Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#61

Post by RaphiePS » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 6:58 PM UTC

chrisBob wrote: post #57

RaphiePS wrote: post #46

I don't think anyone has mentioned this: in my mind, the whole point of calling a business is getting an immediate response. Most of us are conditioned to treat text as a fundamentally asynchronous medium. Texts aren't something you have to reply to now -- you should get to them eventually, but they don't demand attention in that moment. Much like email, the sender really has no idea when, if ever, the receiver will…

How old are you? I am 32 and I agree, but my younger siblings consider a text to be similar to a phone call that demands an immediate response. I you aren't in a hurry you send a similar message over email.

17. At least in my social circles, it's polite to respond to texts (and Facebook messages) within a couple hours. Texting definitely carries more expectations than email (for example, I'd consider it rude to text back the next day, yet emailing in the morning is A-ok), but it's certainly not on the level of calls.

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#62

Post by jeffmorrisjr » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 10:34 PM UTC

tonysusername wrote: post #8

banderon wrote: post #5

How is this different than TalkTo? What is the business model here?

TalkTo did not integrate with third party services.

To the consumer, this functions pretty damn close to TalkTo.

My question is: how many times do you actually call a business to find out about inventory, etc.

I remember doing this in the early 2000's, but in the age of Amazon and transparent inventory on sites like Apple, it's a very rare use case.

From a business perspective, I love the idea of providing better customer service, and if this is a feature that customers actually want, then maybe it will work.

Onboarding businesses will be a huge pain in the ass. But you probably know that already :)

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#63

Post by osamet67 » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 11:20 PM UTC

Sounds a lot like ownerlistens.com Same consumer facing SMS functionality (masks your number) or an app if you want to avoid fees Backend more fully featured + has an API and supports iBeacons

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#64

Post by kiwidrew » Mon, Jul 21, 2014, 9:53 AM UTC

Adi_ wrote: post #59

kiwidrew wrote: post #56

I'd pay good money for a Whatsapp number that I could use for my business and feed directly into our inbox/CRM tool/whatever; when given the choice our clients seem to overwhelmingly prefer Whatsapp messaging over any other contact method. I'd write it myself if I had the time.

What kind of business do you have? Are you clients mostly under 30-35?

Yeah. I'm running a small accommodation/guesthouse business in Hong Kong and our demographic is 18-35 expats, mostly European. First contact method is 10% voice / 20% on SMS / 70% on Whatsapp.

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#65

Post by obaid » Mon, Jul 21, 2014, 2:11 PM UTC

Interesting idea. Any real customers yet? I am still not sure how would it work for me as a customer? Would I download an app and then communicate with the businesses? If so, why can't I just tweet to them?

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#66

Post by fouademi » Mon, Jul 21, 2014, 9:55 PM UTC

I see great potential for this with small businesses, I understood from the comments that employees can answer customers using smart phones - which is great, but you need to highlight that value in your presentation, the computer-only screenshot is a bit turn-off. The video is great but it should be skippable in my opinion.

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#67

Post by Adi_ » Tue, Jul 22, 2014, 6:58 PM UTC

kiwidrew wrote: post #64

Adi_ wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of business do you have? Are you clients mostly under 30-35?

Yeah. I'm running a small accommodation/guesthouse business in Hong Kong and our demographic is 18-35 expats, mostly European. First contact method is 10% voice / 20% on SMS / 70% on Whatsapp.

Interesting. That's quite a ratio in favor of WhatsApp. We looked into building a WhatsApp hook via OwnerListens but since it's not that popular in the US (where most of our current customers are) we couldn't justify the resources. We'll revisit as we expand internationally. How much would you be willing to pay for such a service.

Re: Show HN: We've been working on this idea, would love feedback

#68

Post by anko » Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 6:28 AM UTC

tonysusername wrote: post #44

anko wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What percentage of businesses have someone available to answer the telephone? This seems more convenient than that. But it also seems like twitter.

How do you message a business that doesn't follow you privately?

#businessname blah blah blah message blah