Chaskiq - website and social live chat including chat-bot and video calls

[marcusquinn]

"Open Source Messaging Platform for Marketing, Support & Sales"

https://chaskiq.io
https://github.com/chaskiq/chaskiq

[plusone-nick]

Saw this on reddit & was going to add but fortunately @marcusquinn already did =]
Looks very promising - SO many features...
About 3 years ago a few of us went to a Drift conference called hypergrowth - they are one of the top chatbot companies & their offerings were very nice and well rounded but the issue is always pricing...
This solution appears to have it all +1

[jagan]

A bump up.

Chaskiq has become even more powerful. And there is a docker version available I believe!

[timconsidine]

@jagan said in Chaskiq - website and social live chat including chat-bot and video calls:

And there is a docker version available I believe!

Yes, I believe so.
It is also packaged already on Caprover (although not tried it yet)

[scooke]

What kind of customer actually uses this? When ever I've been on a site, specifically one on which I don't have an account for anything,
"chat" is the last thing I want to do. I think the only time I've willingly used one was on a domain registrar, NameCheap, I think, just a few weeks ago, when I had a question about billing. Otherwise, I like to get in and out, much like in real life, from a site.

You don't need to share personal anecdotes if you don't want. Perhaps some websites which show some numbers or something? I can see how this could appeal to a business if it's sold right, but as a customer of that business... email and regular support is enough.

[timconsidine]

@scooke I often use chat as a customer in preference to emailing the service provider team, because email is asynchronous. Send it. Wait for it to come to top of queue. Reply comes in when I am busy on something else, or out.

Chat is not perfect but it is good for 'live' "i need an answer now" type issues, and often they're simple issues, so waiting fr the email cycle to complete is long-winded for an enquiry like "I can't find XXX in the docs. Can you tell me where ?"

I have no evidence for this, but I think a lot of tech teams prefer chat, as more immediate and quicker overall resolution. My suspicion is "customer service teams" prefer email as they have time to look for an answer in the knowledge base !

[jagan]

@scooke Chat support has its place actually.
Nowadays, the channels for getting information/answers to queries are:

1. Email: Won't work if you need a simple answer immediately. Questions like, 'Are you open right now?' - emails simply won't do. OTOH, threaded and long winded to and fro discussions with trail are best done by email of course.
2. Twitter: Again, won't work for simple queries, nor will it work if you need to attach documents (emails are better in that case)
3. Chat - Immediate answers, can ask for clarifications, etc. Interactivity is good and sometimes technical issues can be resolved live and issues finished. One can multitask when chatting, which is great.
4. Good old telephone - Endless Menus, Wait times and on hold music are off-putting for many people. Also, some prefer the anonymity of chat and not needing to talk to someone.

What do you think?

[scooke]

@jagan Thanks for the reply. My point is to not to try to convince anyone to not use it, I'm just curious how it is actually used by those who employ it.

1.) Info such as hours, etc., could/should be available on a website, no?
2) I've seen this used for very open-ended generic questions.
3) This sounds perfect, but most of the time when I've needed help the Help seemed to act like it was gonna take a lot of time, in which case chat wasn't an option because I'd be sitting there for awhile. I guess one experience I've had with chat that was helpful was with a bank, trying to clear a flagged transaction. But they needed lots of my regular account info and it felt sketchy giving that over a chat! I suppose that it "worked" because in the end the transaction was cleared (it was me), but I really didn't feel comfortable. Another time was with NameCheap about a transfer-in of a domain, but they needed me to be logged into the site at the same time as the chat. Good thing I was at my computer, and not just my phone, as that wouldn't have gone well.
4) Yeah, I really don't like the blackhole nature of the phone help!

Most places use this forum-style approach for help. It seems like the best mix of quickly getting info back and forth, and getting a solution.

I guess the other scenario i am trying to imagine is with a one-person, or small-ish startup. If their main Help is chat, who is going to be the one to monitor that Chat? And if it's one person, or few, doesn't Chat help sessions take away alot of time from the usually-scheduled work?

I'm asking all this because I'm thinking of including it in some of my stuff, in general, but just can't picture how it will truly function and work out.

[jagan]

@scooke said in Chaskiq - website and social live chat including chat-bot and video calls:

Info such as hours, etc., could/should be available on a website, no?

Mate, you are right and I mostly agree with you, but you overestimate the capability and/or willingness of people to spend a few extra seconds to look for this information even if it is staring and ready to poke them in their right eye.

It all boils down to this: Give people multiple avenues to engage with your site and your sales-people. Let them choose. One day, perhaps chat will be out of fashion, but for now, some people look for the button right at the bottom right.

[plusone-nick]

@scooke said in Chaskiq - website and social live chat including chat-bot and video calls:

@jagan Thanks for the reply. My point is to not to try to convince anyone to not use it, I'm just curious how it is actually used by those who employ it.

1.) Info such as hours, etc., could/should be available on a website, no?
2) I've seen this used for very open-ended generic questions.
3) This sounds perfect, but most of the time when I've needed help the Help seemed to act like it was gonna take a lot of time, in which case chat wasn't an option because I'd be sitting there for awhile. I guess one experience I've had with chat that was helpful was with a bank, trying to clear a flagged transaction. But they needed lots of my regular account info and it felt sketchy giving that over a chat! I suppose that it "worked" because in the end the transaction was cleared (it was me), but I really didn't feel comfortable. Another time was with NameCheap about a transfer-in of a domain, but they needed me to be logged into the site at the same time as the chat. Good thing I was at my computer, and not just my phone, as that wouldn't have gone well.
4) Yeah, I really don't like the blackhole nature of the phone help!

Most places use this forum-style approach for help. It seems like the best mix of quickly getting info back and forth, and getting a solution.

I guess the other scenario i am trying to imagine is with a one-person, or small-ish startup. If their main Help is chat, who is going to be the one to monitor that Chat? And if it's one person, or few, doesn't Chat help sessions take away alot of time from the usually-scheduled work?

I'm asking all this because I'm thinking of including it in some of my stuff, in general, but just can't picture how it will truly function and work out.

I like this discussion...to chime in it appears there is a mix of two conflicting perspectives:
1- Your technical insight combined with curiosity on how the solution provides value
2- Your personal exp and preference regarding similar solutions

Devils advocate: I have worked in pub/private orgs of varying sizes supporting physical & digital products/services for more than decade and can 100+1% argue that customers/users want, like & use "chat" as an option more and more...

Your points are more subjective than objective. But for the sake of argument: From my personal Ex: "I have used and prefer chat over a call or email..."

Users (Not yours & not all of them.. but enough of them) like and prefer the experience. Especially for Subscription/Premium based support - its almost basically expected now

To add more value/substance to my stance: I went to Drift's HYPERGROWTH event in 2018, they are one of the leaders in the Conversational Marketing space. They recently were acknowledged by Gartner and are currently valued at $1 billion

My 2 cents are worth 2 just likes yours but someone somewhere is making $ supporting someone via chat

Chaskiq has a good amount of momentum & the "market" for the service is thriving