Arizona State University recruits more than 13,000 international students each year, but faced a big problem when it came to reaching them.

The university relied on traditional platforms such as email, while Gen Z students moved toward instant messaging.

That’s where Unibuddy came in. The university wanted to attract a diverse cohort, and understood the importance of peer-to-peer connections, so they launched the platform in May 2019

As Baiyun Liu, International Admission Specialist, puts it:

“Students often feel more comfortable talking to student ambassadors — current ASU students that have been through the process of applying and getting admitted themselves. Rather than writing a formal email to admissions staff, it is more comfortable for them to chat.”

ASU launched Unibuddy with a team of volunteer ambassadors and drove prospects to the platform through email campaigns, social media, and at in-person events.

Baiyun says: “It did not take long to implement – about three weeks. Unibuddy provided all the materials for ambassador training, and our web team could embed the platform in one afternoon.”

Arizona State University has had 2,000 sign-ups from 118 countries since launching. Those students are highly engaged and have sent more than 12,000 messages.

It’s easy for their ambassadors, who spend less than half an hour a week on the platform on average.

Plus, thanks to Unibuddy’s Conversation Insights, Arizona State University now has better insight into the topics of the thousands of questions that have been asked.