Located at the forefront of today’s increasingly web-savvy population is the modern student. When students seek information these days, whether from a company or an educational institution, they begin with the Internet. Today’s students are interacting with, evaluating and comparing schools often without setting foot on a campus or having a single human conversation.

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IR K now ledge Se ries
Is Web Self-Service
Right for You?
Published by IntelliResponse
5 Tell-Tale Signs That Your School – And
Your Students – Are Ready For Next
Generation Web Self-Service
“Self-Service”
–adjective
of, for, or pertaining to something designed to be used
or enjoyed without the aid of an attendant.
“Next Generation Web Self-Service”
–adjective
of, for or pertaining to technology designed to allow
web visitors to receive ANSWERS to their questions over
the desktop, mobile and social web, without requiring
any interaction with a representative of an institution
or organization.

2. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 2
Located at the forefront of today’s increasingly • Customer Satisfaction
web-savvy population is the modern student. When
• he ability to provide 24 x 7 access
T
students seek information these days, whether
to information
from a company or an educational institution,
they begin with the Internet. Today’s students are • nhancements to the online experience
E
interacting with, evaluating and comparing schools
• mproved loyalty toward your institution
I
often without setting foot on a campus or having a
single human conversation. • eduction in operating costs that result
R
when students are forced to seek answers
via calls and emails to your staff
Therefore, the experience students have when on
your school’s web site (and other online channels
But how do you know when you and your
where your institution may have a presence, such
school are ready for this next generation of web
as social media sites or mobile devices) is often
self-service? Where do you begin, in terms of
the first and perhaps only opportunity to provide
diagnosing whether or not it makes sense for you
the satisfaction that will drive students’ key
to explore a web self-service strategy for
education decisions.
your institution?
Despite this truth, frustration and inefficiency
Read on to find out…
abounds online. Students, on the whole, are
frustrated with the experiences they encounter
when visiting school web-sites. This dissatisfaction To help you better understand
creates an increased number of phone calls and
whether or not your school and
emails to your admissions staff, and creates
students would benefit from
costly one-on-one interactions to answer the most
deploying next generation self-
rudimentary questions.
service, we’ve pulled together
our knowledge of industry best
For many institutions, the “answer” to making the
online experience smoother and more efficient
practices, leading research, and our
for students includes deploying the latest multi- own analysis of online questions
channel self-service tools now available. Often posed to institutions by millions of
described as answer agents, virtual assistants or students across North America.
“smart FAQ’s”, this new breed of technology, when From this, we’ve compiled five
delivered effectively – has significant impact on telltale signs that your school
critical factors like: and your students (current
and prospective) are poised to
benefit from next generation
web self-service.

3. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 3
Telltale Sign #1: thousands of results to search through. Not exactly
The primary service features on your web an ideal experience, nor does in provide for an easy
site are FAQ and help pages and/or a site way for these students to get the “answers” they are
search tool. looking for.
Due to the sheer depth and breadth of information A more streamlined FAQ section, one that has been
that is posted on a school’s web-site – including heavily edited to reduce the volume of data, may be
everything from admissions requirements to slightly easier to navigate, however, what is gained
scholarship application procedures to campus maps in navigation ease is lost in the comprehensiveness
– traditional online answer tools like FAQ pages, and accuracy of available answers, leaving the
“help” and “search” technologies have become student unsatisfied despite best efforts.
antiquated resources. They are simply no longer
effective at giving students the information they Forrester points to self-service technologies as
need in the form of ANSWERS to their questions. a means to provide a better user experience
online, but explains that these technologies are
It’s interesting to note that these tools also fall not yet widely used by many of the organizations
short en masse in virtually every industry, including that could most benefit by their deployment. 2
commercial web sites. According to technology Though enhancing the student experience online
research group Forrester, “Help sections, frequently is increasingly becoming a top priority for many
asked questions (FAQs), and site search often fall schools, by and large, most institutions still rely on
short of customers’ expectations.” 1 FAQ, help and site search as the primary delivery
tools for their students’ online experience.
Take the typical FAQ page as an example, and
consider this dilemma: As a result, the opportunity modern web self-
service affords is not only the ability to enhance
Even the most well-written and comprehensive the student experience online, but to also enjoy
FAQ sections remain difficult to navigate due to a competitive advantage, by becoming known as
the sheer volume of information that is to be sifted a school that provides this superior self-service
through (and this assumes that you have, by some student experience ahead of its counterparts.
miracle selected the absolute best list of FAQs for
the majority of your students to begin with). Even
when the available mountains of data are drastically
reduced after a keyword relevancy search, still,
students are offered tens, hundreds or even

4. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 4
Telltale Sign #2: accurate idea of what this percentage might be. If
Low-complexity questions from students your school is like most, however, it’s likely that far
are being addressed in higher-cost student more low-complexity questions are sneaking in to
service channels like email and phone. your higher-cost channels than is desirable.
If your institution collects metrics on types and If this is indeed a cause for concern, modern
categories of incoming phone calls and email web-self service is an excellent candidate for
inquiries, identifying the percentage of “low- resolving the problem. As illustrated in the Student
complexity” calls that end up in higher-cost service Inquiry Complexity Continuum in Figure 1, web
channels will be easy. Even if reliable metrics aren’t self-service shines in resolving low-complexity
in place, an administrator within the admissions inquiries for students.
department, for example, may have a reasonably
FIG 1: The Student Inquiry Complexity Continuum
Self-Service
SWEET SPOT
LOW-COMPLEXITY HIGH-COMPLEXITY
• No human intervention • High human intervention
• Common, repeated questions • Special case inquiries
• Questions with one right answer • ensitive/private/safety-related
S
information
Web self-service technology
is most effective in handling
low-complexity service requests.

5. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 5
Telltale Sign #3: student inquiries at the first point of contact acts
A significant number of student as a “filter,” essentially reducing the volume of
inquiries regularly originate from inquiries to higher-cost student service channels
your web site. within your institution. How? By providing students
with timely, accurate, easy-to-access answers.
While examining the inquires that are typically
handled in your higher-cost student service In contrast, web-sites that feature traditional web
channels (by admissions staff, for example) discern based customer service tools only (i.e. web FAQ,
what percentage of calls and emails originate from help and site search) are ineffective filters. Most
your web site. school web-sites fall into this description category.
The majority of sites feature search and FAQ tools
When inquiries that originate from your site are that are highly ineffective at filtering out the lower-
routinely entering higher-cost channels, it’s a sure complexity questions and fail to deliver on the cost-
sign that your web site is missing an opportunity to reduction opportunities, as this visual illustrates.
resolve basic student inquiries at the first point
of contact. Don’t have metrics on where phone inquiries calls
into your institution originate? Forrester says, “You
In addition to the many ways in which your web site can use a benchmark of an average of 10% to 20%
can deliver an enhanced student experience, it also of your phone volume coming through your
has potential to serve as an effective cost-reduction Web site.” 3
mechanism. A web site that effectively resolves
Fig 2: Web Site As An Ineffective Cost-Reduction “Filter”
Inquiries Hit The Site Inquiries Escalate, Costs Rise

6. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 6
TABLE 1
Downstream Cost Impact in the Call Center Channel
Annual Contact Percentage of Calls Cost Per Call Total Cost of Web-
Center Call Volume Originating from Web Originating Calls
100,000 15% $10 $150,000
Using a conservative estimate that 15% of your
phone volume is coming directly through your Web
site, it’s easy to see how even a small percentage
of calls that pass through this “filter” creates
considerable costs downstream:
With only 15% of calls originating from the web, in
this example the downstream cost to the customer
service is $150,000.
Instituting an effective, next generation web
self-service technology like the IntelliResponse IntelliResponse and our patented
Answer Suite has a track record of reducing Answer Suite technology have become
call volume by 15-30%, which often equates to synonymous with the concept of next
hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings generation, multi-channel web selfservice
from call deflection alone. - particularly among the 100+ leading
Higher Education institutions we are proud
to call our customers. As an organization,
For a more complete snapshot of the potential
we have built a reputation as a high
cost savings available through next generation value, dependable vendor that prides
web self-service, go to itself on 95% customer retention and 97%
http://www.intelliresponse.com/ROI-Calculators/ customer satisfaction rating (2009). We
have become the gold standard in first line
This tool will give you some real-world assumptive experience management through our ability
data to estimate cost savings potential by using web provide our customers with the power
of “One Right Answer” across multiple
self-service to reduce the proportion of questions
channels that include web, mobile, social
posed to higher-cost channels.
media and agent desktops.

7. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 7
Telltale Sign #4: that fail – almost universally – to meet the needs of
Your school is doing more online today’s multi-channel, self-service oriented student.
marketing, which might include
new channels such as social Telltale Sign #5:
media and mobile Your school is doing more online
marketing, which might include
Most institutions are increasingly shifting their new channels such as social
marketing efforts toward the online channel media and mobile
each year. Today’s students’ growing preference
to explore, interact, and make purchases online, For schools where the student experience is
combined with increasing effectiveness and ubiquity an integral differentiating factor, continuous
of web-based tools such as social media, mobile enhancement of the process is a
commerce, search engine optimization and email non-debatable issue.
will only continue to fuel this trend. In addition,
multi-channel interaction is now a given in order A research finding from the commercial sector
to reach this audience, as today’s technology savvy discovered that “service” now trumps price as
students wholeheartedly embrace mobile and social the number one reason why customers purchase
web channels to interact with their schools. from one company versus another. 4 When today’s
students interact online with institutions, they
If your marketing efforts are driving more students bring with them the same high level of service
and staff to your web site, Facebook fanpage, expectations that they demand as online consumers.
iPhone application, or Twitter feed, it stands to
reason that all of these channels be equipped to For many schools, the economic, administrative,
offer an optimal student experience when they and operational realities of serving thousands of
arrive there. students can interrupt the best intention to get
everyone from the President to the admissions
The restaurant that is not equipped to handle a officer aligned to deliver unparalleled student
large crowd due to physical space limitations and experiences at every interaction.
lack of properly skilled kitchen and service staff
ultimately suffers by delivering poor customer But this is where web self-service enjoys somewhat
experiences. Likewise, institutions that funnel ubiquitous appeal. Web self-service shines as a
more resources to drive customers to their online student experience-enhancing technology, because
destinations but fail to deliver on the service it is accessible and deployable by virtually any
experiences there run the risk of wasting their institution – large or small.
marketing spend and damaging the
institution’s reputation. Schools that are committed, to any reasonable
degree, to increasing their focus on student service
One of the biggest threats to maintaining this will like the practical accessibility of next generation
reputation is the use of student information tools web-self service technologies.

8. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 8
Enhancing the Student
Experience Online Advantages to Acting Now
In light of the clear preference among today’s Taking time to examine the realities of your
students’ to seek resolutions to their questions and institution’s environment by looking for evidence
service issues online first, an institution’s web-site, of any of the five telltale signs explained here
social media and mobile channels hold tremendous can reveal the need for action. The advantages of
potential as areas of focus for enhancing the responding to these signs now come in the form
student experience. Three major enhancement of operational cost reductions and the delivery
strategies that can result in big increases in student of enhanced student experiences in every online
satisfaction include: interaction with your school. The latter, of course,
contributes greatly to your student recruitment and
1. roviding students with advanced ways to serve
P retention efforts.
themselves online, without having to interact
with any member of the institution until the Schools that act now in response to this opportunity
time is right. can also only enjoy competitive advantage,
differentiating themselves as one of the few
2. ncreasing the number and quality of service
I institutions who are meeting their students’
options offered to students. This can include desire for effective next generation self-service
prominently indicating phone numbers, not just experiences on the web.
for the admissions office but other dedicated
numbers such as campus safety hotlines, campus
clinic, student government offices, and the like.
3. ight-channeling, where you use your variety
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of service options to help contain and drive
interaction to most appropriate channel, while
providing a clear and easy escalation path. For
example, it might make more sense to flag
certain self-service inquiries relating to personal
safety to Campus Security or the Dean of
Students office.

9. Is Web Self-Service Right for You? 9
For More Information
For more information on cost effective ways to
deploy next generation web self-service at your
organization, contact us at info@intelliresponse.com,
visit www.intelliresponse.com, or visit us on Twitter,
Facebook, or via our new Blog.
About IntelliResponse
IntelliResponse enhances the multi-channel customer
service capabilities of hundreds of enterprise businesses
and educational institutions. The company’s patented
question and answer technology delivers “One Right
Answer” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across a wide array
of assisted and self-service customer interaction channels
that include corporate and institutional web sites, mobile
devices, customer service desktops, and social media
platforms. With more than 200 live customer-facing
implementations answering 60 million+ questions with
One Right Answer, IntelliResponse is the gold standard
in first line customer experience management.
Some of the world’s most recognized corporate brands
and higher education institutions trust their customer
experience management needs to IntelliResponse
- including ING Direct, TD Canada Trust, Charter
Communications, Computer Associates, Penn State
University, The Ohio State University and Harvard
University Extension School.
1 2 3 5
F
orrester Report Selecting Online Customer Service
Channels To Satisfy Customers And Reduce Costs,
June 25, 2010, by Diane Clarkson
4
Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Report, March 2006.