Friday afternoon we'll be releasing some minor enhancements to the Online Application process. They're little things, but we think they'll go a long way in helping your Admissions department keep up with your Prospects.
First, there's a new Admissions Setting that lets you enter email addresses for people who should be notified when a Prospect submits the online application. As soon as the Prospect clicks "Submit", Populi will send those people an email.
Next, we revised the initial interaction between the submitted application and the Prospect. Previously, upon submitting the application, the Prospect saw "Thanks for starting your application to Demo College. We'll send you an email soon that will let you log in and continue the process." There were two problems with this: One, because we didn't send notifications about online applications, it was easy to miss them. Consequently, it might take several days before they were imported and the Prospect was sent a login. Two, the initial welcome email from Populi often landed in the Prospect's spam folder—just about the last thing that needed to happen. We wanted to clarify what happens next—both for the prospect and your Admissions staff—while keeping important Populi emails out of the Prospect's spam folder.
Now when the Prospect clicks "Submit", he sees this message:
"Thank you! Please check your email for a note from Populi Notifications with further instructions. If it's not in your inbox, it might've landed in your spam folder!"
Then Populi Notifications sends them this email:
Thank you for starting your application with YourCollege University. Here's what happens next:
- We'll review your initial application in the next few days.
- Next, we'll create a user account for you in Populi, our online college management system.
- You'll receive an email from Populi Notifications that lets you create a password for your account.
- You can then log in at any time to work on the rest of your application.
You should get that next email in another day or two. To make sure it hits your inbox, mark this email as "Not Spam".
At the same time, it sends everyone listed in the new Admissions setting the following email (with all the items in bold replaced by information gathered from the submitted application):
First Name, Last Name has just submitted the initial online application through Populi! Go to Populi Admissions to import the application and get First Name started on the rest of it.
If you'd like to contact First Name, his/her email address is email address and his/her phone number is phone number. First Name is interested in the Program Program starting in Term.
Here's where we think this'll be really cool for your Admissions department. If you get this email on your iPhone (or any other smartphone, for that matter), you'll then be able to just tap to call or email the Prospect within minutes of them submitting the application. You can even enter an email-to-text address and get this info texted to you. This can help you engage the prospect while their application is still fresh in their minds—and you don't even need to be in the office when it happens.
We hope these enhancements help foster more meaningful interactions with your Prospects.