Comments on: Taking Chats to a new level

By: Rob S.

Rob S. — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:28:20 +0000

Thanks for sharing stats. 132 attended… How many invites were sent?

Innovative way to slow things down and hold attention. It sounds like you are beyond a critical mass for this particular chat. Admittedly, some students lurk on these chats and still learn about/make a connection with the school, which has value.

You could also make things more manageable by splitting the invite list in half and holding two chats…

Also curious if the non-Butler kids started chatting with each other, as tends to happen with any live chats in the spring.

I’ve used proprietary chat tools which have a lot of great features. For those with no budget or wanting to take a simpler approach, launching something as simple as an AIM chatroom for a scheduled chat can be highly effective since many kids already use AIM. Plus, it is budget-friendly (Simply create a landing page on your Web site with a hyperlink to launch/enter the room.)

Here’s a chat tool I’ve always wanted to see – live chat within Facebook groups I’d pay for that one. (There are workarounds to that, of course…)

By: Bradjward

Bradjward — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:04:34 +0000

Nancy – thanks! Always good to hear a student perspective.

Natalie – Shooting you an email right now. Thanks for the comment!

By: Natalie

Natalie — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:01:54 +0000

Hi!
We’re just starting to think about chats for our campus. Would you mind letting me know what software you use for chats and if you have any old blog posts about your experiences.
Thanks!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:51:12 +0000

This is a brilliant idea!

I’ve been to two chats in the past month and I despised the experiences because 1)it was way too hectic with everyone trying to get into the action and 2) I only got a couple of my questions answered. As you said, more colleges should be implementing these types of chats. Not only does it make the experience much more personal, but it also makes it easier.

By: Brad J. Ward

Brad J. Ward — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:39:30 +0000

Our follow-up call to action is the BUForums, where we encourage students to continue discussion with the Bloggers. Then from there we can drive students to the specific next-step that’s right for them, since a blanket ‘visit/apply’ won’t work for everyone.

We do another chat during the spring for deposit/yield, and it was also well attended last year. Our ‘cool’ stuff helps a lot with yield; the Bloggers/Forums were 40% of traffic last May/June.

By: Doug Clark

Doug Clark — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:33:02 +0000

Very millennial and great stats. Curious as to how many prospects on the chat will sign-up for a campus visit as their next action (maybe late in the year for this though).

Perhaps a follow-up “thank you” email personalized from a student blogger could be sent to each prospect on the chat with a link to the campus visit form or online application. Drive them to that next action.

Could a similar approach be used for yielding deposits? So many schools stop doing the “cool” web stuff once you apply. This seems like a great way to help admits make the final decision.

By: shoo

shoo — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:39:30 +0000

Cool way to utilize Ustream. I have to imagine putting a face to a question makes a student feel more comfortable on deciding on a school.

By: Brad J. Ward

Brad J. Ward — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:37:46 +0000

Thanks for the comments! It was really, really, really good. Just a whole new energy with the prospective students. Any chat providers reading this would be silly to not implement the feature, IMO.

[and email me about that royalty check... lol]

By: Karlyn Morissette

Karlyn Morissette — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:33:31 +0000

Really really great info. You may be reviving my faith in the value of admissions chats!

By: Karine JOly

Karine JOly — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:30:10 +0000

Congratulations, Brad! Great idea to add the ustream videos.