Q1. Why are student enquiries so important?
Each enquirer has the potential to enrol.
When a student makes an enquiry, this presents you with a golden opportunity to start or strengthen the relationship with them. First impressions count so you need to ensure that you can meet and exceed their expectations every time.
Q2. What does the Enquiries app do?
It helps students feel confident about selecting your university.
This powerful communications platform helps your university enquiries teams respond to student enquiries, and maintain ongoing conversations. One initial enquiry will often lead to further questions as the student reads your reply and comes up with further questions. They won't know what to ask for all at once, so you build a relationship with each response you send, all kept together in one conversation.
Q3. Who can use it?
Individuals who send enquiries in:
Students who have questions from the basics right down to specific details.
Applicants with questions.
Students in clearing.
Parents who want to ask about what their child might experience at your university.
Teachers who want to tell their students about your university.
Your staff who respond to enquiries:
Your officers who answer enquiries as a part of their daily work.
Your managers who like recognising their enquiry officers’ successes.
Your experts who help your officers with their knowledge of a specialist topic.
Q4. What’s it like for the student making an enquiry?
Familiar and easy.
It’s the same as any other email conversation they already participate in; under their original question is your response, then under that is their response, and back and forth for as long as they like. All kept together in their email as one conversation.
From one initial enquiry a student should quickly end up getting a real taste of what studying at your university would be like as they watch your videos, read your articles, visit your web pages and book onto your open days - all from the information you have sent them in response to their questions.
Q5. How do students create enquiries?
They have 6 options to choose from:
By completing an enquiry web form on your website.
By asking a question on one of your iPads at a recruitment event.
By sending an email to anyone in your university.
By walking into your reception.
By calling your university telephone number.
By posting it into your university.
Q6. Does it notify me when a new enquiry comes in?
Yes.
Simply turn on email notifications so you know when new enquiries arrive when you are away from your desk. When you are logged in the new enquiries automatically appear at the top of your list without you doing anything.
Q7. Does it work with our catch-all enquiries email address we publish?
Yes.
Just forward all incoming emails sent to your old ‘enquiries@university.ac.uk’ and watch each one become a new enquiry automatically matched to the correct student. There is no need to monitor that email account any longer, all enquiries are now managed in the Enquiries app.
Q8. What should I do when an enquiry arrives?
You have 7 options to choose from:
Reply - type a personal reply or select one from your library of saved replies.
Note - add a private note so other officers can see what you are thinking.
Expert - ask an expert to help you out.
Category - reassign it to a more appropriate category.
Owner - reassign it to a different owner in your team.
Close - mark it as closed and select a reason why.
Delete - mark it as deleted and select a reason why.
Q9. Can I see how long each enquiry has been waiting?
Yes.
You may have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that set out how quickly you promise to deal with enquiries. We support SLAs as follows:
When a new enquiry arrives the clock starts ticking, keeping a total duration until it is closed.
When you initially respond it measures your time to first response.
When you update any enquiry it starts the clock ticking on how long ago that last update was.
Run reports on officers’ and teams’ SLA performance.
Q10. Can I send back saved replies to common questions?
Yes.
Simply search for the perfect answer you want from your online library of saved replies and add it into your reply. Save time and ensure 100% accurate responses every time. Store different replies for different teams and keep them separate.
Q11. Can I use our University branding?
Yes.
Everything is branded with your university’s logo, colours, fonts, images, social media footers and links.
Q12. How many enquiries can I manage in a day?
Hundreds; with a team, thousands.
Moving between and updating multiple open enquiries at the same time is simple, as is sending back answers that delight each student.
Q13. Can a closed enquiry be reopened?
Yes.
When you are happy that the last question has been answered you can close an enquiry. If the student then sends back another reply to that conversation it reopens automatically and appears in your list again for you to answer. You can choose to reopen any closed enquiry too, for example, if you come up with new information you want to send back.
Q14. Can I ask my manager to look into an enquiry I am concerned about?
Yes.
Choose which method suits you:
If your Manager is a Student CRM user, just assign the enquiry to her and add a private note voicing any concerns and the enquiry will appear at the top of her personal list. She is now responsible.
If she is not a Student CRM user, just ask for her help as an expert and she will get an immediate email asking her to help you. You are still responsible.
Q15. What is the enquiry’s ‘status’ for?
Staying organised.
This helps you keep track of which enquiries need a response now, which ones you have already responded to, maybe you asked an expert for help and maybe you have just thought of some extra info to delight a student. Statuses keep you in control of where each enquiry is. The statuses are:
New
Open - Officer added note
Open - Officer replied
Open - Student replied
Open - Assigned to an expert
Open - Expert replied
Closed - Auto
Closed - Officer
Closed - Student
Q16. What if one student sends in multiple enquiries?
That’s OK.
Each one can be dealt with by a different or the same officer - you choose. All enquiries sit under one central student record so you can see how many enquiries each student has ever sent in and how you have responded in the past.
Q17. What if I don’t know the answer to a student's question?
Ask an expert.
If you don’t find the answer you are looking for in your library of saved replies, ask an expert. You have 2 options:
You can ask an expert to send you their advice. This allows you to continue replying to the student, logging the conversation against the student record in Student CRM.
You can also hand off to the expert, allowing them to email the student directly. They then have responsibility for answering from that point on.
The good part is experts don't need to be logged in. When you hand off to an expert, they use their university email account. However, these responses are not logged against the student record, so use sparingly.
Q18. Can I make private notes that the student never sees?
Yes.
Only your team can read your private notes within an enquiry. Your student never sees them. These can be useful when asking your colleagues to add their suggestions before you reply to a student.
Q19. My colleague usually deals with enquiries but she is off, so who can deal with her enquiries today?
Anybody you choose.
Select her name to see her new, open and closed enquiries and any officer can pick them up for the day. When she returns she will see everything they did and will thank you for standing in for her.
Q20. Can I deal with the important enquiries first?
Yes.
New enquiries and new responses to existing enquiries appear at the top of your list. Each enquiry displays the waiting time and lets you deal with the important ones first.
You can also mark any enquiry as a Priority and sort your enquiry list with those important ones at the top.
Q21. Can I see old enquiries?
Yes.
Each enquiry gets linked to a student and can be found in their record in the Student Database. The enquiry stores everything: all questions, answers, notes and help from experts. This helps to build up a complete history of everything under each student.
Q22. Can I search enquiries?
Yes.
Use the search bar to look for:
The student's name
The status
The assigned officer
The category
The unique enquiry number
The source
For the enquiry text
Q23. Do I need training first?
No.
Your team may want to practice first using some test enquires, helping you get familiar with the routine. Each one takes under 2 minutes to complete:
Reply - type a personal reply or select one from your library of saved replies.
Note - add a private note so other officers can see what you are thinking.
Expert - ask an expert to help you out.
Category - reassign it to a more appropriate category.
Owner - reassign it to a different owner in your team.
Close - mark it as closed and select a reason why.
Delete - mark it as deleted and select a reason why.
Q24. What do I do if my students' messages are too log and contain the previous conversation history, making it difficult to understand?
You go the bottom of that long message and drag the shrink handles up until you only see the very top of the message (the most recent part). That message will stay shrunk for all other officers looking at the conversation.
Q25. Can I get help if I get stuck?
Yes.
Click the green chat bubble to find help articles or talk to our Customer Support team.