7 ms·

Show HN: Chatlio – Live chat with your web visitors directly from Slack

136 points by johne20 11y ago

dannylowney 11y ago
Nice!
lumberjack 11y ago
What are you using as your chat engine? Ejabberd or something else?
- johne20 11y ago
  Our backend is written in golang and frontends React/Raw JS.
nswanberg 11y ago
Cool. It's patio11's chat thing turned in to a product: https://twitter.com/patio11/status/682430323905282048 https://twitter.com/patio11/status/682430323905282048 I don't mean this as a dismissal in any way--if this works as advertised I'd much rather show this product to a client than have them goad their developers into trying to build and maintain a feature spec'ed on a (to them) random person's tweet.
- johne20 11y ago
  Thanks! We have iterated on this for over 1.5 years, and worked out a lot of kinks associated with these types of integrations.
HorizonXP 11y ago
When a visitor messages us, does it start a new channel, or are they given a temporary user on Slack?
- johne20 11y ago
  Good question. Each visitor gets a dedicated channel. It makes it easy to respond back to them. When conversation is ended, we archive the channel. If they ever come back we unarchive it and you have previous chat history.
  - pimlottc 11y ago
    How does it identify the user when they come back?
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - dvdplm 11y ago
      We store a UUID in their browser and send that along so if they chatted before we un-archive their previous channel to give the Slack operator all the context.
      - michaelmior 11y ago
        Is there any way to get/set this UUID so I can allow the user to use the same channel if I have my own way of identifying them?
        johne20 11y ago
        This is in the works. We will provide a way for you to "sign" a request with a userId, so we can guarantee you set the id, and not someone else.
  - HorizonXP 11y ago
    Awesome. I wanted to build this for ourselves, but I'll just sign up and use your product. Great job.
  - fiatjaf 11y ago
    It's nice to read about people using other apps as primary interface to their own. And all the quirks they are forced to do to make it work. I run this small email-helpdesk<-->Trello app [1] and I thought I was the only one trying to come up with the best ways to map features from what Trello has builtin to what my app needs. Users sometimes find it awkward, but in the end it works very well. [1]: http://boardthreads.com/ http://boardthreads.com/
seyz 11y ago
Trendy kind of app. e.g. https://www.talkus.io https://www.talkus.io :-)
- seyz 11y ago
  Discover one more: https://slaask.com/ https://slaask.com/
  - johne20 11y ago
    We (Chatlio) like to think we started the trend ;) But verify that with the wayback machine. :) And if imitation is a form of flattery, we are very "flattered" by these. But in all seriousness, before you install a Slack App, make sure to verify how much permissions they request. We at Chatlio strive for asking for as little permission as possible. If some feature requires more, we ask for that on an as-needed basis after signup.
thoughtpalette 11y ago
Glad to see another competitor in this space! Looks to be a great product.
creamyhorror 11y ago
Definitely a needed sort of product; my congratulations to the team. A non-Slack alternative: I was looking for this feature, but wanted to move my company away from Slack to one of the free chat platforms like Rocket.Chat, Mattermost, Zulip, etc. So I researched, and found that only Rocket.Chat has its own version of this live-chat feature (though no doubt much less mature). I'm looking forward to switching over to Rocket.Chat soon (I have no affiliation with them). https://rocket.chat/ https://rocket.chat/ https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/519 https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/519 Hope this helps folks out there looking for live-chat integration options. It's pretty cool to be able to chat with potential users directly from company chat!
- kordless 11y ago
  I spent a bit of time talking to the Rocket.Chat peeps. Good stuff.
- jay-saint 11y ago
  Thank you for sharing this we are currently looking at alternatives to our current live chat. This could be a great choice.
- ibarreto 11y ago
  Any particular reason why you want to move away from Slack?
- kauaian 11y ago
  DISCLOSURE: I actively contribute to the MIT source licensed Rocket.Chat project. Just chime in to say thank you for all the support! And that we are actively improving this live-chat feature, taking advantage of the fact that we have 100% control on the server-side. This is what we have planned for the near future - please feel free to add your wish list: https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/1842 https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/1842
propter_hoc 11y ago
This is truly awesome and I'd love to become a user. How might you recommend integrating video calls? We do KYC checks of clients and sometimes need a brief face-to-face.
- redox_ 11y ago
  We're currently using it on algolia.com; works like a charm!
- dvdplm 11y ago
  We'd love to look closer at that (and will). There are rumours about Slack itself working on something similar, and then there's the screenhero acquisition a year back, but nothing definitive yet. DISCLOSURE: I work at Chatlio EDIT Slack has some recommendations on this: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/208492868-Making-voice-and-video-calls https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/208492868-Making-vo...
schappim 11y ago
Anyone made an open source version of this?
- aaronkrolik 11y ago
  not open source, but I pretty quickly built a version of this a few months ago. The chat box submits to a lambda which puts the message on SQS. App consumes sqs and puts in DB (for durable storage) and posts to slack room. Responses are then sent via pusher back to the chat box (a react component)
- joeyspn 11y ago
  There's this... looks like a nice starter boilerplate.. https://improvi.github.io/slack-chat/ https://improvi.github.io/slack-chat/
_AllenStone 11y ago
I use this for one of my companies, and getting ready to roll it out on my second. It's worth every penny.
cdolan92 11y ago
I set up chatlio over 5 months ago for my business. I do not have enough positive things to say about it. We close over 20% of our Chatlio conversations. Here are other highlights: - Took me under 5 mins to sign up and have this running on our entire site. They use a good CDN, because adding it to our site has had no noticeable increase in page load times. - Highly accessible. Chatlio leverages all of the notification features built into slack. I couldn't ask for more. Our entire team had access when it was set up, without needing to create new accounts, or log into another site on yet another Chrome tab. - Great customizations. Check their site for full details, but coloring, language, and contextual stuff (what to say when there is no attendant, etc) is super easy to work with. - John (the lead at Chatlio, I believe) has been nothing but helpful. When I asked for help making the chat appear on a 10 second time delay, he had the code back to me in less than 20 mins. I was impressed. - They are already making great updates. They recently launched a 'take screenshot' feature, message editing, and have reporting and operator rating features in the pipeline. My company struggled with implementing and making a profit center out of live chat functionality. Chatlio has been fantastic. Its worth every penny. If you want to see a live implementation, ours is here: http://sequoiawaste.com http://sequoiawaste.com. I'll be hanging out chatting with people who are interested for the next hour or so.
misiti3780 11y ago
awesome idea
jxm262 11y ago
This reminds me a bit of Prudio http://www.prudio.com/ http://www.prudio.com/ Saw that project on the old assembly site (was a cool idea).
NikolaeVarius 11y ago
Any plans for something similar for hipchat?
- johne20 11y ago
  We are constantly taking demand for other platforms. Hipchat being one of the most popular ones. Check my profile for my email to send us a message so we can get you on the list to be notified when we make changes.
asadlionpk 11y ago
I really love the idea. Though we currently use Intercom and would be hard to move from it. I really want this integration in Intercom (and I am sure they will do this soon). So you might want to plan on how to tackle them.
elwell 11y ago
Now let me embed the widget in my app?
surds 11y ago
This is very awesome! Is anyone aware of something like this being available for commenting services like Disqus which are used on blogs? It would be nice to manage replies through Slack, as a lot of time is already spent there.

136 points by johne20 11y ago

dannylowney 11y ago

Nice!

lumberjack 11y ago

What are you using as your chat engine? Ejabberd or something else?

johne20 11y ago
Our backend is written in golang and frontends React/Raw JS.

nswanberg 11y ago

Cool. It's patio11's chat thing turned in to a product: https://twitter.com/patio11/status/682430323905282048 https://twitter.com/patio11/status/682430323905282048 I don't mean this as a dismissal in any way--if this works as advertised I'd much rather show this product to a client than have them goad their developers into trying to build and maintain a feature spec'ed on a (to them) random person's tweet.

johne20 11y ago
Thanks! We have iterated on this for over 1.5 years, and worked out a lot of kinks associated with these types of integrations.

HorizonXP 11y ago

When a visitor messages us, does it start a new channel, or are they given a temporary user on Slack?

johne20 11y ago
Good question. Each visitor gets a dedicated channel. It makes it easy to respond back to them. When conversation is ended, we archive the channel. If they ever come back we unarchive it and you have previous chat history.
- pimlottc 11y ago
  How does it identify the user when they come back?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - dvdplm 11y ago
    We store a UUID in their browser and send that along so if they chatted before we un-archive their previous channel to give the Slack operator all the context.
    - michaelmior 11y ago
      Is there any way to get/set this UUID so I can allow the user to use the same channel if I have my own way of identifying them?
      - johne20 11y ago
        This is in the works. We will provide a way for you to "sign" a request with a userId, so we can guarantee you set the id, and not someone else.
- HorizonXP 11y ago
  Awesome. I wanted to build this for ourselves, but I'll just sign up and use your product. Great job.
- fiatjaf 11y ago
  It's nice to read about people using other apps as primary interface to their own. And all the quirks they are forced to do to make it work. I run this small email-helpdesk<-->Trello app [1] and I thought I was the only one trying to come up with the best ways to map features from what Trello has builtin to what my app needs. Users sometimes find it awkward, but in the end it works very well. [1]: http://boardthreads.com/ http://boardthreads.com/

seyz 11y ago

Trendy kind of app. e.g. https://www.talkus.io https://www.talkus.io :-)

seyz 11y ago
Discover one more: https://slaask.com/ https://slaask.com/
- johne20 11y ago
  We (Chatlio) like to think we started the trend ;) But verify that with the wayback machine. :) And if imitation is a form of flattery, we are very "flattered" by these. But in all seriousness, before you install a Slack App, make sure to verify how much permissions they request. We at Chatlio strive for asking for as little permission as possible. If some feature requires more, we ask for that on an as-needed basis after signup.

thoughtpalette 11y ago

Glad to see another competitor in this space! Looks to be a great product.

creamyhorror 11y ago

Definitely a needed sort of product; my congratulations to the team. A non-Slack alternative: I was looking for this feature, but wanted to move my company away from Slack to one of the free chat platforms like Rocket.Chat, Mattermost, Zulip, etc. So I researched, and found that only Rocket.Chat has its own version of this live-chat feature (though no doubt much less mature). I'm looking forward to switching over to Rocket.Chat soon (I have no affiliation with them). https://rocket.chat/ https://rocket.chat/ https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/519 https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/519 Hope this helps folks out there looking for live-chat integration options. It's pretty cool to be able to chat with potential users directly from company chat!

kordless 11y ago
I spent a bit of time talking to the Rocket.Chat peeps. Good stuff.
jay-saint 11y ago
Thank you for sharing this we are currently looking at alternatives to our current live chat. This could be a great choice.
ibarreto 11y ago
Any particular reason why you want to move away from Slack?
kauaian 11y ago
DISCLOSURE: I actively contribute to the MIT source licensed Rocket.Chat project. Just chime in to say thank you for all the support! And that we are actively improving this live-chat feature, taking advantage of the fact that we have 100% control on the server-side. This is what we have planned for the near future - please feel free to add your wish list: https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/1842 https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/1842

propter_hoc 11y ago

This is truly awesome and I'd love to become a user. How might you recommend integrating video calls? We do KYC checks of clients and sometimes need a brief face-to-face.

redox_ 11y ago
We're currently using it on algolia.com; works like a charm!
dvdplm 11y ago
We'd love to look closer at that (and will). There are rumours about Slack itself working on something similar, and then there's the screenhero acquisition a year back, but nothing definitive yet. DISCLOSURE: I work at Chatlio EDIT Slack has some recommendations on this: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/208492868-Making-voice-and-video-calls https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/208492868-Making-vo...

schappim 11y ago

Anyone made an open source version of this?

aaronkrolik 11y ago
not open source, but I pretty quickly built a version of this a few months ago. The chat box submits to a lambda which puts the message on SQS. App consumes sqs and puts in DB (for durable storage) and posts to slack room. Responses are then sent via pusher back to the chat box (a react component)
joeyspn 11y ago
There's this... looks like a nice starter boilerplate.. https://improvi.github.io/slack-chat/ https://improvi.github.io/slack-chat/

_AllenStone 11y ago

I use this for one of my companies, and getting ready to roll it out on my second. It's worth every penny.

cdolan92 11y ago

I set up chatlio over 5 months ago for my business. I do not have enough positive things to say about it. We close over 20% of our Chatlio conversations. Here are other highlights: - Took me under 5 mins to sign up and have this running on our entire site. They use a good CDN, because adding it to our site has had no noticeable increase in page load times. - Highly accessible. Chatlio leverages all of the notification features built into slack. I couldn't ask for more. Our entire team had access when it was set up, without needing to create new accounts, or log into another site on yet another Chrome tab. - Great customizations. Check their site for full details, but coloring, language, and contextual stuff (what to say when there is no attendant, etc) is super easy to work with. - John (the lead at Chatlio, I believe) has been nothing but helpful. When I asked for help making the chat appear on a 10 second time delay, he had the code back to me in less than 20 mins. I was impressed. - They are already making great updates. They recently launched a 'take screenshot' feature, message editing, and have reporting and operator rating features in the pipeline. My company struggled with implementing and making a profit center out of live chat functionality. Chatlio has been fantastic. Its worth every penny. If you want to see a live implementation, ours is here: http://sequoiawaste.com http://sequoiawaste.com. I'll be hanging out chatting with people who are interested for the next hour or so.

misiti3780 11y ago

awesome idea

jxm262 11y ago

This reminds me a bit of Prudio http://www.prudio.com/ http://www.prudio.com/ Saw that project on the old assembly site (was a cool idea).

NikolaeVarius 11y ago

Any plans for something similar for hipchat?

johne20 11y ago
We are constantly taking demand for other platforms. Hipchat being one of the most popular ones. Check my profile for my email to send us a message so we can get you on the list to be notified when we make changes.

asadlionpk 11y ago

I really love the idea. Though we currently use Intercom and would be hard to move from it. I really want this integration in Intercom (and I am sure they will do this soon). So you might want to plan on how to tackle them.

elwell 11y ago

Now let me embed the widget in my app?

surds 11y ago

This is very awesome! Is anyone aware of something like this being available for commenting services like Disqus which are used on blogs? It would be nice to manage replies through Slack, as a lot of time is already spent there.