The "dream" Marsha described
"What would be cool and easier for them to generate the rental agreement would be if the rep could come in to the right school, to the right instrument, to the right... you know, that's step one, two, three. These are the items that you're gonna need, and then get to that fourth digital where they have the rental agreement that they could sign right then and there... if they both had the visibility to say, 'Okay, now you see this, just go ahead and sign.'"
— Transcript 28:00–28:38
The goal: CSR walks the family through the rental workflow step-by-step while the family can see the same information, and then signs the agreement in that same session — eliminating the email-and-wait step. Three technical paths get us there, each with different tradeoffs.
A
Live Co-Browse Session
Highest-fidelity, highest-cost
ComplexityHigh
Cost envelope$$$
Timeline~8–12 wks
How it works
CSR creates a session and sends the customer a join link. Both parties see the same live browser view of the rental wizard; CSR drives while customer watches and ultimately signs in-session.
Pros
True shared experience matches Marsha's vision exactly.
Customer gets to ask questions while seeing their own info.
Agreement signed in-session — no "did they get the email?" gap.
Cons
Requires a real-time sync layer (WebSockets or a co-browse SaaS like Glance / Surfly).
Customer needs a device, a browser, and stable internet during the call.
Ongoing SaaS cost if we use a vendor; significant build effort if we custom-build.
Best for: high-touch CSRs, tech-comfortable customers, non-busy season.
B
Deep-Link Handoff (Pre-filled)
Balanced
ComplexityMedium
Cost envelope$$
Timeline~4–6 wks
How it works
CSR fills the wizard in Mega Tool while on the phone. When done, system generates a secure link that opens the customer's browser to a review-and-sign page with all fields pre-populated. Customer can adjust limited fields (e.g., billing address), then signs.
Pros
Lets CSR drive the complex parts and customer handle signature.
Works with customers on low-end devices or flaky internet.
Mostly reuses the signing-link flow from Deliverable 1 (v2).
Cons
No real-time shared view — if customer wants to change school mid-flow, CSR has to redo.
Customer signs after the call ends (unless they're also online during the call).
Best for: busy season, efficiency-driven workflows, mixed tech-literacy customers.
C
Preview-and-Sign Simulcast
Lightest-weight
ComplexityLow
Cost envelope$
Timeline~2–3 wks
How it works
CSR fills the wizard in Mega Tool. As the CSR types, a customer-facing "preview URL" refreshes (via polling every ~5s or on CSR save). CSR texts/emails the URL to the customer before the wizard is done. Customer watches their agreement take shape. When CSR clicks "Send to Sign," the preview link converts to the signing link, and customer can sign immediately while still on the phone.
Pros
Delivers most of the "dream" feeling (customer sees it as CSR builds).
No WebSockets / SaaS / custom protocol — just stateful URL + polling.
Graceful degradation: if customer can't open the link, flow falls back to regular email-and-sign.
Cons
~5 second lag in the preview refresh (not truly "live").
Customer can only view, not interact — can't correct their own typos in-session.
Best for: a first iteration that proves the concept without committing to a SaaS or a full co-browse build.
Orases recommendation: Start with
Option C (Preview Simulcast) as the first production iteration. It captures ~80% of the "dream" experience (customer sees the agreement forming in real time) at ~20% of the cost of a full co-browse, and it's additive to the
Deliverable 1 flow — we don't throw it away if Q&F later wants to upgrade to Option A. If the preview proves valuable in practice, Option A becomes a clearer case for the investment.
Open questions for Marsha and Nicole
These decisions shape scope, timeline, and which option we build. None require a commitment today — they drive the estimate.
1
Do CSR and customer need a truly live shared view, or is "within 5 seconds" close enough?
Context
Marsha described a shared-visibility experience. The difference between truly-live (Option A) and near-live (Option C) is the difference between a custom co-browse build and a much simpler poll-refreshed preview page.
Why it matters
Truly-live dramatically increases complexity and ongoing cost (potentially a SaaS license). Near-live is something we can build in a few weeks. For the narration-style guidance Marsha described ("These are the items that you're gonna need"), 5-second lag is likely invisible to the customer — but that's an assumption we should verify with Nicole who actually does these calls.
Transcript 27:58–28:38
2
Should the customer be able to interact (edit fields) during the session, or only view and sign?
Context
Options A and B allow customer interaction; Option C is view-only until the sign step. Marsha's description leans view-only ("now you see this, just go ahead and sign"), but Nicole may have opinions based on customer behavior.
Why it matters
View-only is simpler and safer — no risk of customer overwriting CSR's work mid-session. Interactive is more "modern CX" but adds conflict-resolution logic (what if CSR types while customer is typing in the same field?). Most B2C flows that do shared sessions are view-only for exactly this reason.
Transcript 28:07–28:38
3
Does the customer sign during the call, or is "sign later" acceptable?
Context
Marsha's payoff: "they could sign right then and there... while we've got them on the phone, just get it closed." But today Nicole doesn't force in-call signing — she usually hangs up and customers sign from email later.
Why it matters
If in-call signing is essential, Options A or C are stronger (customer can sign live). If "sign later" is fine, Option B becomes competitive on cost/simplicity. Worth asking Nicole: of her current web-order customers who receive SignNow links, how many sign within 15 minutes vs. hours later?
Transcript 27:19–27:39
4
Budget envelope — is there a cost ceiling we should design to?
Context
Devin told Marsha this "might be able to do something for less than you might think" and committed to coming back with an estimate.
Why it matters
Without a ceiling, we'll size all three options and let Marsha pick. With a ceiling, we can narrow to the feasible options and design within constraints. If the ceiling is clearly below Option A pricing, we can rule it out upfront and save everyone discussion time.
Transcript 29:55–30:07
5
What does "signed in-session" mean legally for electronic signature compliance?
Context
Today, SignNow provides the compliance envelope (audit trail, timestamps, IP, email verification). If we're doing in-session signing in Mega Tool, we need to make sure our own signature capture meets the same standard for IL / IN / MI rental agreements.
Why it matters
Our Mega Tool signature capture should already be handling this for the current e-commerce flow, but we should confirm our audit trail (IP, timestamp, identity verification) is sufficient for these state-specific agreements before we commit to moving away from SignNow as the signing engine. For EMA, 1st Chair, and Opus packages, SignNow stays either way (out of scope for this phase).
Transcript 25:14–26:02; Q&F Notes.pdf #4