where digital technology is king, having an active mobile app is synonymous to an active campus life. However, to have an active mobile app, significant thought and manpower needs to go into its design, adoption, and engagement strategy.

According to one campus partner, “you know that your app is a success when users leave old methods of communication. Once our students noticed that by posting on the CampusGroups feed they got more meaningful interactions than posting on Instagram, usership increased incrementally”.

We hope that this post helps your campus design, launch, and maximize the adoption of your dedicated mobile app. We would also love to hear how your campus has increased app downloads and how your app has driven student success.

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