Email Notifications & Reminder Programs

Email has been one of the greatest tools of the 21st century. It’s a unified system that helps everyone on your team stay notified. But let’s take a minute and admit that it’s not perfect. Far from it, in fact. Every day, we send and receive 205 billion emails and that number is only going up. It’s projected that by the end of 2019, there will be 246 billion emails every day.

Somewhere, in all that noise, is your inbox.

If you are running an admissions program or awarding scholarships, you shouldn’t use your personal email account for mass communication. You are sending out deadline reminders to keep the number of applicants high. As well as following up with reviewers to make sure they are on pace to finish on time.

You may use an automated email system. Automated email systems like MailChimp or ConstantContact, are only another system and another login to have to deal with. This delineates your workflow. The process of submitted PDF’s and tracking spreadsheets is difficult. Then trying to use lists in these systems to communicate is an aggravating process. It’s also draining your time and resources.

There are better ways to handle your communication. 

Student-Facing Communication

The ultimate goal in your communication with students is to have a high volume of qualified applicants. This means making sure that students complete the application, and do so with all necessary documents attached.

Here are a few tools Orchestrate uses to do this:

Reminder Programs

Your application process has a schedule. That schedule gets imported when you create an application through Orchestrate. Using reminder programs, we have seen upwards of 50% higher application completion rates. 

These reminders can inform applicants of upcoming dates or application status.

Automated Triggers

Orchestrate uses automated triggers to send email based on user action (or inaction). They can attach to each section of the application. So if an applicant leaves a question unanswered or omits a document, Orchestrate can shoot an automated reminder. 

Merge Fields

Automated reminders are not impersonal updates. Using merge fields, Orchestrate can make these reminders tailored. These merge fields can populate names, schools, and even sections of the application left incomplete. 

These inform students of applications awaiting verification, and upon submission, approval or declines. This maintains a polished appearance for your program and leaves your hands free from sending batch emails.

Approved Copying

There are often follow up steps needed after a student’s approved. This may be connecting with a student housing director or the head of a specific program.

Orchestrate allows for approved copying. An automated acceptance email can CC the Housing Director to follow up on next steps. This keeps your program nimble and departments and staff on the same page.

Reviewer Facing Communication

Dirty-little-secret? Reviewers are worse at communication than students. That’s no fault to them. Faculty members have responsibilities and can often get side-tracked. This is especially true when the review process is voluntary. We built Orchestrate with this need in mind.

Our goal is to create a system that takes as much of the tedium out of the review process as possible.

Keeping Reviewers on Track

The same application schedule from above also includes this backend of the process. The time spent in review of applications often takes longer than the application itself. Automated reminders are a useful tool for keeping reviewers on track.

Viewable Access

You need to track your reviewers to make sure responses go out to applicants on schedule. When an application submitted, it can be automatically assigned with the reviewer receiving notification by automated email.

Over the course of the review process, Orchestrate informs the reviewer of their remaining workload.  Orchestrate can also inform the administrator if reviewers are falling behind. This viewable access allows the administrator to message the reviewer or reassign applications.

A Tailored Application Framework

There are better solutions than spreadsheets and mass emails. Orchestrate lets you get a better handle on your communication.

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