Friday, July 31, 2020

Contactless Assistance Ideas for Re-opening

Pam Sessoms 9:02 AM

Are you and your colleagues brainstorming ideas on how to help guests while maintaining social distancing when your building re-opens? LibraryH3lp can help with that! On the heels of curbside service initiatives, we've heard from lots of customers interested using in LibraryH3lp for contactless assistance within the building. Here's what we've seen others do...

Leverage on-site public access computers

If you provide on-site public access computers or loan out laptops or similar devices, you can leverage them for contactless communication with your staff.

Draw Attention to Contactless Assistance with the Desktop Wallpaper

Advertise texting and/or regular phone numbers.
Advertise chat options.
Draw the eye to a desktop shortcut that launches your chat service.
Try to place the shortcut someplace where the user is least likely to cover it up once they have applications such as the web browser running on the computer.

Example desktop screenshot showing wallpaper for a library with contact information and a special chat shortcut.

Desktop Shortcuts that Launch a Browser

Detail of wallpaper and desktop shortcut to chat box

OK, so what web page do you send guest to with a desktop shortcut? So many possibilities...

If you'd like to keep it simple, make a shortcut that launches your chat box directly, using a simple chat box URL, with or without an offline contact overlay.

If you happen to use Chrome on your public computers, you can make a special shortcut for Chrome that adds additional variables onto the shortcut's target and opens the chat box in a small window in a specific area of the screen. If the guest has previously launched Chrome and activates the shortcut, Chrome will open the chat box the regular Chrome workspace as a new tab.

Some places opt to create a dedicated web page for use from in-building computers, and they use this dedicated page as the default home page for web browsers on the public computers. These special pages can feature contact information including the chat service.

Advertise QR Codes that Guests Scan on their Phones

Guests can chat with staff using their phones as as they wander around the building. No need for a desktop or laptop computer! Guests either text their question (if you have the LibraryH3lp SMS add-on module) or use the mobile-friendly LibraryH3lp chat box which doesn't require the SMS add-on module at all.

Now for the sprinkles on top! Make it super easy for guests to chat by providing a QR code that either launches the guest's texting app or links them to your your mobile-friendly chat box URL. You'll want to print and post the QR code in strategic spots around the building. You can even include the QR code on computer desktop wallpaper as described above.

Example QR code for the
LibraryH3lp tech support chat box

Mobile-friendly chat box for phones

Something else?

If you have other ideas for including LibraryH3lp in your contactless workflow but aren't sure how to tackle, please contact support@libraryh3lp.com. LibraryH3lp has a flexible API and chances are that we can help make your vision a reality.