In early February the Admissions Office launched a trial of UChat, a widget that brings real-time customer service to Hope’s Admissions website.
Visitors to our site log in using an email address or their Facebook or Google credentials. Once registered, they can ask general questions of our staff, or even direct their questions to a specific representative. Reps are able to respond to incoming questions in real time or, in the event that none of us are available, reply at a later date.
On average, we’re receiving between 4–8 questions each day, and we expect this number to grow as high school juniors begin researching colleges. Prospective students who contact us through UChat and who’ve not yet requested information from Hope will receive one email encouraging them to opt in for future contact. We’re excited to be using UChat as a recruitment tool.
In the future we will continue staffing UChat with additonal Admissions reps and current Hope students. UChat provides the opportunity to engage with our website visitors as they browse our website, and as a marketing tool, it allows us to be a “welcoming community” — one of Hope’s brand attributes — on the web.