NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (NYU)

NYU Commencement - GradBot helps give students and their families an unforgettable graduation ceremony at an iconic American ballpark

OUR CLIENT

New York University, an established leader in business, law, and the arts, wanted to see if a GradBot could help ensure graduates were organized and that attendees had a wonderful, memorable day.

THE EVENT

Ten-thousand graduates and thirty-thousand friends, family and faculty descended on Yankee Stadium for NYU’s 187th Commencement.

THE CHALLENGE

Answering all the important questions that come with commencement —about the program, where to be and when, what to wear, and more, combined with getting to and navigating Yankee Stadium, makes providing an unforgettable experience for 40,000 people on a very important day a considerable challenge.

For commencement to run smoothly, NYU needed a solution that could get graduates and their families answers to their questions quickly and accurately, while helping keep NYU staff focused on making sure each of the ten-thousand graduates was precisely where they needed to be for the ceremony.

IMPLEMENTATION

To deliver a superior commencement experience, 42Chat launched GradBot, a Text A.I. Chatbot that answered graduate and attendee questions from over commencement-related topics that users could ask about in more than 4 million ways.

Scheduled and ad-hoc notifications introduced the NYU community to GradBot, encouraging attendees to text NYU2019 to learn more about directions, the program, and much more.

GradBot even connected attendees to restaurant recommendations and things to do in New York City!

THE RESULTS

• Gradbot delivered over 13,601 responses to more than 7,000 questions
• 98% Correct Response Rate
• 1604 Hours of 24/7 real-time attendee support

Top 5 Inquiry Categories:

• Program Information
• Student Checklist
• FAQ
• Parties
• Attire

IMPACT AND LESSONS LEARNED

Nearly a third of those attendees that Gradbot connected with made use of the bot. That number is high when you consider how many families attended Commencement (Mom or Dad probably looked up directions and passed them on to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.)

And GradBot played a key role in keeping graduates and their families organized: Over 40% of those who used GradBot had questions about either the program or the student checklist.

The 42Chat live team monitored GradBot’s responses, even updating answers on-the-fly to tackle questions about late entry, extra tickets, and even service animals.