UNLV reduces support wait times 80% and raises enrollment 10.6%.

With over 30,000 students, University of Nevada Las Vegas is a public, urban research institution that holds the nation’s highest recognition for both research and community engagement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

UNLV’s ideal student experience was held back by its technology.

UNLV found itself stuck in a cycle of needing to update separate data sources for student engagement records, academic journeys, and even staff schedules. Multiple departments would request the same student information because there wasn’t a single picture of the student data. UNLV’s goal of a holistic, all-encompassing student experience was blocked by inflexible systems.

A data-based recruiting strategy boosts enrollment. 

UNLV collects 100 distinct contact points and segments to anticipate the needs of every student. This includes event attendance, communication engagement, scholarship opportunities, and veteran services. 

“All the data points are utilized for tailored personalization and segmentation within Marketing Cloud to provide timely, relevant communications to help students stay, succeed, and graduate,” said Kivanc Oner, CIO at UNLV. 

UNLV uses this data to build automated recruitment journeys in Journey Builder. Once a student applies, Journey Builder prompts the student to create an account for the student portal in Experience Cloud. Then the student receives proactive communications to encourage them to complete their application. This technique brought a 21.7% increase in first-year enrollment from 2016 to 2023.

A self-service portal and live chat deliver faster student support.

The university built a self-service portal on Experience Cloud that serves both students and staff. Students now have a personalized hub where they can apply for scholarships, submit UNLV institutional aid application, contact their academic advisor or aid counselor, or start a live chat if they need help. Staff can also easily update office hours, class times, class locations, and more all in one place.

The university also sends automated Marketing Cloud reminders about upcoming financial aid and other major application deadlines. As a result, UNLV’s help desk has shorter in-person wait times, and 30%–50% fewer support calls.

With the ease of support around financial aid within the student portal and automated deadline reminders, FAFSA applications have increased by 19%. Now, UNLV can serve even more first-generation and nontraditional students.

Innovation for the future with Education Cloud.

Harnessing the power of Education Cloud, UNLV plans to further improve the student experience. With Education Cloud’s flexible data foundation and purpose-built apps, UNLV will take advantage of the latest Salesforce innovations built specifically for higher education institutions. This will help UNLV improve processes and free up staff time to focus on what matters most – creating more meaningful interactions with students and alumni.

UNLV trusts Salesforce for Education, built on Einstein 1 Platform, to automate and scale resources for more proactive student support. Now, the powerful combination of CRM, AI, and trusted data give staff and faculty across campus a unified view of every student. And that means they can deliver personalized experiences from recruitment through graduation.