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Show HN: OnAir – create link, receive calls

(onair.io)
263 points bigmicro | 2 comments | 15 Nov 24 09:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.402s | source

Hello HN community,

This is bootstrapped/indie hacker-ish. Would appreciate feedback.

What it is: You create a link (e.g. onair/yourname), and anyone can call you from it. Caller uses a web browser to make the call (not dedicated app). You can create as many links as you want, and can direct calls to colleagues in a round-robin or escalation manner.

In a way, it's like the "opposite of Calendly"; whereas Calendly is about meetings in the future, OnAir is about immediate meetings.

Motivation behind it: One of our SaaS products was struggling to grow. We believed that if we provide more "hand holding" to visitors on the landing page, it will increase conversion. It's like speaking to the guy behind the counter before making a purchase. That idea/experiment, over time, became OnAir.

Feedback: Identifying the perfect use case / customer has not been easy. E-Commerce store owners, which I thought would be ideal customer profile, are not responding as expected (e.g. "why use this instead of a WhatsApp button?"). The value of branded links, round-robin, recording/transcription, lead capture, etc does not seem to matter much to them. Ideas are welcome.

1. cjmcqueen ◴[15 Nov 24 20:49 UTC] No.42150843[source]▶
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.
replies(1): >>42155630 #
2. TylerE ◴[16 Nov 24 10:15 UTC] No.42155630[source]▶
I strongly feel this should NOT be allowed, at least unless you can prove ownership of that number in the real world. Else you'll have scammers registering the number of every bank and airline in no time flat.