The importance of personalized interactive events at Wabash College
The challenge
Wabash College is an all-male institution founded in 1832 in rural Indiana. Looking to attract students who would thrive in this environment, they saw the value of the student-to-student connection that Unibuddy provides. Their launch was set for May of 2020, and when COVID-19 hit, they realized that their timing was perfect.
They have stats in the Princeton Review, Forbes, and more to show the quality of the school, but they wanted to let their students share the experiences that backed them up.
Student panels were always a means to informal discussion between ambassadors and prospects, so they sought a replacement for this forum during the pandemic.
The solution
Unibuddy Live allowed Wabash to personalize their events, and encouraged attendees to be more active participants than they may be in an in-person session.
“It was easy to implement —very clear from both a marketing and tech standpoint,” explained Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Julia Wells. She noted that the attentiveness of the Unibuddy Customer Success team was a huge help.
Wabash looked into virtual tour companies, but none seemed to compare to Unibuddy — the platform was cost-effective and allowed the interaction to take place right on their website.
It was important for them to lean into a solution that best suited their student population, and other schools should too for similar results.
“Unibuddy provides a more honest and enriching snapshot of the student body. You can learn what a day in the life of a student is beyond the pretty pictures.” – Julia Wells, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions, Wabash College
The results
They found that live events were a great catalyst for the conversations that took place on the chat widget. That encouragement of dialogue in the online environment of the events led prospects to reach out to ambassadors more readily afterward.
“Their summer event drew 97 attendees, while their fall event drew 44. With an incoming class of 275, these were promising numbers.
When the student ambassadors sent out a round of texts to prospective students to promote the first event, they received 300+ responses. It speaks tremendously to the need for student-to-student connection.”
Use Cases
Wabash College is an all-male institution founded in 1832 in rural Indiana. Looking to attract students who would thrive in this environment, they saw the value of the student-to-student connection that Unibuddy provides. Their launch was set for May of 2020, and when COVID-19 hit, they realized that their timing was perfect.
Results
They found that live events were a great catalyst for the conversations that took place on the chat widget. That encouragement of dialogue in the online environment of the events led to a 900% increase in platform sign-ups between virtual events.