For higher ed recruiters to be most successful, their recruiting methods must work for the student. In this case, Colorado Christian University has made technology work for the prospective student to make their Request for Information (RFI) frictionless and accessible. Technology should, after all, make the gathering, input, and reporting of data more manageable, add value to both the student and the higher ed institution. Text messaging via SMS or WhatsApp on Salesforce achieves those aims, benefitting all stakeholders.
Students’ handwriting has become increasingly illegible as a result of our increasing use of daily technology. Students rely on technology to gather information, so Colorado Christian University simplified and improved their inquiry card process by gathering data via text message instead of handwritten forms.
Before using Mogli’s SMS functionality in Salesforce, Colorado Christian University passed out inquiry cards to prospective students at recruiting events. Students wrote their information down on these paper forms and returned it to recruiters. Afterward, CCU Salesforce users manually input the students’ information into their SF database. Even though students were genuinely interested in learning more CCU, their handwriting was often hard to read, making data entry into Salesforce spotty.
CCU decided to replace handwritten interest cards with Mogli’s SMS survey feature for reliable and accurate student data collection. Students now text their information straight into CCU’s Salesforce org, and because Mogli is a native Salesforce application, their inbound texts automatically create contact and lead records. This auto-creation also saves staff time and headaches caused by illegible handwriting and the manual record entry. Gathering information from inbound texts, Mogli updates and creates records first and last names, email addresses, text messaging opt-in, event registration, case creation, and more.
Furthermore, by having students text in their information, instead, CCU can also reach back out to students via text message. The university sends important bulk texts using merge fields for personalization, including reminders about registration deadlines, campus events, and other recruiting activities. One-on-one text message conversations have also become a way for CCU recruiters to answer questions from potential students, beginning to build a personalized relationship between the school and its future applicants.
Mogli loves to show off the many creative ways our higher education clients use our app. Since Mogli is a native Salesforce app that supports any Salesforce object, Communities, and Person Accounts (read more in our Version 4 Release notes), our clients are always coming up with new ways to leverage SMS & WhatsApp in their work. Check out our blog for more case studies!