Make the most out of WhatsApp in your academic institution using push notifications

When we look for a course we all want a great experience that is worth investing our time and money in.

In this article, we tell you how you can use WhatsApp push notifications in your academic institution.

What are push notifications?

Push notifications are messages that arrive directly on the screen of users’ phones, even if they are not active on WhatsApp.

These messages are presented just like a notification of a conversation with a friend, so the open rate scales up to 98%.

This WhatsApp Cloud API feature allows institutions to send massive messages to groups of people, specific segments, or to one person to start a conversation.

As we mentioned, its operation is similar to any WhatsApp message. Therefore, it allows you to include multimedia elements such as images, videos, or documents.

Now let’s see some uses of WhatsApp push notifications in your academic institution

Push notifications for marketing in education

Draw students

In this case, it could be a course in your institution. Although you can’t use push notifications for a “cold contact”, you can use them to send valuable information to those who have shown interest in your services.

On your webpage, you can include an entry point to WhatsApp, whether with a form or with a pop-up to obtain the opt-in from your user and be able to send messages.

Once you have it, you can send push notifications about:

• Events and webinars.
• Free lessons.
• Counseling.
• Brochures and informative videos.
• And much more, the limit is your imagination.

Push notifications for sales in education

Application process

With WhatsApp, you can start the process and make it seamless.

You just need to use a push notification with a button that activates a chatbot. There you can compile the information and the necessary documents to know if this user is qualified to take the course they want.

Registration process

For this reason, push notifications are especially useful in your academic institution:

You can use them to:

• Send updates and alerts
• Inform about the admission process
• Alert about an additional procedure to continue
• Inform about the deadline to send the required documentation

Payment

Although direct payment via WhatsApp has not yet reached all countries (it is being tested in Brazil and India), you can use WhatsApp and push notifications to make payment easier for your students.

You can send a push notification reminding the students about the payment with a CTA button that directs them to the payment platform.

You can take this experience to the next level if you create an automation with Zapier so that as soon as a student pays receives they receive the proof of payment to their WhatsApp.

Push notifications for post-sales services

However, WhatsApp is also very useful to give students a great experience during and after their formation.

Student support

But, this is normal. Hundreds of companies send messages, and important e-mails are lost in the noise.

With push notifications, you can take this information directly to your students’ favorite channel, so they won’t miss:

• Lessons using CTA buttons, multimedia elements, or even a chatbot organized in categories.
• Reminders of exams, essays, talks, etc.
• Schedule updates and classroom changes.
• Exams.

Alumni loyalty

You can use WhatsApp push notifications to offer new courses that complement their previous courses, and notify them about alumni events, networking and any other activity.

Good practices when sending push notifications

Now that you know some of the things you can do with push notifications in your academy, let’s see some aspects you need to keep in mind for your communications to be of quality.

Opt-in
As we mentioned before, it is important to have the users’ authorization before sending them any message.

This not only ensures that users will expect your messages and therefore will have greater chances of conversion, but you will also fulfill one of the obligations WhatsApp has for businesses.

• Form or poo-up on your webpage.
• Check-box when creating an account.
• In a user-initiated conversation.
• SMS.
• In-person.

Remember to always inform the users your company name and the type of messages that you will send in a clear way.

Personalization and relevance

None likes to receive a generic message that doesn’t represent our interests. Sending messages massively can be easy for the first part of your strategy, but it won’t generate the best results.

Pro tip: if you create segmentation based on your users’ interests you will ensure they receive relevant communications.

Creativity

Given its instant and colloquial nature, WhatsApp is a channel that is distinguished by the use of emojis and stickers to accompany short messages.

Sending messages from your institution with formal language will create greater dissonance and make you appear more “business-like” than you probably want.

Timely

When scheduling push notifications, think about the lifestyle of your customers and where they live.

Remember that no one wants to receive a text message, offering them a free English lesson at 4 am!

In a nutshell

A beneficial experience for both students and the team behind each organization.