The Full Story
With more than 15,000 students enrolled, Lamar University’s admissions team and Welcome Center were inundated with a flood of duplicate inquiries via email, phone calls, and walk-ins. Staff were spending countless hours answering the same routine questions, leaving less time for application reviews and personalized support.
To address this challenge, Lamar partnered with Gecko to implement Chirp Bot, an intelligent chatbot designed to handle repetitive FAQs with speed and accuracy. In just five days, the bot was configured, tested, and launched. Unlike automated solutions that scrape website content—often leading to outdated or inaccurate responses—Lamar opted for a controlled approach, manually curating responses to ensure students always received accurate and timely information on dates, schedules, locations, and course offerings.
The results were immediate and impactful. Over the course of its deployment, Chirp Bot managed 13,410 student conversations, with 85.6% fully automated. This freed admissions staff from hundreds of hours of repetitive work, saving the equivalent of 90 working days annually. The chatbot also proved invaluable outside traditional office hours: 52% of all conversations took place when staff were unavailable, ensuring students always had access to critical support.
In total, the bot saved 632 hours per year for staff, enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks such as application reviews, one-on-one guidance, and strategic initiatives.
Reflecting on the impact, Tracie Craig, Director at Lamar University, praised the tool:
“The bot has saved us a lot of time and is available around the clock to answer common questions… Allowing the bot to parrot the answers to those common questions has boosted team morale.”
By streamlining routine inquiries and extending support beyond office hours, Lamar University successfully improved the student experience while reclaiming staff capacity. The partnership with Gecko demonstrates how quickly deployed, carefully managed automation can transform admissions operations at scale.