One face on every device your customers carry

Hosted by Mr. NetShow.

Think about the last ten people who found your business online. One was on an old phone with a weak signal, standing in a car park. One was on a laptop at work, between two meetings. One was at home on a big, fast computer. They all came to the same website, and they all wanted the same thing: to be looked after.

A NetShow live avatar is a face that talks on your website. It greets every visitor by voice, answers from what you teach it, and walks them to the next step. This post is about one promise on our live avatars page, headed "One face, every device". The same avatar meets every visitor, on whatever they have in hand.

Why the device matters

A face that moves has to be drawn somewhere. Many talking avatars are streamed from a server, like a video call, and the companies that host them bill by the minute. A streamed face also needs a good connection to look right.

A NetShow live avatar works the other way round. It is drawn by your visitor's own browser instead of streamed from a server. So an hour on screen costs what a minute costs: nothing. That is why we can say the face runs at $0 a minute.

Drawing the face in the browser raises a fair question. Browsers run on very different machines. A face that looks lovely on a new desktop could stutter on a tired phone. So the avatar does not ask every device to do the same work.

Three devices, three faces, one avatar

Here is how the live avatars page puts it, word for word:

• A slow phone gets a light text face that still talks.
• A middling phone or laptop gets a face drawn in ink.
• A strong computer, like a recent Mac, gets the full 3D face.

Nobody has to choose. Your visitor's phone or computer picks the fastest look it can run, so a small phone still gets a face that moves smoothly. You do not build three avatars, and your visitor does not have to know any of this is happening.

The slow phone

This is the visitor most websites quietly lose. The page is heavy, the video will not load, and they give up. Here they get a light text face, and it still talks. For someone on an old phone, being answered matters more than polish.

The middling phone or laptop

A middling phone or a work laptop gets a face drawn in ink. It sits between the light text face and the full 3D face, and it is still the same avatar with the same answers.

The strong computer

A strong computer, like a recent Mac, has power to spare. That visitor gets the full 3D face, and it is still the same avatar.

What stays the same

The avatar underneath does not change. The live avatars page offers eight looks with one voice. Whichever face a device draws, it is your avatar, with the answers you taught it, pointing to the next step you chose.

It also behaves the same way on every screen. It speaks first: the hello is there before your visitor types a word. It is voice first and hands free, and the microphone opens only when a visitor presses Talk. The browser asks the visitor's permission before the agent can hear them. The NetShow voice is included with every avatar.

What it costs to run

The face is drawn on the visitor's device, so the running cost does not grow with the size of the screen or the length of the visit. The page says it plainly: you pay for your agent's thinking on your plan, never for its face being visible. The same holds on the biggest screen you own. Full screen on a TV, a kiosk or a projector, it is still $0 a minute however long it runs.

FAQ

Do I have to build a separate avatar for phones?

No. You build one avatar. Your visitor's phone or computer picks the fastest look it can run, so a small phone still gets a face that moves smoothly.

Will a visitor on an old phone still hear it?

Yes. A slow phone gets a light text face that still talks.

Does the 3D face cost more to run than the text face?

No. Every face is drawn by your visitor's own browser instead of streamed from a server, so an hour on screen costs what a minute costs: nothing. Your agent's thinking runs on your plan.

Does it listen to my visitors all the time?

No. The microphone opens only when a visitor presses Talk, and the browser asks their permission before the agent can hear them.

Try it on the device in your hand

The best test is the device you are holding right now. Open our live avatars page on your phone, and then again on your laptop or desktop. Read the eight looks, press Talk and ask our host anything about live avatars. Then picture your own customers: the one in the car park, the one at work and the one at home. Each of them would meet the same face, drawn the way their device can draw it, greeting them by voice.