Haptik

helping people connect with companies since 2013

[hellohaptik]

The call of Ryan Block trying to get his Comcast service disconnected is a great example of how frustrating traditional customer support can be.

Now, that made us think what if this was to happen in India? How would the conversation go? Well, we had to find out, so here you go :)

[hellohaptik]

Help 102: "I don't get network on my phone"

More than 3 months into Haptik, our experts have now handled >200,000 messages for 170 companies across 12 categories. Out of all this, one of the most common queries we are faced with is "I am not getting network on my phone, please help me." There is nothing more annoying than dropped calls, failed calls, missed calls, basically no calls. Given the network congestion in India and lack of rapid infrastructure development, this problem is not going away anytime soon. So, here below are a few things you may want to try next time the bars drop below 2. 

1. Turn Airplane Mode On/Off

The classic network sucker strategy. When you turn airplane mode on, the phone turns of all connectivity to cellular and WiFi networks. Turning it back on after about 30-60 seconds means it starts looking for networks again from scratch, which means it could potentially find you signal from a fresh tower or opened up space. This is a tried and tested strategy across many Haptik users and highly encouraged. 

2. Select the Network "Manually"

The default setting on phones is to select the cellular network automatically based on the SIM card and closest available cell tower. However, you can also choose a particular operator's network manually. Just go to phone settings, and select "Manual" for network selection, and choose your particular network. This kick starts the network selection process and can help you connect to a fresh cell tower.

3. Check if area specific only

If you are having network problems consistently only in one particular area, while everywhere else is fine, then it may be an issue isolated to that area only. This can be due to lack of cell towers or excess congestion in the vicinity. To check if that's the case, just ask friends/neighbors in that area if they are facing the same issue with the same operator. If yes, then unfortunately there is not much that can be done. You can submit a complaint to the operator along with a list of all phone numbers not getting any reception, and the operator will expedite your request for a booster or cell tower.

If your friends are getting reception and the operator is different, then you may want to consider switching operators. If your friends are getting reception and the operator is same, then it may be a deeper issue with your SIM card or device.

4. Reload your SIM Card

If the issue is not area specific and is related to your device only, try removing the SIM and after waiting for a few minutes, reloading it. This, similar to airplane mode, cleans up the system and starts looking for cell reception afresh. 

5. Try another Device

To isolate the issue to your device, load the SIM in another device and see what happens. If it works, then you know its an issue with your device. If not, then it may be an issue with the SIM card.

6. Replace your SIM Card

If you are the only one that is facing the issue in your area, and the same behavior is seen on multiple devices, then this is probably a problem with your SIM card. It is highly discouraged to use "cut" SIM cards, as they tend to get faulty soon. Please get the right size SIM card directly from your operator instead of cutting it. 

To get a new SIM card, you will have to go to the operator's store with ID and documentation, and buy one. 

7. Check downdetector.in

There is a really cool website http://downdetector.in/ that allows you to check reported outages for all major service providers on a map across the country. A yellow or red circle indicates there has been a recent outage in that particular area, which may be causing the problem. 

At the end of the day, there is only so much you can do. If the networks just don't exist, your best option is to pray to the cell tower Gods for quicker infrastructure changes.

Or you can always just keep bugging the Haptik experts, they are always here to help you out no matter what :) 

[hellohaptik]

Help 101: Everything You Wanted To Know About EMV (PIN) Enabled Credit/Debit Cards

The Haptik app enables you get instant help for everyday questions related to various products and services. However, we realize that there are several topics which cannot be solved just via mobile messaging. Its like you can WhatsApp your friends for most things, but a longer discussion about something more complex will require a phone call. Keeping that in mind, and with our mission to provide help for all types of cases, we are excited to introduce "Help 100": a series of long form blog posts that will feature one topic every week, and provide all information you would ever care to know about it. We hope you find it useful. 

This week's topic is the recent introduction of EMV enabled Credit/Debit cards in India, and why you need to take the pain of entering a PIN each time you order a drink. 

What is EMV?

EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, which is a global standard for operating chip cards, where the primary purpose is increased security for all types of transactions.

Why do we need it?

EMV chip card transactions improve security against fraud, compared to traditional magnetic stripe card transactions. This is because the latter only rely on the holder's signature and visual inspection of the card to check for authenticity. The chip means each time you have to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN), resulting in a more secure payment mechanism. It reduces the probability of skimming, i.e., copying of personal data from the information stored on the card. 

When did this start in India and what are the rules?

Reserve Bank of India has advised that with effect from 1st July 2013, only EMV chip cards will be allowed for any international transactions. Non EMV enabled cards will only will be restricted for usage in domestic ATMs, domestic POS terminals and Indian Websites, even though the card may say "International Debit Card". 

How do I get one?

For customers who have used their card at least once for an international transaction, the banks are in the process of replacing their existing magnetic stripe cards with EMV Chip cards. By now, most of these replacements are complete. 

For customers who have never used their card for an international transaction, and consequently have not automatically received an EMV enabled card, you will need to get in touch with your bank to apply for one.

And of course, Haptik can help you get in touch with your bank and through the process until you are secured. 

What if I don't want to get one?

If you have ever made an international transaction, then you don't really have an option. The banks have to compulsory replace all the older cards. 

If you are still holding a non-EMV card and have not made an international transaction, you can continue to hold it until the RBI makes it mandatory for all types of cards to be EMV enabled regardless of transaction type. In any case, given the high level of security these bring, it is highly recommended you get one as soon as possible. 

I have my EMV chip card but not my PIN.

The APIN on your card is dispatched in a packet separate from your card to your official bank billing address.

If you have not received your card APIN, or have forgotten the same, you can login to the net banking portal of your bank and request for a new APIN through the "Other Card Services" section. The APIN would be dispatched within 5-7 working days. Alternatively, you can also call or visit the bank.

Anything else I need to know?

EMV cards have received some criticism due to the inconvenience of having to enter the PIN each time. While that is understandable, this has been common practice in Europe for years now, and the additional layer of security they bring is worthy enough to get used to this new way of transacting. So, don't be lazy and get your EMV chip card immediately if you haven't already done so. 

For anything else on this topic, just Haptik it :)

[hellohaptik]

College Admissions Driving You Mad? Presenting MADMISSION, in Association with Flat.to.

Haptik's goal from the day we started has been to provide "a better way to get help" for products and services. We often internally talk about what this means, and what this can be extended to. There are so many problems in the world which Google does not have straightforward answers to, so much unstructured data where its more convenient to get a human to answer to. As such, we like to think of Haptik's goal being more broad in helping users with many types of complex issues. And so, every now and then, we will select events or topics that are a pain to get information on, and Haptik experts will provide help with them. We did this during the General Elections where we were able to get you information on poll centers, timings, ID proofs, etc. And now, we are very excited to present MADMISSION: Your chat guide to everything about college admissions. 

There are 573 universities in India, consisting of about 33,000 colleges, and each of them having multiple streams and degrees. In most cases, there is no standardized procedure for application and no easy way to check on important dates, cut off marks, etc. So, during this college admission season, given the convenience of the Haptik platform, we felt we should do something about it. And that's when we found a partner in Flat.to. The company's goal since it started has been to make students' lives easier by providing them a convenient platform to find accommodation. They understand students' pain points better than anyone else, and believe the admission process is one of the biggest ones. 

So, the two of us have decided to join hands together and help you navigate this complex path of getting into your favorite college. Just download the Haptik app, and send a message to the "Haptik" handle. Good luck! 

[hellohaptik]

Milestone 1.0.5: Little Steps

This post is written by Raveesh Bhalla (@raveeshbhalla), our Lead Engineer and Interaction Designer.

It's about 9 months since Aakrit and I had a call where he first told me his vision about Haptik. And to be honest, I wasn't overly enthusiastic. "Why not just tweet to the brand you have a problem with? Or, alternatively, why not just E-mail them?"

Having just shut down my own startup where I felt I had built a product that people loved, but just couldn't remember to use, I was worried that Haptik aimed to be yet another medium of communication in a world where there already were too many.

However, having known Aakrit for a few years, I had this nagging feeling that I'm not seeing the entire picture if he was excited about it. I knew that there was something inherently wrong with the status quo, and that I desperately wanted it to change. I had to make a choice.

I chose the red pill.

This brings us to today, when we released our first functional update to our app. There are two key elements to it, the first being our new My Companies section, and the second something I rather uninspiringly call Smart Actions.

As the title says, these are little steps. However, I'm enormously excited that I can finally share them with you.

My Companies

My Companies is quite straight forward, yet something that is a little awkward to implement. At it's most basic level, it is a bookmarking feature that allows you to point out which companies you, as a user, care about, and have the app give them greater emphasis while navigating.

If you have been with us from our beta days, you'd remember being able to do so by favoriting a company. An issue we recognized back then was simply calling the feature "favorites" led to people marking a multitude of companies they liked, but never particularly communicated with. Additionally, it led to a lack of discovery of other companies.

We knew this feature was important prior to our launch, by when we had north of 100 companies being shown to the user. However, we made a decision not to include it in the very first build until we got it absolutely right. Version 1.0.5 sees us take the first big step in accomplishing that.

My Companies has been designed to help you navigate faster through the app when you need to, yet ensuring you can easily find a business that you haven't marked earlier. Over time, My Companies will evolve as we understand how users are using the feature.

Smart Actions

Till not too long ago, whenever someone asked me why would a business choose Haptik over a popular messaging app, I failed to give a very reasonable answer. I knew in my heart that solving the customer service conundrum required building a platform that was dedicated to it (hence why social media and E-mail don't work well). I however failed to put up a very strong argument with the lack of users to back it up.

The amazing response we've received in the past month to month and a half has pretty much strengthened our beliefs. And, more important, inspired us to think beyond the limitations of a regular messaging app. Spending some time reflecting on how we can innovate, I came upon a very important realization: the core user experience of Haptik is always going to be in our hands.

What I mean by this is that for any other app, once it is in the hands of users, there isn't much you can do to assist them. You can create product tours, add tooltips and give detailed tutorials. You can also attempt to tailor your UX based on context, which is better than nothing but still imprecise.

On Haptik, on the other hand, we are in this unique position where we're part of the app's experience, via our agents. After all, they've installed the app to talk to us! This gives us a tremendous opportunity to tailor the UX as per the user's current needs, essentially taking out the margin of error that exists in contextual interfaces.

For example, if a user asks one of our agents how to turn off the notifications within the app, we don't have to point out that the settings can be access from the left drawer, we have the ability to actually offer them a button in the conversation that can take them there. Similarly, if we want to get our users to share the app with their friends, we don't have to tell them from where they can do it: just put it right in front of them, decreasing the friction that could have prevented them from doing it in the first place.

No other messaging app can really do this, since in those cases the developers and the agents aren't actually working next to each other. Additionally, these are features that benefit our customers, whereas for a WeChat or a Line, the core user base would remain those using it for social reasons.

Haptik 1.0 might not have felt very different from a regular texting app, but over a period of time, as start rolling out our key elements, the real value of our system would become clearer.

[hellohaptik]

Top 10 Customer Support Issues in India

At Haptik, one of the things that's fascinating for us to see is the type of questions people ask and their biggest pain points. After about 20 days of the service being live, we thought why should Haptik experts be the only ones having all the fun? So, presenting below are the 10 most frequent queries based on >60,000 messages processed across 11 categories and 135 companies. Modi, Rahul and AK - please take note. 

1. I don't get network in my area

All of us have thought about doing this at least once in our lives. Unfortunately, the solution to this problem is not straightforward. Just hope and pray to the mobile operator Gods for more cell towers. 

2. How do I improve my phone battery life?

Probably the single biggest problem in the world today. Like more than the food crisis or water shortage or the Israel-Palestine conflict, someone should go find a solution for this. We've found a couple of resources that can maybe help improve the current state of things.

Android: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57611106-285/five-settings-that-increase-battery-life-on-android-4.4-kitkat/

and http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/12-android-battery-life-tips-and-tricks-697772

iOS: http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

3. What is the baggage allowance on my flight?

One day there will be a world where we can can all fly private and don't have to worry about commercial airlines and their rules. But until then, please don't pack more than what they allow. Or be prepared to pay extra.

For most Indian domestic carriers, the allowance is one check in bag up to 15 Kgs + 1 carry on hand bag + 1 small personal item such as a laptop or purse.

For foreign flights, the allowance is more ambiguous and depends on where you are traveling. Some will allow you to carry up to 2 checked in bags + 2 hand bags.

4. How do I activate DND?

When you are waiting for that call or message from a special someone, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing the phone ring and hearing "Sir, main ICICI bank se baat kar raha hoon. Aap ke liye humare pass special offer hai." Activating DND (Do Not Disturb) with your mobile operator will ensure you do not get these telemarketing calls or SMS. For most operators, you just need to send an SMS with a shortcode to activate it.

5. Online shopping: where is my order?

Its Friday - that awesome shirt you ordered last week was supposed to be with you by now so you can wear it to that big party on Saturday. Not to worry - most eCommerce sites in India now have updated tracking systems where you can just go on their site, enter your order number and see real time status of your order.

6. What is the best mobile plan for me?

Local, STD, data, SMS, roaming, Offnet, Onnet - choosing a mobile phone plan is a complex affair. And even after you go through all the permutations, combinations, offers, packages, you still feel you're not getting best bang for the buck.

7. Online Shopping: I need to cancel an order.

Cancelling/exchanging/changing orders that you place online can be quite a task depending on the merchant and what stage your order has reached. Which is why please don't order anything which you are not sure of - think of it like how you would shop offline.

8. What are the requirements to open a bank account?

Even though a number of banks now offer the ability to sign up for accounts online, its still a long and time consuming process that requires several sets of paperwork.

9. My cable box is showing No Signal

Okay sure this is not what it looks like any more. But nothing is more annoying than when it shows "No Signal due to bad weather" right when the last over of the match is about to start.

10. Food delivery: what are the current offers?

Coupons and offers are supposed to be cool and make life simple. However, with every restaurant looking to entice you to order from them, there are so many different offers out there that it can be hard to make sense of it all and know what to order.

Fortunately, we now have Haptik to help. Download now for your Android or iOS device!

[hellohaptik]

The Haptik 10 Day Scorecard

Haptik has been an idea we have been working on for more than 2 years, and to see it finally go live last week was a big moment for us. The response we have received has been unbelievable, we did not expect this in our wildest dreams. Here we are excited here to share some initial data from the first 10 days of the service being live. 

[hellohaptik]

Say Hello to Haptik

Its more than 2 years since the idea of Haptik was first born, and on this 31st day of March 2014, it gives us immense pleasure to introduce the product to India. The app is now available on iOS & Android, so please go get it and let us know what you think. Official press announcement below. 

In a recent survey we did on mobile app marketing, it was found that the #1 way in which users find out about apps is through "word of mouth". So, the only way we are going to be successful is if you, our users, share it with your friends and help spread the word far and wide. Thank you for your continued support, and watch this space for more. We're just getting started. 

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The future of customer support, mobile app HAPTIK launches today 

31st of March, Mumbai - After immense amount of popularity in its beta phase, Haptik - India's first and only mobile phone application for convenient customer support launches today across Andriod and iOS platforms. Addressing some of the most common yet grueling issues of customers at large, Haptik is a free to download application made available with easy-to-use features and an option of over 100 brands to create conversations with.

Haptik is a Smartphone app to chat with experts for support, information, and almost anything else. Think WhatsApp, but instead between users and support specialists. Haptik enables you to send messages to their in-house experts, and get responses instantly - just like texting a friend! The nerve wrecking wait is now over as Haptik gets queries answered or situations resolved with ease.

Co-founded by Aakrit Vaish (Former Director, Flurry, India) and Swapan Rajdev; Haptik is a revolution in the digital space resolving a very basic, relevant and inherent problem that stemmed from the lack of any cohesive solution available. With so much innovation on all fronts, these two tech-buffs wondered why customer support was still in stone-age. So, if you're wondering what Haptik is all about, here it is breaking it down -

To begin with the app will launch on both the iOS & Android platforms with roughly 100 brands you can get customer support for, 

From over 20 agents (available through the day); Haptik promises a solution to your query in less than 4 minutes 

With every agent having an identity, you would be making conversation and not dealing with an automated bot 

"Today messaging is the most used function on mobile, more than phone calling itself. The asynchronous nature makes it ideal for getting support as opposed to dealing with a call center. We've spent about a year getting the product ready specifically for the Indian market, based on feedback from thousands of beta users. Now we look forward to everyone in the country using it." - Aakrit Vaish & Swapan Rajdev

Haptik is an ambitious yet logical step into your world of endless problems. With a superlative design interface the application is also one of the best designed apps to come out of the Indian Market for Indian Consumers.

[hellohaptik]

The Pain of Customer Support Today

The idea of Haptik was born out of a personal need - it should not be this hard to get help and support for my services. Over the last 8 months, while the product has been under development, we have been constantly validating the business case with input from industry experts, surveys, interactions with users on Twitter, research, popular media, etc. basically whatever we could get our hands on. Today, on the eve of the product launch, we are excited to share some of this information with you in the below infographic. Check it out, feel free to share, and oh, in case you haven't already, mark your calendars for Monday, 31st March for the Haptik India launch across iOS & Android. 

[hellohaptik]

@hellohaptik has now helped >2,000 Users

The Haptik app launches at the end of this month, but the "service" has been live for the past few months. How you ask? Well, on everyone's favorite public bitc*ing channel Twitter! Our in house experts have been intercepting Tweets sent out to brands, with the goal of getting back with a more timely and accurate response. We have now helped >2,000 users across various categories and its exciting to now see people directly reach out to us instead of the brand. Below are some examples of conversations we have been having. So, follow @hellohaptik, send us your queries and we'll be there to help. 

We're humbled by such responses and hope to take it to another level when the app launches on 31.3.14. In the mean time, sign up, follow, and help spread the word!

[hellohaptik]

Save The Date: 31.03.14

The last couple of months for all of us here at Haptik have been a period of learning. Understanding what you want, the pain points, usage behavior on Device Help, problems faced by companies, call centers, etc. just a tonne of information retrieval. Based upon such insights from thousands of consumers, hundreds of industry professionals, and ultimately our personal ambition to have a better way to get help with companies, we are excited to announce the forthcoming launch of the flagship Haptik app in India. It will be available starting 31.03.14 on Google Play and the iTunes App store. You can sign up on the new Haptik website, which also launches today, to get notified when its live and we will send you an SMS with the download link. 

What is Haptik?

It is a smartphone app to chat with company experts to get support, information, concierge and anything else for their products and services. Think WhatsApp, but instead between you and a company expert. 

Who am I talking to? Who are these experts? 

You are talking to Haptik experts, people who have worked with these companies before or have used their products extensively to know what they are saying. Some of them are directly employed by us, while others work as volunteers because they want to help and share their knowledge. You are not directly talking to these companies, but instead people who know them inside out and can help you in a better way. 

What about response times?

The average response time to each message received is going to be between 1 to 4 minutes. We have collaborated with enough experts to handle any kind of load we receive on launch day, and will staff up over time as needed.  

What types of companies can I get help for?

Almost all that matter. We are going to support over 200 national brands on launch day across the following categories, and will be adding more over time.

Airlines

Banking

Consumer Electronics & Appliances

Cable/DTH

Fast Food & Delivery (national chains only)

Heath & Wellness

Insurance

Online/E-Commerce

Retail (national brands only)

Wireless & Telecom

How is all of this totally free?

Haptik and all related services will be completely free, and we don't have plans to charge users any time soon. Our business model down the line will be through some form of advertising, and by helping companies directly connect with their users.

Availability Details

It will be available starting 31.03.14 in India only on Google Play and the iTunes App stores. You can sign up on the Haptik website to get notified when its live, we will send you an SMS with the download link. 

Do let us know if you have questions/thoughts/feedback over the next few weeks as we get ready for prime time. And please do help spread the word to make others lives easier too. 

Looking forward.

[hellohaptik]

Introducing Device Help

Today we are very excited to officially launch the first app from the Haptik umbrella - Device Help. We just pushed it live on the iOS App Store a few hours ago: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/device-help/id760076884?ls=1&mt=8.

We will have an Android version on Google Play within the next 48 hours. All of this so you can survive Thanksgiving tech support, and instead focus only on that Turkey.

                                                   What is Device Help?

It is an app to chat with device experts for tech support, tips, tricks, and anything else to get help with your smartphones, tablets, computers and consoles. Think of it like Haptik, but only for electronics companies. 

Why only electronics?

One of the things we learnt as part of our private beta is that we cannot support everything from Day 1. We need to focus on a certain vertical, become great at that, and carry on from there. Tech support is a big need, and we wanted to launch it in the holiday season given the increased demand during this time. 

What about Haptik?

Not much changes. We have a vision that ultimately all customer support will happen over mobile messaging and Haptik is the platform that will make it happen. Device Help is a precursor to what Haptik will ultimately become. 

Who am I talking to? Who are these experts?

You are talking to Device Help "experts", people who have worked with various electronics companies before or have used their products extensively to know what they are saying. Some of them are directly employed by us, while others work as volunteers because they want to help and share their knowledge. You are not directly talking to these companies, but instead people who know them inside out. 

How is all of this totally free?

Device Help and all related services are completely free, and we don't have any plans to charge users for what exists today. Our business model down the line is through some form of advertising, and by helping companies directly connect with their users.

Availability Details

The app is currently available only in the US and India. We will add support for more markets over the next few weeks. 

The last few months have been an amazing ride going through the ups and downs of getting a company off the ground, and we'd like to thank everyone who has helped along the way. We are really excited for people to start using Device Help, and please help us by 1) rating it in the App Store, and 2) spreading the word so others' lives can be made easier too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[hellohaptik]

The Haptik teaser video. Because we go into beta today :)

[hellohaptik]

Hello. We Are Haptik.

After more than a year of ideation, prototyping, iterating and prototyping again, we are excited to officially announce our new company, Haptik. We have been full time on the venture since August, and the product will soon be in private beta on both iOS and Android. Besides the two of us, there is Harish, who has been instrumental in shaping the product over the last year, and now helps with design and marketing. Miten has been a friend and adviser all along, helping think through various aspects of the business. Raveesh joined us recently as our in house specialist on Android, and interaction design in general. And then we have a couple of amazing interns helping with a little bit of everything.

So what is Haptik? It's actually quite a simple idea.

Haptik is a smartphone application that allows users to chat with companies and their experts over messaging.

You download the app, pick a company from the preloaded list, and send a message. Company representatives or Haptik agents will receive the message, and send a response. Conversation continues. 

Welcome to the future.

What does this mean for you, the user?

●     No more calling and waiting on the phone for an agent

●     No more calling and talking to an agent

●     No more searching through websites, FAQs, social media, forums

Why are we doing this?

We hate calling companies. We hate dealing with support agents who can barely comprehend, forget resolve. Its 2013, over 2 decades of using the Internet, but still a pain to find what would seem trivial information on companies and services. In a recent infographic published by Shankman Honig, a customer service consultancy based in New York, only 8% of customers believe they experience "superior" service from companies. The same report said that 73% of support today continues to remain voice even with the proliferation of online chat and social media. In a survey we did while researching this area, 95% respondents came back saying they "hate" calling companies and businesses.

On the flip side, messaging is the #1 category of smartphone apps by usage today, even more than calling. Because texting is asynchronous, recorded, and so much more fun. You send a text, and go on doing whatever else you were doing until you get a response - that really makes it so much more convenient.

So, it just seemed like a natural fit for a service like Haptik to exist. We believe it is the right opportunity for us, given our combined skill set across mobile product, analytics, user acquisition, customer service and CRM development.  

We look forward to sharing more as we come along. In the mean time, for a chance to get early access to the app, sign up here or let one of us know and we'll add you to the list. We only have a limited number of spots for the beta, but will try and get it to as many of you as we can. 

Thanks for your support so far, and watch this space for more.

Aakrit & Swapan

[hellohaptik]

We Are Just Getting Warmed Up

Watch this space for more.