Smart Start helps both prospective students and ambassadors by steering conversations away from admin-related topics and towards student life questions that your ambassadors are best placed to support on.
Our AI assistant proactively scans prospects' first messages and identifies the topic of conversation. When an administrative topic is detected, Smart Start suggests alternative ways for the student to ask the question. This ensures that queries are aligned with the student experience before they ever reach ambassadors; leading to more meaningful and productive conversations.
So, how does this work in practice?
When a prospective student starts a new conversation and an administrative topic is detected, Smart Start notifies the prospect that the question is not one that your ambassadors are best placed to answer.
The platform will generate three alternative questions related to the initial topic detected, but that are framed in a way that a current student would be able to share their own experiences on.
We also encourage prospects to share messages that are at least 30 symbols. This filters out any "hello!" messages that don't include a question to the ambassador. This encourages deeper conversation from the very first interaction.
If the prospect opts to ignore the suggested questions displayed on the screen and resubmits their original question, the platform will intuitively prompt them to check out the FAQ section of the dashboard where they will find the answers they're looking for.
Check out this video to see how it works!
How can I enable Smart Start in the admin dashboard?
It's very easy to get started with this feature. Head into your admin dashboard, click on the 'Smart Start' tab and then make sure the 'enable Smart Start' box is ticked.
Please note that this feature will be activated for prospects reaching out to student ambassadors only - suggested questions and FAQ recommendations will not be displayed to prospects that contact a staff, parent, alumni, or employee ambassador type.
Sounds great! What other benefits are there to using Smart Start?
Unlike chatbot or chat support systems that prioritize answering broad or administrative queries, we don’t compete in that space. Our assistant is solely focused on fostering deeper engagement by facilitating student experience questions—those that ambassadors are uniquely qualified to answer.
Additionally, our solution analyzes all conversations to identify recurring administrative topics and improve filtering. This process allows universities to continuously refine their knowledge base, ensuring a more personalized and efficient experience for every new student on the platform. It’s not just about answering questions—it’s about creating long-term value for students and institutions alike.
If you have any questions about Smart Start, please don't hesitate in contacting your dedicated Customer Success Manager or email support@theambassadorplatform.com for assistance.