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Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

onair.io

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Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#71

Post by [deleted] »

happyopossum wrote: post #33
sunir wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dig this. This is what I am thinking. Much easier to click than dial. Social cost of a web link versus a phone number may be lower as well (that may be cultural but it may be true) Adds other modes like calendar or chat or AI directly in flow. No need to reveal a phone number. Video Internationally accessible (no long distance) And for HN tradition’s sake for these types of comments, no one likes rsync.

> Much easier to click than dial. In what way is this easier than click to dial? They’re both one click, but in this scenario I need a headset/microphone, a stable Internet connection, and if I do this from my smart phone it doesn’t know I’m in a call so when I hold the phone up to my face I will likely hit buttons.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#72

Post by blakeburch »

I really like this idea, but not for the listed business use case. I don't imagine many people under 40 are likely to "hop on a quick call" to ask a question about a product that wouldn't already be handled by a standard customer support line.

As a privacy nut, I love the idea of giving people a way to contact me without having to explicitly reveal my contact info. With a service like this, you could embed the call URL on your website, business card, socials, etc. so that you could track which source generated the calls and rotate them as necessary.

Even better if I could control who can contact me at what times. I'm assuming those types of rules could be baked in with IP blocking.

See my Ask HN thread on a related subject - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41035513

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#73

Post by RileyJames »

Very cool. I’ve sent to our CTO.

I’d like to test this out for sales, via the website. As a more frictionless way of capturing inbound interest and fielding questions.

I’d also like to see how we can capture product feedback / issues via our product.

Questions:

- can the link be cnamed so I can use our own domain, rather than ‘OnAir.io’

- are there any docs / demo of how the widget can be customised?

I see your demo. It looks like it also captures the name / email of the customer.

1. That’s a value prop on the sales side, and except for the demo, that wasn’t clear to me.

2. Can we prefill those? (Again wasn’t clear) This would be valuable in the support / feedback use case, as we know who the user is.

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#74

Post by bigmicro »

RileyJames wrote: post #73

Very cool. I’ve sent to our CTO. I’d like to test this out for sales, via the website. As a more frictionless way of capturing inbound interest and fielding questions. I’d also like to see how we can capture product feedback / issues via our product. Questions: - can the link be cnamed so I can use our own domain, rather than ‘OnAir.io’ - are there any docs / demo of how the widget can be customised? I see your demo.…

Thank you!

- We do not support cname domains (not part of the short term roadmap)

- We're not happy with the standard widget, we're certainly open to customization, any are open to feedback and introducing configs/customizations. Alternatively, you can simply create a widget with your link

- Pre-filling form is easy and we can certainly support that via query strings if you require it

Feel free to reach out hello@onair

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#75

Post by moralestapia »

carlgreene wrote: post #70
SoftTalker wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really surprised. The people who grew up with phone calls and who like to "hop on a call" to work out issues are all aging out. They are in their fifties at the youngest, if not already retired. It's my experience that far fewer younger people reach for the phone as a first means of contact. It's not preferred, and they try to avoid it. And by "call" I mean direct, synchronous, real-time conversation. Whether…

I am in my mid-30s and am definitely a “let’s just hop on a call” guy. So much quicker, easier, and less chance for miscommunication IME.

If you're a business, nothing beats "let's just hop on a call".

For me at least, the first one that picks up my call is the one who gets my money. "Send us an email, here's our WhatsApp, ..." kind of thing, I don't even try.

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#76

Post by rexpop »

paxys wrote: post #42
ale42 wrote: post #30

A small thing that might be useful: allow users to get a regular phone number to call. Most users probably won't need it, some will, and when they need it and there's no number, it's extremely frustrating for the (potential or current) customer. Example: in most cases, I don't have a microphone or headset on my office desktop PC (don't need it, we don't do zooms), have very slow internet access on my smartphone (forg…

Why does that need to be part of the app? You can just put a phone number on your website next to the call button.

I believe in this example, OP is requesting a phone number dedicated to the onair coupling. So the "dedicated" number would serve as a prophylactic managed through onair.

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#77

Post by cjmcqueen »

People are weird and sometimes things don't make sense from their existing framing. What if the URL was OnAir.com/555-555-5555 <~ basically make it look like a phone number and make it something where people can see they can text, call, or message. If you're live, it shows that. If you're not live, it gives you a way to leave a message. The interaction is almost exactly the same, but might create less friction of "what is this" by making it feel like how phones and contact points have worked for years.

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#79

Post by cjmcqueen »

bigmicro wrote: post #74
RileyJames wrote: post #73

Very cool. I’ve sent to our CTO. I’d like to test this out for sales, via the website. As a more frictionless way of capturing inbound interest and fielding questions. I’d also like to see how we can capture product feedback / issues via our product. Questions: - can the link be cnamed so I can use our own domain, rather than ‘OnAir.io’ - are there any docs / demo of how the widget can be customised? I see your demo.…

Thank you! - We do not support cname domains (not part of the short term roadmap) - We're not happy with the standard widget, we're certainly open to customization, any are open to feedback and introducing configs/customizations. Alternatively, you can simply create a widget with your link - Pre-filling form is easy and we can certainly support that via query strings if you require it Feel free to reach out hello@ona…

I would thing came would be a fantastic feature for the business/enterprise tiers

Re: Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

#80

Post by nickpsecurity »

blakeburch wrote: post #72

I really like this idea, but not for the listed business use case. I don't imagine many people under 40 are likely to "hop on a quick call" to ask a question about a product that wouldn't already be handled by a standard customer support line. As a privacy nut, I love the idea of giving people a way to contact me without having to explicitly reveal my contact info. With a service like this, you could embed the call U…

Your idea seems to build on what people often do with virtual, credit card numbers. They use different numbers for different businesses. If they get ripped off, they can narrow down which business was used for that.

On top of that, different points of contact might also have different, response policies. Like your existing customers vs targeted leads vs random people. You’d really want to know which were calling you.

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