How to get parents to join without an official invite.

This article will give you an overview of how to get your school active on Classlist using a soft launch or a viral campaign.

• Download posters and flyers from the Resources section. Print them off and spread them around school and in book bags.
• Use your existing communication channels to tell parents that you will be using Classlist to communicate with parents, and explain how it will benefit them (again, use the material in Resources to help). If you already hold email addresses for some/all parents, let them know that you will be using these contact details to invite them to Classlist. You can do this by posting a message in a school newsletter or on a noticeboard if you don't want to send them all an email. 
• Ask the Head Teacher to send a message endorsing Classlist and asking parents to sign up (there are sample letters you can tailor in Resources so they don't need to write it themselves). Put a paragraph in the school newsletter. 
• Decide how you want to invite parents and let them know whether to look out for the invite email or to get the app and sign up that way. 
• Use your PTA team (if you have one), and your parent friends with children at the school - encourage them to start using the site. They will get kudos for being early-adopters, and your site will look more welcoming and friendly to other parents when they see posts and content from people they are familiar with.
• Invite parents to sign up using the Add and Invite page in Admin Mode: collect email addresses from people at the school gate or whenever you see parents. For ideas and a sign up letter template, have a look at the Classlist blog. You can use existing contact databases if you have them (again, see our GDPR advice). You can also invite parents even if you don't have their email address, using apps like Facebook and WhatsApp.
• Ask your early-adopters group to invite more people, and to ask those people to invite their friends as well. It can help to ask one person in each year group or class to take on the challenge of getting as many parents from that class to join up: you can get competitive and offer a small prize for the class with the most joiners if you feel like it!
• It is very effective to target a particular year group such as Reception or Year 7, because new parents will want to get to know other people, and will have lots of questions and enthusiasm!
• Start using the Classlist features to publicise events, send announcements and post messages to each class. You will probably have to continue using old methods to communicate as well for a while until the majority of your parents have signed up to Classlist. 

Building on the foundations 

• Keep nagging! Use every opportunity to encourage parents to sign up: have a stall in the playground, at parent teacher consultations, at the school play, and especially at any welcome events for new parents.
• Ask your trusty early adopters group to keep posting chatty messages, say hello to new members and use the marketplace to sell or give away any stuff they would otherwise sell on Ebay or give to the charity shop: this is very appealing to new members when they join. 
• Don't give up! It may take longer to get going if you don't plan a formal launch campaign, but it will happen. You will see surges at certain times eg if you have a big event like a summer fair coming up which lots of people are interested in. Try to keep posting and populating the site with content, even if it feels like only the same few names appear to begin with. 
• Get tough and harness the fear of missing out: announce that from a certain date onwards you will only be using Classlist to publicise school events, sell tickets, arrange parent socials and tell parents about PTA business... It helps if you have something popular that you know parents will be interested in - a bonfire night or film night for example.