Answers to some of the most common questions!

Why Annie?

Students ask for help too late and some never even reach out. Annie makes asking for help easy, which helps prevent negative impacts on the student’s study progress.

 

Do students respond to Annie’s messages?

An average of 75% of students respond to Annie’s messages and, depending on the use case, 13–25% of the respondents report a support need.

 

For what purpose is Annie used?

Annie the support chatbot reaches out to students to identify their support needs. For example, the bot supports students when they are just starting their studies and helps them finish their degree when they are nearing the end of their education path. Annie also provides guidance to students on concerns related to workplace learning.

 

What parts make Annie?

Annie consists of three parts: a chatbot that reaches out to students to figure out their support needs; a bot editor that is used to manage the bot’s chat flows for questions and answers; and a set of reporting tools for analyzing the data gathered through use.

 

How is data security and privacy handled with Annie?

We take extra care to ensure that security and privacy matters are handled appropriately. All the students’ personal information is encrypted. We use sophisticated access control to ensure that visibility of data is limited to only the information needed and only to the relevant parties. Download Annie’s data security documentation.

 

Is Annie accessible for all students?

Yes. Annie is WCAG 2.1 AAA compliant (the highest level available), so it is fully accessible for all kinds of students.

 

What does Annie cost?

Annie’s price consists of a fixed setup fee and a fee per student, which depends on the number of students and the country of your educational institution. The location affects the pricing due to differences in messaging fees between countries. Contact us here to talk to us and get a quote.

 

Can we integrate Annie with our institution’s existing systems?

Yes you can! Usually Annie is integrated with the educational institution’s user management system to enable single sign on. We also provide an application programming interface (REST API) that you can integrate with your student information system and/or reporting tools.

 

Do we need to design new chat flows from scratch?

You can, but you don’t need to. We have designed validated templates for many different use cases, which you can use as is or edit to your liking.

 

Do the students need to install an app to use Annie?

No. Annie reaches out to students through channels they already use, such as an SMS or an instant message. Usually, students do not want to install extra applications on their devices, and Annie has been designed with this in mind.

 

Do the messages cost something for the student?

Usually, the students’ messages are treated as regular SMS messages that they have to pay for to their operator as a bundle or per message according to their mobile subscription. However, you can buy a service number for your educational institution as an added service to enable free messaging for your students.

 

Does Annie replace our existing service channels and tools?

In principle, the answer is no. Annie helps educational institutions find students who need support early and directs those students to relevant existing service channels and resources. However, Annie can also function as the primary service channel for your educational institution’s support services.