Royal College of Art
Tripling conversion rates and creating a buzz among offer holders
Heading to university is an exciting experience, but it can be daunting, especially for students who are uprooting their lives to move to a new city or even a new country. That's when the excitement starts mixing with other, more complex feelings of uncertainty (and perhaps a little fear!). London-based Royal College of Art wanted to create a community ahead of their 2023 September intake to help prospective students feel more confident and prepared for the big leap ahead.
Enter Group Chat, one of the most loved features of the Ambassador Platform. It's a nifty tool we've seen used to support several use cases, from facilitating mentoring to boosting retention. What they have in common is that Group Chats create a strong sense of community that helps students see that others are sharing the same experiences, and feel reassured by the fact that support is always available.
Royal College of Arts, meet Group Chats
On The Ambassador Platform, Admins can create topic-based groups chats to create spaces for prospective students to ask questions and interact with others - finding accommodation, for example - and invite student ambassadors to the group. Prospective students can access these chats directly on the Feed, and they can be set as public for topics of general interest, or private if they are meant for a smaller group (like applicants or offer holders). Group chats make it easier for prospects to join the community, especially if they are not yet ready to send a direct message an individual ambassador just yet.
The Challenge
Building a sense of community ahead of enrolment it's not always a walk in the park, but it can make a real difference for recruitment teams, especially when it comes to conversions.
To do this, Royal College of Art in London wanted to keep the buzz alive for offer holders in the run-up to their September start. They wanted to connect future freshmen with each other so that they could make friends, find flatmates, and ask course-specific questions. And it was much easier for them to do so through Private Group Chats than by using other tools like Zoom or Teams.
They created 38 Private Group Chats on popular topics like ‘Accommodation And Living In London’, plus course-specific groups such as ‘Curating Contemporary Art MA - Offer Holders’. Their student ambassadors jumped in right away for support, and the chats became instantly active, with 900+ messages exchanged.
“Without fully knowing what to expect, it’s been great to see such an incredible uptake in our offer holder group chats. Group chats gave us a better understanding of the types of questions asked by incoming students, and allowed us to bring together students from next year’s cohort. We saw students advertising flat shares or finding flatmates, and have started to build that sense of community that’s so important for the start of the academic year. We're hoping that the questions answered by our marketing team and student ambassadors will also contribute to an increased retention rate in the upcoming months”
Jeroen van Dijk
Marketing Manager
Royal College of Art
Private and Public Group Chats
Build confidence and tailor your chats to prospective students throughout the recruitment funnel, depending on their needs and interests.
Community Feel
There's nothing like the fuzzy feelings generated by a sense of belonging. Bring your prospective students and ambassadors together before and after key milestones in the recruitment journey to create a strong sense of community.
Safeguarding
All Group Chats are protected by built-in safeguarding tools. Plus, Admins keep an eye on ongoing chats in the messaging section of their dashboard and jump in to moderate the conversation as needed.
