The Full Story
Amarillo College, a community college in Texas, was handling a growing number of student enquiries through live chat and email. Static FAQ pages quickly became outdated, while live chat pulled staff away from call queues and core tasks.
They needed a solution that could be tailored to their students. As Maria Juarez, Director of Enrollment Services at Amarillo College, explained, “We needed a bot that was more customizable as we have a very specific target audience.”
The college chose Gecko’s AI chatbot, powered by ChatGPT, to answer common questions about enrolment, financial aid and next steps. The bot pulls from live website content, helping ensure students receive accurate and up to date information without manual updates from staff. “Students were wanting to get general information about our enrollment process, next steps and financial aid, and that’s exactly what the Gecko bot delivered,” said Juarez.
The impact was immediate. “Ever since we were onboarded with Gecko, the number of chats we’re having to deal with has dropped so dramatically,” Juarez explained. Weekly live chats fell from around 500 to just 100–150, as the bot began answering most questions automatically. “We’re at 96 percent of our questions getting answered by the bot.”
For students, the chatbot offers a low pressure way to get help. “The bot helps students get answers to their questions. It doesn’t judge or care if you’re asking a question that you think most other people know,” Juarez said.
Following the chatbot’s success, Amarillo College expanded its use of Gecko’s wider engagement platform. “I use it a lot for text message outreach,” Juarez noted, and the team also uses landing pages to share information quickly. “The landing pages help us to create our own material without overburdening our marketing team.”
By automating routine support and giving staff better tools to communicate, Amarillo College reduced workload and improved access to information for students at every stage.