We’ve all experienced the frustration of searching for an answer that should have been easily accessible. At some point, you hit a brick wall and end up wasting time combing Google for clues or waiting on hold to speak with a representative.
If you prefer to find information on your own before sending an email or making a phone call, you’re not alone. In a Zendesk survey, 91% of respondents said they would use a self-service option if it met their needs, and 67% said they actually prefer self-service to speaking to a representative. These figures are even higher among younger generations, and that trend is only getting stronger.
With the prevalence of the internet, smartphones, and on-demand technologies, people have come to expect instant access to relevant information. Whether the goal is to complete the FAFSA as part of a college enrollment process, or to choose the right healthcare plan at a new job, everyone wants to find what they need immediately so they can complete the task at hand. That’s where automated support comes into play. Behaviorally intelligent technology from Mainstay uses IQ to instantly provide the answers that people need to take the next step in their journey.
What is IQ?
The IQ component of Behavioral Intelligence is what opens up the lines of communication with your students or employees 24/7. By automating relevant answers to their questions at scale, IQ-based support frees up your team to handle more complex requests and one-on-one interactions.
IQ: The foundation of Behavioral Intelligence
Universities and businesses alike recognize the need to provide accurate answers in real time to their students’ or employees’ answers. Providing that help in a personalized way can quickly become overwhelming to staff members, though. That’s why so many institutions and organizations rely on email to deliver important information — but email often ends up unopened or overlooked.
Having the ability to provide personalized, 24/7 support at scale is more important than ever — especially as online learning becomes more prevalent and deskless workforces grow. Behaviorally intelligent chatbots are an easy way to deliver on students’ and employees’ needs and expectations. Chatbots work around the clock to reduce call and email volume while tracking important interactions and giving your team the capacity to focus on their top priorities.
Mainstay’s Engagement Platform is powered by Behavioral Intelligence — and intelligence (IQ) is at the core of that technology. IQ uses artificial intelligence to instantly provide accurate, automated responses to student or employee inquiries instantly through SMS text messaging, web chat, or social media. These messages can be personalized with a voice and tone that represents your brand to add an authentic touch. Since behaviorally intelligent chatbots get smarter with every interaction they have, they become “smarter” and more effective over time.
Intelligent (IQ-based) support in action
Mainstay has worked with hundreds of schools and businesses to provide instant and accurate answers on the channels that students and employees prefer to use. For example, Dallas College, a large community college in Texas, uses IQ to enhance their student communications through a chatbot named Ali. By supporting students around the clock with instant, automatic responses via web chat, Dallas College saved 847 staff hours in less than 9 month. That freed up their team to focus on the meaningful, one-on-one student interactions they excel at.
Winston-Salem State University, an HBCU in North Carolina, also launched a behaviorally intelligent chatbot. Theirs is named Winston. With Winston’s help, WSSU was able to send students automated text messages and respond to important questions after office hours. As a result, inbound phone calls to enrollment management offices decreased by 36% during the first year, while student engagement soared — with 100% text message read rates.
Ocean County College in New Jersey faced a challenge familiar to community colleges across the United States when their enrollment continued to decline for its sixth consecutive year. To combat this worrying trend, they launched a behaviorally intelligent chatbot named Reggie who could instantly and accurately answer student questions day or night. In its first year, Reggie responded to more than 14,000 student inquiries and saved staff more than 200 hours, while actively contributing to OCC’s year-over-year enrollment gains.
Explore the power of Behavioral Intelligence
IQ is a powerful way to ignite the spark of meaningful engagement by providing people with instant access to the best response. While IQ is the foundational component of Mainstay’s Behavioral Intelligence superpower, accurate answers are only the beginning of what Behavioral Intelligence can do for you.
The most meaningful engagement requires a blend of IQ (intelligence), EQ (empathy), and CQ (contextual relevance). Check out “How Behavioral Intelligence unlocks deeper engagement” to learn how our holistic approach to engagement helps people to take the next step toward a more fulfilling life — one conversation at a time.
