In 2019, IUPUC began using an AI chat bot aptly named “Redd” (in reference to the IUPUC mascot) to engage with prospective students during the recruiting and admissions process, and also be available to answer questions 24/7. The platform, originally launched by a company named “AdmitHub,” was designed to help recruiting and admissions offices manage prospect queries and help students all along their path toward enrollment. The company has since rebranded itself as “Mainstay,” and included functionality to help with student engagement after enrollment as well.
The Mainstay platform features two-way SMS texting that can be used for either one-to-one or one-to-many communication, however, a person’s contact information must be in the platform before they can communicate directly to Redd.
In addition to texting, the platform also includes a knowledgebase with answers to more than a thousand frequently-asked questions, and through continual updates is constantly growing. This spring, IUPUC is expanding use of the platform to include current students, as well as faculty and staff in an effort to create a broader reach for campus messaging. All students, as well as full-time faculty and staff should have received an introductory text from Redd in the last few weeks.
“We saw how effective the platform was in engaging prospective students, and thought that we might be able to leverage it to better communicate important information to our current students, as well our faculty in staff,” said Jay Lesandrini, Director of Communications and Marketing. “I’ve seen articles indicating that SMS texting can achieve open rates as high as 98% versus email open rates of about 35% for higher education. And, 60% of people read texts within 1-5 minutes of receiving them. We really hope this will help us better communicate with students about important deadlines, available services on campus, and also events they might be interested in.”
In addition to the SMS texts, Mainstay’s knowledgebase will be driving a web-based chatbot that will be launched later this spring to provide automated answers 24/7 through the IUPUC websites.
“We realize that there are many ways that students get information today and want to be responsive to their needs and preferred methods of communicating,” said Vice Chancellor and Dean, Reinhold Hill. “We are not planning on inundating our students, faculty and staff with messages, but rather using the platform as a complement to our other forms of communication in an effort to make their campus experience more meaningful.”
Everyone is encouraged to text questions to Redd and if the bot can’t answer, there is a team of humans behind the scenes who will do their best to get an answer in a timely manner, and then add that information to the knowledgebase.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time for us to get the knowledgebase where we want it, and the more questions we get, the faster Redd will get up to speed,” said Lesandrini. “So we ask that everyone uses the platform, but also be patient if Redd doesn’t give you the exact response you expected.”
For more information about Redd, please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications via email at iupucocm@iupuc.edu, or you can just reach out to Redd directly.