Private Research Institution Achieves 3x the Conversion with Unibuddy's Assistant

Challenge: Staff overwhelmed by the amount of student emails and streamlining prospect information

Supporting and answering thousands of student inquiries is a consistent challenge across higher education. Students expect a personalized journey with quick, almost immediate touchpoints, making it nearly impossible to keep up with the demand.

The Graduate school of Arts and Sciences at a private research institution located in Boston, faced this challenge head-on. This graduate school receives 5,000 applications each cycle and brings in around 400 to 450 new students every year, making it essential to have an effective recruitment strategy in place.

They decided to look for a solution due to the overwhelming number of emails received and the need to streamline prospect information. “During peak season, it can take three to five business days to respond to an email. We wanted to shorten our response time and provide a better customer service option for these students.” shares the Assistant Director of Masters Marketing and Communications.

Solution: Leveraging Unibuddy’s Assistant to have conversations with prospects visiting their website

After evaluating various chatbot vendors and tech solutions to nurture website visitors and minimize admin emails, the institution found that most options didn’t meet their needs or budget. “All the basic information students seek is on our website, but with so many pages, people get lost. We wanted a tool that could engage students landing on our website, record their information, and quickly and effectively answer their questions, while also providing a personalized, human touch.” 

Having used Unibuddy for almost three years, the Master’s team was eager to trial Unibuddy’s latest AI innovation, Unibuddy’s Assistant. This tool would have conversations with prospects visiting their website and automatically answer using information and resources from their webpages, then redirect them to the right resource or human who could help. “It was an easy decision to adopt Assistant because we were already familiar with Unibuddy and had a wonderful experience, so there was no barrier. We believed it would enhance our students’ experience since many of them already use the platform and don’t need to create a new login with a different provider.” 

The institution was able to find a solution that would keep administrators’ inboxes at bay while staying true to their brand and ambassador strategy. “I liked the tone of the Assistant; it’s friendly and warm and provides instant responses. This makes prospective students feel cared for, like they’re talking to a friend rather than an admissions office, which has improved how we nurture and engage with them.”

Implementation: Integrated Unibuddy’s Assistant on 10 web pages related to master’s admissions

The institution collaborated with Unibuddy to implement the Assistant, taking only a few weeks to test and develop the code. “The whole process was easy peasy. Unibuddy offered excellent support throughout testing, and once we worked through the coding, it took mere 30 seconds to embed on our website.”

They integrated Unibuddy’s Assistant onto 10 web pages related to master’s admissions, focusing on long, information-dense pages or frequently visited pages like financial aid, programs, and FAQs. “We wanted to make it easy for visitors to find the right information, and where they’re probably already searching. Now when we do get emails with basic questions, we also provide a link to a page that has the Assistant embedded into it, knowing it will help the student find what they’re looking for with less effort on our end.”

Result: Saved 55 hours of staff time, and Unibuddy users converted at three times the rate of non-users

Instantly, the school noticed operational benefits, such as fewer inbox inquiries and unanswered messages, alleviating the stress of responding to students. In just 90 days, the school saved 55 hours, and over 35 students had higher-quality conversations with ambassadors. The ambassadors had more time for deeper, more personal conversations across Unibuddy’s Assistant and provided meaningful answers.

This year, the institution brought in more Unibuddy leads and enrollments than in previous cycles, with the help of Unibuddy’s Assistant. Overall, there were 366 Unibuddy users versus 14,852 non-users. The conversion rate from inquiry to application was 36% for Unibuddy users compared to 27% for non-users. For accepted and enrolled students, the difference was significant; Unibuddy users converted at three times the rate of non-users, at 61% compared to 21%.