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How a Large US College Reduced Call Wait Times by 90%
Education
Case Study
The Overview
Many colleges and universities face challenges managing the high volume of student inquiries, particularly during the fall and spring semesters. While advanced AI chatbots have helped, students often become frustrated when they can’t access human support—whether they’re enrolling, filing for financial aid, or seeking assistance while in college. A poor student experience not only damages an institution's reputation within the local community but also costs larger colleges millions in lost revenue.
The Challenge
This large college, with 70,000 students, was recently formed through a merger of several smaller independent colleges. While the merger brought many benefits, the new institution struggled to manage more than 35,000 student inquiries each month, with peak months exceeding 50,000. Abandonment rates ranged from 10% to 25%, and wait times for even simple inquiries stretched to 10 minutes. Campus staff were overwhelmed, students became frustrated with long wait times—many hanging up—and, to make matters worse, enrollment was declining.
The Solution
​Our outsourcing partner was selected to play a key role in easing the workload on campus staff by establishing a virtual student services contact center. They were tasked with handling 80% of student inquiries using highly trained agents, available seven days a week. To ensure effective support, our partner developed comprehensive training materials, streamlined internal processes, and expanded the knowledge base. AWS Connect was implemented as the Contact Center Software platform, delivering a smooth and efficient operation.
To further elevate the service, ServiceNow was integrated for seamless inquiry tracking, while live chat and SMS features were added to enhance communication options. With support available across voice, chat, email, and SMS channels—seven days a week and during extended hours—students now have more flexible and accessible ways to get assistance. The college is also expanding its chatbot service to further strengthen student support
33,000 Monthly Calls
98%
Answer Rate
94%
Quality Rate
93%
Calls < 60 Sec
The Successful Outcome
Within just a few months, despite call volumes exceeding forecasts by 120%, 98% of student inquiries were answered, with 93% of calls handled within 60 seconds. Average call handle is around 5 minutes. Our partner achieved a 94% quality score and helped boost spring enrollment by 8%, adding over 5,000 new students.
As a result of our partner’s success, the college is assigning additional call volume to our partner as campus departments continue to face understaffing challenges.
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