As higher ed continues to adapt to lower enrollment and the economic downturn, it will be possible to overcome the significant hurdles we face today with artificial intelligence.

We believe the teams that embrace AI will be able to overcome these hurdles faster and easier than their competition. Our BoltBot: How Chatbots Increase Engagement and Retention webinar focused on leveraging the power of AI tools like intelligent chatbots to help teams work smarter, not harder.

View the webinar slides →

Higher Ed is Stressed and Burned Out

The first challenge we face as higher ed professionals is staff retention and burnout.

Coming out of the pandemic, there has been a drain of talent and resources. Higher ed is a historically under-resourced industry, and we’re struggling to keep talent, which means individuals on teams are wearing more hats than ever before. Those teams are likely also underfunded. It is exhausting. 

The Element451 team has interviewed thousands of marketing pros over the years on emerging technologies; in 2008, it was social media; in 2012, it was responsive design; and now, in 2023, its AI.

Regardless of the technology shift, there is always one consistent thread — leaders want to build more effective teams. They are constantly trying to figure out how to make their staff more productive, and that's through reducing the things that are time-consuming but that require a lot of manual labor. They want their team of 3 to feel like a team of 10.

This is where AI, and specifically chatbots, will have an incredible impact. That team of 3 is going to feel like a team of 1,000. 

The Current Student Engagement Process is Broken

Long story short — the old way of student engagement isn’t working anymore. 

Element451 was created as a new way to address strategic enrollment management concerns throughout the modern learner’s journey.

And we took on the chatbot challenge as a key solution to help teams. Prospective students and current learners need access to information in the places they prefer when they need it most — not just during standard business hours.

Every opportunity we have to connect with a student is important. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 97% of first-year students who felt valued by their colleges intend to return. 

Human connections are, of course, critical, but without strong support from the digital space, most institutions simply aren’t staffed to succeed through human power alone.

Chatbots > Live Chat

This is why Live Chat widgets have failed higher ed.

It really all boils down to answering students’ questions quickly. For the last 5-10 years, we’ve looked to a live chat widget as the solution. We go buy another tool that probably doesn’t integrate with the CRM, and then the realities of staffing it come crashing down.

We have to figure out who will staff it, and it will probably only be available during certain hours when that person is available. And then we have to decide if we ask that person just to sit around and wait for chats to come in.

So we look to our front desk team or a team of students and that results in inconsistent answers and lagging response times. If the front desk person is greeting a family who just showed up for an interview and a tour at the same time three people on the website send in live chats, that person is going to prioritize the people in front of them.

On top of all this, because that live chat isn’t integrated into the CRM, no one has visibility into the full history of conversations with that individual. The problems clearly compound very quickly. 

There is a better way. Early research for AI-powered chatbots is incredibly promising. Institutions are reporting double-digit lifts in student retention. This is possible because the chatbot helps support students and step in when they’re at risk.

As enrollment leaders, you know the power of early alert. And the student success teams work hard to identify the circumstances, events, and behaviors (or lack of) that can provide an early indicator of need or risk and the necessity for intervention and engagement by the institution.

Moving from Early Alert to Early Success

At Element451, we actually take a different approach.  We're trying to reach a place where we are moving from early alert to early success.

Early success means the student receives the information in real time when it is most impactful to drive a successful outcome. In other words, students receive that guidance when needed, in whatever communication channel they prefer, and on whatever topic they need.

Insert BoltBot.

BoltBot: 24/7 Intelligent Chatbot Powered by AI

BoltBot is your newest team member assisting students when you can’t. 

BoltBot is an intelligent bot that answers inbound questions on SMS and web messenger channels. It works 24/7 and understands the context and meaning behind every question, providing accurate answers.

It gets smarter as you feed it with content specific to your institution. Element451 offers a universal knowledge base to jump-start BoltBot, and you can also store your own institution-specific knowledge for your institution's productivity and make student interactions smoother.

• Go beyond your website & provide frictionless access to information 24/7.
• Meet your students where and when they are. 
• Combine general knowledge with student-specific context.
• Maximize your team. Let the BoltBot handle repetitive tasks and queries. 

>> Schedule a call to learn more about BoltBot and to get a personalized demo for your institution. <<