Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus was looking for a centralized solution to help support the campus’s personalized approach to student communications, increase speed-to-response, and guide students through enrollment steps earlier.
The university launched their bot, Willie, in March of 2019. They’ve been engaging students with fun trivia campaigns, reminders to complete enrollment tasks, and positive messaging (such as, “Congratulations on your high school graduation – We are so proud of you!”). Nearly 75% of their campaigns have been interactive surveys and have seen a drastic increase in student engagement regarding housing completion forms and orientation registrations. In 2018, there were 89 students living on campus, and as of August 2019, there were 167 students registered to live on campus – housing is completely full for the first time in 5 years! Similarly, orientation registration increased by 61% from 2018 (89 registered students) to 2019 (143 registered students). They’ve also seen an increase in academic advising appointments and other enrollment tasks.