With more than 2 billion active users, WhatsApp has emerged as a highly popular communication tool globally. The app's user-friendly interface and versatile features make it an attractive option for businesses, including those in the education industry. In this article, we will explore the advantages of using WhatsApp business for education and why integrating it with respond.io can be beneficial. Additionally, we will provide some useful tips for using WhatsApp learning.

What is WhatsApp for Education?

WhatsApp for education refers to the use of WhatsApp as a tool to facilitate communication and collaboration between educational institutions, prospective students, current students and other stakeholders.

Institutions can provide personalized support with WhatsApp's direct communication channel, leading to increased enrollment and better experiences for online or in-person schools, universities and professional certificate courses.

In the following section, we will discuss the benefits of using WhatsApp for education.

Benefits of Using WhatsApp Education

WhatsApp’s 2 billion active users worldwide make it an excellent tool for educational businesses to reach prospective students globally.

By utilizing a familiar platform, educational businesses can communicate effectively with parents or students in real-time, thus improving efficiency. This can ultimately establish trust, build stronger relationships and increase stakeholder satisfaction.

WhatsApp aligns with current student communication preferences, as traditional channels like phone calls and email are falling out of favor.

Finally, WhatsApp's multimedia messaging helps institutions showcase courses, facilities and materials through photos and videos, leading to increased enrollment or richer learning experiences.

Let's look at a real-life example of an educational institution that uses WhatsApp to enhance its communication with students.

How Businesses are Winning with WhatsApp Business for Education

Here we’ll show you how an educational institution uses WhatsApp to offer better support to their customers.

E4CC

E4CC provides English language training for Latin Americans seeking employment in call centers.

Previously, they faced challenges with slow response times to customer inquiries, relying on Facebook Messenger for communication. Fortunately, by incorporating WhatsApp as a support channel with the assistance of respond.io, E4CC overcame this hurdle.

As WhatsApp is the preferred messaging app in Latin America, the company reduced first response times by 80, which improved engagement and customer experience. E4CC's agents use WhatsApp connected to respond.io to respond to inquiries faster and send personalized templates or broadcasts to update students.

Next, we’ll review some best practices that educational institutions can implement effectively.

WhatsApp API for Education: Best Practices with respond.io

To effectively utilize WhatsApp for education, WhatsApp Business App will not suffice due to limitations like low multiuser support. Institutions should consider using a WhatsApp solution that can handle high volumes of conversations.

This can be achieved by applying for a WhatsApp API account through a WhatsApp partner and connecting it to a messaging inbox. Respond.io is both a WhatsApp partner and an omnichannel customer conversation management software so you can manage your WhatsApp account and conversations from one place.

This will allow you to streamline processes like admissions and enrollment, personalize communication and gather valuable feedback over WhatsApp to improve the student experience.

In this section, we’ll explore how to leverage respond.io with WhatsApp API for the education industry.

WhatsApp Learning: Consolidate All Communication Channels in an Omnichannel Inbox

When engaging with students and parents, it’s important to consolidate all communication channels in a central inbox. This ensures no inquiries are missed, as educational institutions might receive messages from different channels or multiple accounts on the same channel.

Respond.io's omnichannel inbox provides an efficient solution for managing all customer inquiries across multiple messaging channels from a single location, providing a seamless customer experience that improves satisfaction and loyalty.

Recognize Contacts on Any Channel and Merge

When chatting with students who may have multiple inquiries, it can be difficult for educational institutions to keep track of their communication history and preferences.

Students may also reach out to different branches or across different messaging channels, making it challenging to identify the same contact and keep their information organized.

To address this problem, respond.io offers a solution: The ability to recognize returning contacts no matter which account or channel they message from.

This means that when a student contacts the institution on WhatsApp and later sends a message via Facebook Messenger, respond.io can recognize them as the same contact and merge their profiles and conversation histories into a single thread.

By merging profiles and conversation histories, admission officers can access critical student details, improving student management and overall support.

WhatsApp for Education: Automate Tasks with Workflows

Many of the processes performed by educational institutions can be streamlined with WhatsApp API and respond.io. Here are some examples.

Collect Valuable Leads

Educational institutions can reach out to prospective students or parents through WhatsApp chat links on their website or place WhatsApp QR codes on flyers and physical locations to gather leads.

To convert website visitors into leads, you can use a WhatsApp widget or an omnichannel widget. Additionally, running WhatsApp click-to-chat ads on Facebook and Instagram can generate leads.

By offering admission consultations to those who contact them via WhatsApp, institutions can attract and engage interested students.

Answer Questions with FAQs with a WhatsApp Menu

Educational institutions can efficiently address inquiries from prospective students and their families by utilizing a WhatsApp menu. Using Workflows on respond.io, institutions can automate menu systems for commonly asked questions, such as admission requirements and program offerings.

This menu allows prospective students to select the information they need or be directed to a support agent who can assist them further. This approach saves time for both parties and enhances the student experience.

Automate Campus Tour or Admission Interview Appointments

Automating campus tours, admission interviews or in-depth inquiries for prospective students can also be done through Workflows. Automated conversations can collect important information like names and contact details.

Furthermore, integrating Workflows with calendar tools like Google Calendar or Calendly via Zapier enables campus tours or interviews to be scheduled based on student preferences.

Send Follow Up Notifications

Develop a Workflow to send a follow-up message to students who have recently completed a campus tour or an appointment with an admissions counselor. This can include a personalized message thanking the visitor for their interest in the institution and its offerings.

It’s recommended to use Contact Tag Updated or Contact Field Updated as a Workflow Trigger because they allow education institutions to track changes in a student's academic lifecycle.

For example, when a student updates their contact information or their academic status changes, these triggers can be used to automatically send relevant messages to the student.

WhatsApp Education: Integrate CRMs with WhatsApp to Sync Student Information across Platforms

Integrate your CRM or EdTech software with respond.io to streamline student data and improve processes like admissions, deferments and complex issues. By syncing your CRM and respond.io, you can retrieve or update student data, manage and qualify prospective students, and offer seamless support via WhatsApp.

In addition, integrating a CRM allows institutions to trigger automated messages to prospective or current students and alumni based on actions they might perform on external platforms. This includes signing up on your website, registering interest for an event and more.

WhatsApp Business for Education: Send Broadcast Messages on Campus News

Schools and universities can send WhatsApp broadcasts via respond.io's Broadcast Module to communicate with students, parents, alumni and faculty members. Segment broadcast lists by subject, program or event to send updates or reminders on exam schedules, deadlines, scholarships and alumni events.

Additionally, schools can use broadcast lists to collect opinions or conduct surveys among their students, facilitating two-way communication.

WhatsApp Learning: Gauge Student Satisfaction via CSAT Surveys

Asking for feedback after students reach out to educational institutions is an excellent way for them to improve their support services and enhance the overall experience for their students.

Use respond.io's CSAT Workflow template to send surveys to students seeking support, allowing them to rate their experience and provide feedback. It allows you to measure and analyze the results of your surveys, including detailed feedback from students in your dashboard.

You can also use a Workflow to store the feedback in Google Sheets or your data warehouse via HTTP request. This can help you track and improve the quality of support provided to your students.

In conclusion, using WhatsApp API can improve the communication process for educational institutions, catering to the needs of students, parents, and faculty members. By integrating with respond.io, institutions can take advantage of advanced automation and other valuable features, resulting in a more streamlined experience for everyone.

To start enjoying these benefits, sign up for a free respond.io account and connect your WhatsApp API today.

Further Reading

Interested to learn about how WhatsApp elevates your business? Here are some additional readings you may like:

• WhatsApp for Healthcare: A Comprehensive Guide
• WhatsApp for Real Estate: A Comprehensive Guide
• Enhance Customer Experience with an Omnichannel Communication Platform