Video calling on your website?

[bowcot84]

Hi,

I'm looking for website owners who are interested in taking part in a beta trial of one-click video calling for users of your site.

The aim is to provide an additional "couldn't be simpler" contact channel for visitors who might otherwise leave unconverted, or improve customer service for existing clients.

Would love to hear from anyone who'd like to get involved and help provide feedback on the service, and help shape it with any additional, desirable features before we start charging.

As a sweetener, it'll be free forever for beta participants!

Get in touch, and I'd be pleased to provide you with a quick demo.

Best regards,

T

 

[Cromulent]

Does this use WebRTC as the back-end technology or something else?

 

[bowcot84]

WebRTC, yes, so strictly speaking not on the back end.

With Edge and Safari looking close to adoption, I think the time is ripe. So it's graceful, unsupported browsers won't do a dickie bird.

 

[Jeff Nev]

Nice idea, but isn't a video call much more difficult than leaving a message? Seems like a user who would otherwise go unconverted wouldn't be interested. I could be wrong though.

 

[bowcot84]

You could well be right. The aim is to make it as easy as possible, so it's currently one click; no more difficult than clicking to close the browser window. But really, only tests "in the wild" will prove this, so hop on board!!

 

[ldjames]

I agree with @Jeff Nev. I think I saw that one high st bank is doing something like this but it feels odd. No matter how easy you make the UI, a customer and a CSA have to be online, confident enough to do this and on a supported desktop browser, and completely free at the same time. One of the big plusses of conventional live chat is that one staff member can help several customers at once.

A lot of people would feel awkward doing this - on either end. I for one would actively avoid this and if nothing else is available, shop elsewhere. I'm not the only one: https://twitter.com/SoVeryBritish

 

[bowcot84]

I entirely agree; hardly anyone's doing video customer service/ reception, just like they weren't doing live chat a few years back.

But when both customers and companies discovered the benefits of live chat, adoption has been good. People have made that shift, and my suspicion is that they'll do the same for in-browser video chat.

Amazon think it's useful enough to make the Mayday button a massive selling feature of the Fire.

And just like chat, this is a supplementary channel. Even as an exponent, I wouldn't suggest making
"nothing else available".

But I'm well aware that there's a cultural hill to climb, which is why we're looking for pioneers ready to come on the adventure.