Your agent reaches students in three ways: workflows, missions, and tasks. Each is built for a different kind of job. This guide explains how they differ and how to choose between them.
At a glance
| Workflows | Missions | Tasks |
What it does | Runs your agent's ongoing jobs | Sends planned outreach to a group | Runs outreach that adapts to each student |
How long it runs | Always on | Until its end date or until you stop it | Until the agent completes the goal |
Who sets it up | Your CollegeVine team | You | You |
Channels | Depends on the workflow | One per mission (email, SMS, or phone) | Can combine email and SMS |
Messages | Follow the workflow's setup | Follow the plan you set | The agent decides what to send next for each student |
Best for | Ongoing outreach and support | Any size audience | A focused group of students |
Reporting | Workflow insights | Insights and goal tracking for each mission | Summarized in your agent's insights |
Workflows
Workflows are the jobs your agent does all the time. They're already running in the background:
Email marketing sends outreach on a regular schedule, based on where each student is in your funnel.
Helpdesk answers messages from students.
Inbound phone answers calls to your CollegeVine-powered line.
Website chatbot answers questions on your site.
You don't launch workflows for one-off outreach. Your CollegeVine team sets them up, and you can view them and change their status. For more detail, see Understanding workflows.
Missions
Missions push a group of students toward a specific action or date. Examples include inviting students to an event, reminding them about a deadline, or sharing something happening on campus.
You set the plan: who the mission reaches, what it says, and when it ends. The mission then carries out that plan the same way for every student. Each student still gets a personalized message.
Missions work alongside email marketing. Email marketing is the steady outreach that runs all the time. Missions are the targeted pushes around specific moments.
Use a mission when:
The outreach can follow a set plan
One channel is enough
You want to track engagement and goal progress for this outreach
You're reaching a large group of students
To get started, see Using missions.
Tasks
Tasks handle outreach that needs to adapt as it goes. You don't write a fixed plan. You give the agent a goal, and it decides the next step for each student: what to say, when to follow up, which channel to use, and how to answer if the student writes back.
Use a task when:
The outreach needs to change based on how each student responds
You want email and SMS to go out together
Students reply in a set format, like "Reply 1 for yes, 2 for no"
Follow-ups depend on whether the student has answered, like a reminder 24 hours later if there's no reply
Because each student's conversation can take its own path, tasks work best for a focused group of students, not a broad audience.
💡 If you're planning a task and aren't sure your audience is a good fit, check with your CollegeVine team before you launch.
Choosing between a mission and a task
Here's a quick way to decide. If the outreach can follow a set plan, use a mission. If it needs to adapt to each student, use a task.
Scenario | Use |
Remind applicants that the Early Action deadline is November 1 | Mission |
Invite admitted students to an on-campus event | Mission |
Ask deposited students whether they've signed up for housing, and help the ones who haven't | Task |
Walk applicants through the specific checklist items each one is still missing | Task |
Thank a student for registering for a visit, and send reminders as the date gets closer | Task |
When in doubt, start with a mission. Most outreach fits a mission well.