Demystifying Digital Assistants in Higher Education

Dan Gaines, Associate Vice President of Marketing for the Purdue University Krannert School of Management and Dave Hunt, Director of Marketing for Rockhurst University, recently sat down with AtlasRTX President, Dr. Mike Bills, PhD, to discuss how virtual assistants and intelligent chatbots have changed the way their schools engage with students.

Key takeaways:

• Web-based chatbots have allowed both schools to provide a real-time tool for students to get answers to their questions
• Purdue’s chatbot is answering questions fully autonomously over 80% of the time, saving their staff valuable hours of work
• Rockhurst has seen inquiries double since implementing their chatbot
• Students have really enjoyed interacting with the digital assistant, especially because most conversations happen outside normal business hours
• Being able to send automated text follow-ups after web conversations is a game changer
• The schools are able to learn about student needs and topics that are top-of-mind through chatbot conversations, helping them to be more proactive in their marketing and messaging efforts
• How a chatbot helped to fill a glaring lead generation gap
• Benefits of a digital assistant that was able to understand, and correctly respond to, the changing intent of questions as COVID impacts affected campus life and student needs