Pre-Proposal: ''Dash Chat''

fible1 said:
@Roberto Julio Azar

This amount would be for a pretty good agent, I've actually hired native speakers from English speaking countries living in Bolivia for 600 bucks a month. You can definitely get an expat for 1K USD in Bolivia if you do some searching. There is a reason the Phillipines and India are call center hubs, they have excellent speakers. The type of agent you are probably thinking of work at call centers that "specialize" in cheap but poor service and they have a high turnover rate, and they earn half of what we are discussing. This is really a very good salary for a call center agent. Damn near outstanding.

If Bolivian law weren't so shitty I would set this up for you myself. Try Odesk or google and you can find what other people are paying and what reviews they are giving their agents.

Hope that helps,
Pablo.
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the problem is Dash - tech knowledge
you will not get somebody with that background for 600- 1k US$

i honestly hold this proposal back for now
this is not needed imo + will cost a lot to maintain - if we hit some huge number of new users who need live support constantly we should consider (now is not the right time i believe)
 
tungfa said:
the problem is Dash - tech knowledge
you will not get somebody with that background for 600- 1k US$

i honestly hold this proposal back for now
this is not needed imo + will cost a lot to maintain - if we hit some huge number of new users who need live support constantly we should consider (now is not the right time i believe)
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It's a good point, the people who will be most well equipped to answer questions are people who already well entrenched in our community. But the people who are well entrenched in our community might not be available for that kind of price, or be willing to subject themselves to a more rigorous schedule or set of policies.

If @fernando is serious about some folks on the team already thinking about how to improve our support, maybe it would be a good idea for @Roberto Julio Azar to be a part of those talks as well because I really like the way that he approaches this from a customer service angle, with disciplined and professional policies and with metrics. I think those are valuable things to bring to the table whether it's a new ticket system, live chat or whatever. Especially if any budget funds make their way towards this initiative, we need to put our best foot forward.
 
Thank you for the feedback @tungfa

I would like to clarify that my proposal is not meant to be a live chat technical support. What I envision the Dash Chat to be is an advocacy program. However, it would be great if some of the live chat agents have the answers to top 100 tech questions at hand to maximize work efficiency.

I would highly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to go over all the documentation that I provided for this proposal, especially the Dash Chat Policy folder, files 3.0 - 3.9
Wouldn't you agree that advertising/promoting Dash as a currency is a good thing for Dash? More so now in the beginning stages of Dash?
I personally don't think it is too soon for a project like this, considering that the project I am proposing is a live chat advocacy program.
 
Roberto Julio Azar said:
Thank you for the feedback @tungfa

I would like to clarify that my proposal is not meant to be a live chat technical support. What I envision the Dash Chat to be is an advocacy program. However, it would be great if some of the live chat agents have the answers to top 100 tech questions at hand to maximize work efficiency.

I would highly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to go over all the documentation that I provided for this proposal, especially the Dash Chat Policy folder, files 3.0 - 3.9
Wouldn't you agree that advertising/promoting Dash as a currency is a good thing for Dash? More so now in the beginning stages of Dash?
I personally don't think it is too soon for a project like this, considering that the project I am proposing is a live chat advocacy program.
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i totally hear u and know where u want to go with this
but
i still do not believe we are ready for that

imo we have a ton of chats /forums and whatnot for tech questions (+endless guides / video tutorials) so people are well taken care of
a webpage chat / or live chat has to be manned and we honestly do not have the manpower in the team to run something like this
as said
if we get a rush of new users (i do not know - Evo hits or something) then we definitely have to set up our game , but for now we are all set

- reg 'advocacy program' 3.0
same as above - forums and chats are available now
- Campaign ; Do you accept Dash
has nothing to do with a web chat available i believe
this is a complicate subject (it seems), many people tried this before and most failed (or gave up) as Dash is still a small community and finding merchants (with no real tools) is hard

this is a well thought through proposal + great documentation
but unfortunately (i believe) too early for us to proceed
 
@tungfa

It is true you will not get someone from within the community for that amount, but you can definitely get someone with enough sense that you can train and have them learn about Dash over a period of time.I also agree that this should not be a technical support but rather engagement to improve conversion. I definitely agree with you that it is not the time to do this however :).

Pablo.
 
fible1 said:
@tungfa

It is true you will not get someone from within the community for that amount, but you can definitely get someone with enough sense that you can train and have them learn about Dash over a period of time.I also agree that this should not be a technical support but rather engagement to improve conversion. I definitely agree with you that it is not the time to do this however :).

Pablo.
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yes u are propably right
but as usual things like this have to be managed and trained and it is not just 1 person but x amount of others involved ...

in 4 - 6 month maybe ;)
 
fible1 said:
@tungfa

It is true you will not get someone from within the community for that amount, but you can definitely get someone with enough sense that you can train and have them learn about Dash over a period of time.I also agree that this should not be a technical support but rather engagement to improve conversion. I definitely agree with you that it is not the time to do this however :).

Pablo.
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I was thinking about establishing the Dash Chat completely free of cost. With just a few serious volunteers, I think you mentioned you would volunteer? I could pay for the livechatinc price and we can try it and see what results we get.

What do you think @fible1 ?
Perhaps we can discuss it over a skype call?
 
@Roberto Julio Azar

Sure, I can volunteer any time that I happen to be online (which is a lot); I can't keep fixed hours though. Any chat software I can run on Linux or browser works for me, but it needs to have active notifications. If you prefer we can start with email support which I can take care of within 24 hours and which I find very enjoyable. Either works for me though.

Hopefully if we get this running we can apply for a smaller budget down the road.

Feel free to email me, [email protected]; I don't like skype and I don't do voice calls in general.

Pablo.
 
Strong work on an a well thought out proposal. I think if someone jumps to the later phase costs then they will be sticker shocked, but as long as you are able to follow your multiphase approach and can quantify the value proposition before moving to the bigger ticket items......then you have my 100% support and MN vote.

ONCE WE ARE TO THAT POINT, it would be cool to add multi-language support; text or voice. I could quickly provide Latvian and Russian.
 
fible1 said:
@Roberto Julio Azar

Sure, I can volunteer any time that I happen to be online (which is a lot); I can't keep fixed hours though. Any chat software I can run on Linux or browser works for me, but it needs to have active notifications. If you prefer we can start with email support which I can take care of within 24 hours and which I find very enjoyable. Either works for me though.

Hopefully if we get this running we can apply for a smaller budget down the road.

Feel free to email me, [email protected]; I don't like skype and I don't do voice calls in general.

Pablo.
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I think for some it would be really nice to be able to provide a custom link like appear.in/dash-english--- that people can quickly switch to, instead of chatting.
 
mranderson010 said:
Strong work on an a well thought out proposal. I think if someone jumps to the later phase costs then they will be sticker shocked, but as long as you are able to follow your multiphase approach and can quantify the value proposition before moving to the bigger ticket items......then you have my 100% support and MN vote.

ONCE WE ARE TO THAT POINT, it would be cool to add multi-language support.
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Thank you for your reply. I am really considering establishing Dash Chat for the first 60 days solely with volunteers so that we can analyze the results of this project. Multi language would be amazing, however, it appears that we may not even have enough funding for just a basic English group! Well, anyways, I am really excited to get the 60 day trial up and running, hopefully soon.

@fernando @fible1 @tungfa @TroyDASH @mastermined @balu
 
Roberto Julio Azar said:
Thank you for your reply. I am really considering establishing Dash Chat for the first 60 days solely with volunteers so that we can analyze the results of this project. Multi language would be amazing, however, it appears that we may not even have enough funding for just a basic English group! Well, anyways, I am really excited to get the 60 day trial up and running, hopefully soon.

@fernando @fible1 @tungfa @TroyDASH @mastermined @balu
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Well count me for volunteering, I am really interested to see how it would work.
 
@Roberto Julio Azar I have gone deeper into your proposal already. Some more thoughts:
  • The amount of work is amazing. Well done because it shows you did your homework and you care. However, as someone mentioned before, I think it is better to start discussing earlier in the process.
  • I'm still worried that this will become a support channel. Just today I have received nine support emails through the contact form in the website that specifically say that we don't provide support... and the day is not finished yet. The website has several tens of thousands of unique users per month (btw, to a previous comment, we do have Google analytics). Even if a big part of that is to non English versions of the site, that is still a lot of traffic and things can get out of control very easily and maybe the scope needs to be different. As an example, Dropbox uses a chat agent only in the business section of the site, not in the part devoted to the individuals product (and many of those pay).
  • Implementing this proposal would involve other people who are not involved with it because you need the official site (and I think that access to devs because things will get technical). This is not necessarily a problem, but it needs to be considered. When this has happened in the past the criteria has been to respect what MNs approved and try to help, but you need to consider that maybe the people who are doing the new site may have other plans or could take longer to implement your ideas than you'd desire. Even if this project passed, the people you need are involved in other proposals that also passed.
  • I like the idea of doing pilots. As a user I hate pop ups and chat agents, but if data proves that they are useful then I'd use them because I know that my tastes are necessarily the same of other people.
 
fernando said:
@Roberto Julio Azar I have gone deeper into your proposal already. Some more thoughts:
  • The amount of work is amazing. Well done because it shows you did your homework and you care. However, as someone mentioned before, I think it is better to start discussing earlier in the process.
  • I'm still worried that this will become a support channel. Just today I have received nine support emails through the contact form in the website that specifically say that we don't provide support... and the day is not finished yet. The website has several tens of thousands of unique users per month (btw, to a previous comment, we do have Google analytics). Even if a big part of that is to non English versions of the site, that is still a lot of traffic and things can get out of control very easily and maybe the scope needs to be different. As an example, Dropbox uses a chat agent only in the business section of the site, not in the part devoted to the individuals product (and many of those pay).
  • Implementing this proposal would involve other people who are not involved with it because you need the official site (and I think that access to devs because things will get technical). This is not necessarily a problem, but it needs to be considered. When this has happened in the past the criteria has been to respect what MNs approved and try to help, but you need to consider that maybe the people who are doing the new site may have other plans or could take longer to implement your ideas than you'd desire. Even if this project passed, the people you need are involved in other proposals that also passed.
  • I like the idea of doing pilots. As a user I hate pop ups and chat agents, but if data proves that they are useful then I'd use them because I know that my tastes are necessarily the same of other people.
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Hey Fernando! Thanks for the reply. I understand what you mean. It would be great if the agents for Dash Chat were capable of answering tech questions and also specialize in promoting Dash. I think we should think about establishing the pilot. What would we need to get the pilot up and running?
 
Roberto Julio Azar said:
Hey Fernando! Thanks for the reply. I understand what you mean. It would be great if the agents for Dash Chat were capable of answering tech questions and also specialize in promoting Dash. I think we should think about establishing the pilot. What would we need to get the pilot up and running?
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@fernando @Roberto Julio Azar They could potentially run in tandem, if it is determined that the user needs technical help then the chat agent could direct them to create a support ticket (if that is a new thing), or to whichever resource is most suitable.

If you're going to be starting with volunteers (or very minimal compensation) in order to run a small pilot, then that might be a great way to feel out the waters without over-investing, even if the coverage or "quality" of the chats aren't what they might be if we threw more money at it. I don't think that we would have very much to lose by testing it out this way, if Roberto is willing to take the bull by the horns and really take the lead on vetting any volunteers and getting them properly informed and accountable for what they need to be doing. He may be more uniquely qualified to serve as the organizer for the chat than as a chat agent himself. If the data shows that the effort is worthwhile, then we can always scale up and allocate more resources if we need to.

It would be quite generous if Roberto were to offer to get this started with a pilot for free, but I'd also be willing to support a small budget proposal at a very small fraction of the request amount from the OP (I'm talking like 50 DASH), for his initial efforts and to have the MNs assist to make the decision about whether they want to try this.
 
TroyDASH said:
@fernando @Roberto Julio Azar They could potentially run in tandem, if it is determined that the user needs technical help then the chat agent could direct them to create a support ticket (if that is a new thing), or to whichever resource is most suitable.

If you're going to be starting with volunteers (or very minimal compensation) in order to run a small pilot, then that might be a great way to feel out the waters without over-investing, even if the coverage or "quality" of the chats aren't what they might be if we threw more money at it. I don't think that we would have very much to lose by testing it out this way, if Roberto is willing to take the bull by the horns and really take the lead on vetting any volunteers and getting them properly informed and accountable for what they need to be doing. He may be more uniquely qualified to serve as the organizer for the chat than as a chat agent himself. If the data shows that the effort is worthwhile, then we can always scale up and allocate more resources if we need to.

It would be quite generous if Roberto were to offer to get this started with a pilot for free, but I'd also be willing to support a small budget proposal at a very small fraction of the request amount from the OP (I'm talking like 50 DASH), for his initial efforts and to have the MNs assist to make the decision about whether they want to try this.
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@fernando @TroyDASH

I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of the traffic will be for technical support, however, I am also willing to be that a large portion of the visitors that will be requesting technical support will be asking basic tech questions. For this reason, I suggest that we make a questionnaire document with the 100 most FAQ and their answers. The agents will be required to know those questions and answers as a minimum requirement to participate in Dash Chat.

Also, what we could do if the visitor asks a question that is very technical, the agent could reply saying something like: ''Thank you for asking me about Dash, however, the main purpose of Dash Chat is to inform new and potential users about Dash by answering basic questions. We also answer basic technical support questions but if the question requires the attention of one of our core developers then we would like to invite you to ask your question in https://www.dash.org/forum/''

I would gladly work on the pilot for free and if we can get a few serious volunteers to cover the assigned shifts to them, then that would be a great first step in my opinion. If you'd like we can have an e-meeting and discuss the details even further on skype or google hangouts.
 
Roberto Julio Azar said:
@fernando @TroyDASH

I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of the traffic will be for technical support, however, I am also willing to be that a large portion of the visitors that will be requesting technical support will be asking basic tech questions. For this reason, I suggest that we make a questionnaire document with the 100 most FAQ and their answers. The agents will be required to know those questions and answers as a minimum requirement to participate in Dash Chat.

Also, what we could do if the visitor asks a question that is very technical, the agent could reply saying something like: ''Thank you for asking me about Dash, however, the main purpose of Dash Chat is to inform new and potential users about Dash by answering basic questions. We also answer basic technical support questions but if the question requires the attention of one of our core developers then we would like to invite you to ask your question in https://www.dash.org/forum/''

I would gladly work on the pilot for free and if we can get a few serious volunteers to cover the assigned shifts to them, then that would be a great first step in my opinion. If you'd like we can have an e-meeting and discuss the details even further on skype or google hangouts.
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I agree that many questions are pretty basic, but making that doc with 100 (or whatever number is appropriate) most used FAQs (and keeping it updated!) is a big task by itself. We are planning on doing that open so people can self help and only open a ticket as a last resource. I think that doing this without the support part solved can create new problems.
 
@fernando I volunteered to help man the support booth. As I mentioned to OP, I think we should scale back the proposal to an "occasionally" online volunteer team and focus more on a ticketing system where queries are replied in a set time frame (I suggest 24 hours). I think that this would be very manageable for a small volunteer team and would be useful to the project.

I agree technical questions would require other resources but it is likely we can handle most queries ourselves. If this doesn't work out we can shut it down in 30 days so there is little downside I think. Still, I defer to your judgement.

:)

Pablo.
 
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