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Introduction
When todays students need information, their instinctive response is to reach for their smartphone, tablet or laptop, and go online. Theyre going there in droves to ask questions. They expect rapid, complete, and accurate answers and desire the ability to serve themselves using technology, or to interact with their peers to get information online. Todays schools must be ready to respond with information quickly and effectively in order to keep up with this rapidly evolving landscape. The Voice of the Student Report, 2012 Edition from IntelliResponse reveals the top online questions that millions of students across North America are asking. Hundreds of Colleges and Universities rely on the IntelliResponse Virtual Agent software platform to answer tens of thousands of questions from students each day, and were making these key insights available to you in this report. Todays students are sending a clear message: the web is now the primary point of contact between them and the outside world and we had better take notice.
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Current Students
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Financial Aid Behind the Numbers: Where Our Student Data Came From
Data used in this report was aggregated from tens of millions of online questions posed to North Americas top higher education institutions. Key data is categorized and presented, in the following four areas of interest: Prospective Students Current Students Financial Aid IT Help Desk
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IT Help Desk
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Prospective Students
Overall Areas of Interest
For prospective students, insights into the inner workings of potential target schools are key, and the vast majority go directly online to do initial and ongoing research. Here are more highlights from our ndings: Questions about campus life, how classes are delivered, extra-curricular activities and key academic focus are all of primary importance to prospective students. The application process and the associated academic requirements for acceptance are also of key interest. Many students still feel uninformed when it comes to the administrative processes involved in applying and gaining acceptance to a prospective school. These ndings speak loudly to the importance of managing the student experience, and your institutions brand, particularly in terms of recruitment. 4% 15% 38% 15% 28%
Top 10 Questions
1. What majors or academic programs do you offer? 2. What are your admission requirements? 3. How much is tuition? 4. How do I apply? 5. When is the application deadline? 6. What are your ACT / SAT requirements? 7. Do you have an Academic Calendar? 8. How do I apply as a transfer student? 9. How do I contact a student, staff member or department? 10. What is the status of my application?
Current Students
Overall Areas of Interest
Perhaps no single stakeholder group exemplies the need and opportunity for web self-service information on the 21st century campus more than the current student base. Heres what we discovered: Close to 75% of all online questions asked by current students deal with administrative and informational issues of one sort or another. This presents an ideal opportunity for institutions to standardize information delivery (across multiple communication channels such as contact centers, website, social media and mobile) to provide students with the answers they need, while reducing costs and staff workload in key student-facing departments. 15% 11% 44%
30%
Top 10 Questions
1. What types of majors or academic programs do you offer? 2. Where is the academic calendar? 3. How much is tuition? 4. How do I register? 5. How can I pay tuition? 6. Where can I nd information about my college or department? 7. Where can I nd out which textbooks I need? 8. How can I nd a specic building on campus? 9. Where can I get my Final Grades? 10. How do I schedule my courses?
Financial Aid
Overall Areas of Interest
Students concerned with nancial aid are, rst and foremost, interested in the associated fees and tuition costs for enrolling or remaining enrolled in a particular institution. Below are some key highlights from our research: Close to 30% of all online questions asked by students are related to the process itself, how it is completed, what resources are available, etc. Most institutions have room for improvement when it comes to providing accurate information on the application process. Fees and tuition costs provide the foundation for any future decisions around which institution or nancial aid options they decide to pursue. 26%
29%
Government Programs
Top 10 Questions
1. How do I apply for nancial aid? 2. How much is tuition? 3. What is the application process? 4. How do I complete my Master Promissory Note (MPN)? 5. What types of nancial aid are available? 6. When will I be billed? 7. How do I contact the Financial Aid Ofce? 8. What is your Federal School Code for nancial aid? 9. How do I check the status of my nancial aid application? 10. How and when will I receive my nancial aid?
IT Help Desk
Overall Areas of Interest
33% of all online questions asked in an IT Help Desk environment deal with gaining access to programs via passwords and login information. A signicant portion of all student questions concerning IT relate to: Remote/ wireless access to student networks. Online student portals. Courseware programs like Blackboard. There exists a tremendous opportunity for many overworked, overtaxed IT and contact center departments to deliver simple, self-serve information concerning these areas which is likely a real source of frustration for both students and staff alike. 11% 9% 33%
21%
Remote/Wireless Access
26%
General Admin
Top 10 Questions
1. How do I change my password? 2. Why cant I login? 3. What do I do if I forgot my password? 4. How do I setup my email? 5. How do I access my email? 6. How do I login to (portal)? 7. How do I access my email on the web? 8. How do I activate my email? 9. How do I nd and register for courses? 10. When does the term begin and end?
3. Right-Channel Your Audience Make sure you are channeling students into the right information funnel through intelligent escalation. Make it easy for students to get quick and accurate answers to their questions online as a rst point of contact. Then provide options for them to conveniently get hold of you through chat, email or phone. This is not only the more cost-effective way to approach this, but also the method students prefer most. 4. Mobile and Social Matter Students expect to nd the same content and the same interaction processes in each channel. So ensure that you are not only delivering a consistent student experience on your website but across all touch points including mobile phone, contact center and social channels. Students want the ability to be able to self-serve on their smartphone and tablets as well as the convenience to ask their questions directly from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Its now very dangerous to ignore consumer service preferences in these two service channels. For mobile alone, 50% of smartphone users prefer to use a mobile customer service application for resolving their issue before calling into the contact center.1 5. Ask for Help Dont be afraid to ask for help. IntelliResponse has helped hundreds of higher education institutions across North America tackle the challenges addressed in this report and dramatically improve the overall student experience. IntelliResponse Virtual Agents are helping higher education institutions stay competitive by delivering fast, accurate answers to questions online, anytime of the day or night. Contact us today.
Students want to self-serve for answers using their smartphone and tablets
Sources: 1 http://fonolo.com/blog/2012/03/customer-experience-statistics-2012/
About IntelliResponse Systems IntelliResponse is the leading provider of virtual agent technology solutions for higher education. Our patented Enterprise Virtual Agent solutions create profitable online conversations for hundreds of leading colleges and universities across North America and Europe. For more information about IntelliResponse, visit www.IntelliResponse.com.
To learn more about creating profitable online conversations with your customers, visit www.IntelliResponse.com.