Providing Effective Answers 24/7 Using EMT Answer Lougan Bishop Information Systems Assistant & Web Specialist.

Providing Effective Providing Effective Answers 24/7Answers 24/7

Using EMT AnswerUsing EMT AnswerLougan Bishop

Information Systems Assistant & Web Specialist

A little about Belmont A little about Belmont UniversityUniversity

• Comprehensive university located in Nashville, TN

• Just over 5,000 students with approximately 4,200 undergrads and 800 graduates

• 75 majors and 10 graduate programs

• Rapid Growth Phase: Enrollment up 69% since 2000

Challenges Communicating Challenges Communicating with Studentswith Students

• Everyone wants answers, and they want them now.

• Availability after hours and on weekends to answer phone calls

• For those looking for answers on a website, website searches don’t always give concise results

EMT Answer and ASK BU?EMT Answer and ASK BU?

• Available 24/7 • It can intelligently answer

questions• If it can’t answer a

question, it can submit the question to be answered by a human being

• Information can be built upon or removed at any time.

• Extremely customizable

EMT Answer and ASK BU?EMT Answer and ASK BU?

EMT Answer and ASK BU?EMT Answer and ASK BU?

A Quick Look at AnswerA Quick Look at Answer

• The Virtual Advisor• Custom Answers• The Knowledge

Builder

The Virtual AdvisorThe Virtual Advisor

• Contains the core questions of the Answer system

• The questions are always editable.

• You can set expiration dates to make sure questions stay up to date

The Virtual AdvisorThe Virtual Advisor

Custom AnswersCustom Answers• These are questions and

answers you add based on your specific needs

• Can be a Key point, this is where a full answer is returned when a question contains a certain keyword.

• Can be an FAQ, which is a link added to the bottom of the returned response. This link points to the custom answer.

• Can have expiration dates as well.

Custom AnswersCustom Answers

The Knowledge BuilderThe Knowledge Builder

• Repository of all unanswered questions

• Questions can be forwarded within the system or by email to someone who can answer it

• Submitted questions can be added to Custom Answers

The Knowledge BuilderThe Knowledge Builder

Reporting in AnswerReporting in Answer

• Know when visitors are using the product

• Know what questions your visitors ask the most.

• Know what questions are being asked, that you have yet to answer.

• Use the rating system and visitor feedback to find out what questions aren’t getting answered satisfactorily.

Reporting in the Virtual Reporting in the Virtual AdvisorAdvisor

Question DistributionQuestion Distribution

Most Popular Quick AnswersMost Popular Quick Answers

Most Popular Unmatched Most Popular Unmatched QuestionsQuestions

Most Popular Custom Most Popular Custom AnswersAnswers

Student FeedbackStudent Feedback

Reporting in the Knowledge Reporting in the Knowledge BuilderBuilder

Reporting in the Knowledge Reporting in the Knowledge BuilderBuilder

Helpful TipsHelpful Tips• Assign the questions in

the Virtual Advisor to different people

◦ Assign questions to the experts in each department: Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar, etc

• Give thoughtful answers to the questions in Virtual Advisor◦ Don’t just throw in quick short

answers, answer the questions as if a student asked the question to you face to face

◦ Avoid just throwing a link to the information on your website

Helpful TipsHelpful Tips• Integrate it with your

website◦ Brand it so that it pops out from

the rest of the content◦ Place it prominently on

important pages• Pay attention to the

feedback you receive◦ Use feedback and ratings as a

way to improve your answers◦ Check your feedback often

• Use the Knowledge Builder◦ Use those submitted questions

to build new custom answers◦ When you get a lot of submitted

questions similar to those in the Virtual Advisor, make sure you answered the Virtual Advisor questions thoroughly.

Helpful LinksHelpful Links

Belmont Websitehttp://www.belmont.edu

Ask BUhttp://www.belmont.edu/prospectivestudents/askbu

EMT Users Communityhttp://emtusers.askadmissions.net/

Contact Me!bishopl@mail.belmont.edu