How Educational Services Can Leverage AI to Boost Recruitment and Targeting Efforts

Global access to learning is rapidly expanding, and thousands of e-learning services and international education consultancies are competing to reach new students. As an education service provider, you want to increase enrollment and offer a streamlined path for prospects and students from application to successful course completion. This can be a challenge, but recent developments in AI have opened up new possibilities you can explore.

Businesses that incorporate AI are becoming more effective in recruiting students and providing a better overall experience to learners. In conjunction with the UNESCO International Day of Education, we’re discussing how AI is benefiting the education services industry.

AI offers exciting capabilities that enable educational service providers to automate the marketing and recruitment process to sign students up faster, integrate CRMs so they can provide a more tailored experience to students, and do detailed profile analytics for better targeting.

These insights will help you integrate AI into your own programs so you can market more effectively and stand out from the competition.

AI for Conversational Marketing and Recruitment

One of the most popular ways to integrate AI in education services is by using conversational AI for marketing and recruitment efforts. It’s effective in lead generation and qualification, automated messaging, and personalization.

Lead Generation and Qualification

Traditionally, educational service providers put a form on their website or on an ad, or use physical forms at education fairs. Prospects fill out their basic details like email, phone number, and course interests and then wait for an email or call.

With forms piling up in recruiters or admissions counselors’ inboxes, it often takes days to respond, and prospects may lose interest. Enter instant messaging, which businesses are starting to leverage to capture leads and speed up communication. Click-to-messaging ads, chat widgets, and QR codes allow prospects to start a conversation immediately.

However, automated responses were limited in the past and human agents aren’t always available to chat. This is where AI offers unique advantages. AI-powered conversations allow recruiters or consultants to gather important information to qualify leads with minimal effort and maximal efficiency while providing students the quick reply they expect.

Incorporating?AI-driven chatbots?adds flexibility to the conversation. These sophisticated systems dive deeper to collect detailed information, ask more insightful qualifying questions and are capable of segmenting leads based on nuanced responses.

Automated messaging

Automated messages are often limited to greeting and away messages or basic FAQ. In contrast, messages powered by AI enable more in-depth conversations about available courses so prospective students get the information they need right away.

Once prospects are ready to apply, automation can be used to guide applicants through the necessary steps, from form submission to enrollment.

By streamlining these initial stages, institutions provide a seamless and stress-free experience for students, thereby enhancing their satisfaction and increasing the likelihood of enrollment.

Personalization

When schools or course providers are speaking with international students, language and culture can be a barrier. AI translation allows advisors to interact with students in their own language. With the right tools, recruiters can also ask for suggestions on tone to meet certain cultural expectations.

In addition, information about conversations can be stored by AI and conveyed to recruiters to help them provide a more personalized experience. For example, details about the prospect’s background and interests help the recruiter carry on a conversation that AI has started.

AI Integration with CRMs

A CRM is crucial to maintaining prospect and student information, but analyzing the data contained in it can be a complex process involving manual effort as well as expertise that administrators may not have. New AI integrations with CRMs streamline these efforts and offer previously unavailable insights.

Consolidate student profile information

Using machine learning algorithms, it’s possible to analyze all student profiles to see where students are located, what their needs are, and how they’re discovering the institution or e-learning provider. This helps both with the recruitment process and with retention as marketers and course creators can tailor their messaging and materials to meet students’ requirements.

Automatically segment students

With most CRMs, administrators would need to manually segment students, for example, by level, course interest or budget. AI enables them to do this automatically, whether for marketing to prospective students or providing relevant support and information to current students.

AI for Targeting Research

AI’s analytical capabilities also empower schools to target students for recruitment more accurately. This has been used especially in higher education settings to predict which students are most likely to have success in a program. However, short-term course providers can also take note of this use case as student success is key to reputation and growth.

Analyze historical data and make predictions

With AI, you can look at historical student data to see which types of students have done well in the past. For example, find commonalities among students in the top percent of the class. What were their interests, past educational background or careers?

Conversely, look at drop-out rates and possible contributions to that. Were they placed in a course they weren’t adequately prepared or qualified for? Was it due to financial reasons or related to the student experience?

Create target profiles based on past students and applicants

Student success data can be used to create target profiles so you can market to students who are most apt to thrive and provide sound advice to prospects to help them choose the course best suited to them. Additionally, high-performing students can be used for case studies and testimonials.

Negative predictions provide insights into areas for improvement. While some past applicants and students are simply not a good fit, there may be room to adapt your program; for example, to offer a wider range of courses or access to additional resources like tutoring.

How to Get Started Using AI for Education Services

Excited to try implementing AI into your education business? The methods we’ve discussed all involve using platforms and tools, and you’ll need to consider which to invest in. Starting with conversational marketing is a good entry point.

A conversational marketing tool powered by AI can easily be integrated into your current communication channels and make every interaction with prospects more impactful. Here’s what you should look for.

Respond to Inquiries on Multiple Channels

Are you already using instant messaging in your marketing or do you rely on email contact forms? For best reach, you’ll want to be available to students on the communication channel they use most frequently. When you’re marketing to international students, the preferred channel varies by country.

The ideal option will include an omnichannel inbox?which streamlines conversation management for educational institutions by unifying traditional and instant messaging channels like WhatsApp into a single platform.

Manage the Conversation Cycle with Automation

Look for a tool that enables you to manage the entire conversation cycle from capturing leads through ads to getting getting students enrolled. Using instant messaging is faster than email, and tactics like click-to-chat ads, QR codes or promotional broadcasts attract prospects and quickly draw them into a conversation.

Today’s prospects expect a prompt response, and if they don’t get it, they’ll look for other course providers. A tool with AI capabilities will reply instantly and can be trained to answer the most common questions about a course or program.

Easy transfer to a human agent is also important once leads are qualified. The human touch remains invaluable to addressing student concerns and demonstrating you’re invested in their success.

Personalize Every Interaction

A personal experience makes an institution or course provider stand out. Students want to know that you recognize their background and goals. They may be apprehensive if they’re not using their native language, and will appreciate speaking with someone who understands.

A platform with features like AI prompts lets you improve and translate messages, ensuring that every interaction is personalized, professional and polished. For example, respond.io’s?AI Assist?helps agents respond promptly by analyzing queries and providing context-based responses, elevating the quality of student and prospect support.

Get More Insights

To learn more about how instant messaging and AI can help educational service providers boost business and improve student experiences, read our blog post.

Are you already implementing AI in your business? Share what you’re doing and how it’s working for you in the comments.

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