Havana
AI student recruiter that calls, texts, and emails students 24/7
What is Havana? Complete Overview
Havana is an AI-powered student recruitment assistant designed to help educational institutions grow their enrollment. It automates repetitive tasks like calling, texting, and emailing students, qualifying leads, answering questions, and scheduling follow-ups. The tool solves key pain points in student recruitment by handling lower-performing leads, reviving dormant contacts, and providing 24/7 availability to engage students when human teams aren't available. Havana is specifically designed for higher education institutions, including universities, business schools, and other educational organizations looking to improve their recruitment efficiency and conversion rates.
Havana Interface & Screenshots
Havana Official screenshot of the tool interface
What Can Havana Do? Key Features
Revive Dormant Leads
Havana specializes in re-engaging unresponsive or old leads that human teams don't have time to follow up with. It can tap into the goldmine of opportunities sitting idle in your CRM, potentially converting leads that were previously considered lost. The AI systematically reaches out to these contacts through multiple channels, increasing the chances of re-engagement.
24/7 Availability
Unlike human teams with limited working hours, Havana is available around the clock to handle new inquiries. This is particularly valuable as students often research and make inquiries during evenings and weekends. The AI ensures no lead goes unanswered due to timing constraints, significantly improving response times and student satisfaction.
Scalable Outreach
Havana can instantly scale to handle spikes in inquiries that typically occur before application deadlines or after recruitment fairs and webinars. The system can contact thousands of leads per day, ensuring timely follow-ups that dramatically improve conversion rates compared to delayed human responses.
Lifelike Interactions
Havana's AI assistants are designed to sound and interact like humans, providing natural conversations that maintain your institution's brand voice. The system integrates seamlessly with your existing software stack, including CRM systems, email platforms, and calendar applications for a smooth workflow.
Multilingual Support
Havana is fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, and 20+ other languages, enabling institutions to engage with international students in their native languages. This feature significantly expands recruitment potential and improves communication with diverse applicant pools.
Best Havana Use Cases & Applications
Post-Event Follow-up
After student fairs or webinars that generate thousands of leads, Havana can immediately begin follow-up communications while the event is still fresh in students' minds. This dramatically improves speed-to-lead and conversion rates compared to manual follow-up processes.
Application Deadline Push
As application deadlines approach, Havana can systematically contact all pending applicants to encourage submission, answer last-minute questions, and help overcome final barriers to application completion.
International Student Recruitment
Leveraging its multilingual capabilities, Havana can engage with prospective international students in their native languages, explaining program details, entry requirements, and visa processes around the clock across different time zones.
Dormant Lead Reactivation
Havana can mine existing CRM data to identify and re-engage students who showed initial interest but became unresponsive, potentially recovering significant enrollment opportunities that would otherwise be lost.
How to Use Havana: Step-by-Step Guide
Initial Setup: Get started by selecting leads from your CRM and creating a dedicated mailbox for Havana. The setup process typically takes just one day of work, with most of the time spent on internal approvals rather than technical configuration.
Campaign Configuration: Approve the FAQs and recruitment campaigns that Havana generates based on your institution's specific requirements. The AI will adapt to your preferred communication style and admission criteria.
Launch Outreach: Once configured, Havana begins reaching out to selected student leads through calls, texts, and emails. The AI handles initial conversations, qualification questions, and scheduling automatically.
Lead Qualification: Havana pre-qualifies leads by explaining entry requirements and filtering out students who don't meet basic eligibility criteria (e.g., language proficiency or financing requirements).
Appointment Scheduling: For qualified leads, Havana books consultations with your human advisors, eliminating the back-and-forth communication typically required to set up meetings.
Follow-up and Reporting: The system consistently follows up with leads according to your preferred cadence and provides detailed reports on engagement metrics, conversion rates, and time saved.
Havana Pros and Cons: Honest Review
Pros
Considerations
Is Havana Worth It? FAQ & Reviews
You can get started with a single day's work. The process involves selecting leads, creating an AI mailbox, and approving generated FAQs and campaigns. While internal approvals might extend the timeline, the actual technical prep takes no more than 1 day of work.
Unlike generic marketing automation platforms, Havana is specifically designed for student recruitment with features like lifelike conversations, multilingual support, and deep understanding of higher education admission processes. It goes beyond email automation to include calls, texts, and intelligent qualification.
Yes, Havana integrates with your existing CRM, email, and calendar systems, working seamlessly with the same software your team already uses. This ensures smooth data flow and workflow integration.
Havana is designed with education sector compliance requirements in mind, though specific security measures should be discussed directly with their team to ensure they meet your institution's standards.