Many companies in various business sectors are already practicing bot and messaging technologies. These technologies are used to assist in personal online banking, hotel and tickets booking, managing insurance benefits, providing internal support, responding to customer requests, personal messaging, and even improving cybersecurity technologies.
What is Expected to Happen in 2020-2025?
Chatbots and messengers are expected to move from simple user queries to more advanced predictive analytic conversations in real-time. 47% of organizations will use chatbots for customer service and 40% will develop virtual assistants. Chatbots will change the internal communication of the company staff as well as the way companies communicate with their customers. Some of the common use cases are customer service, potential customer generation, customer interaction, messaging applications, personnel management, etc.
Messaging platforms as a growth driver for chatbots
68% of consumers claim that messaging is the most convenient way to stay in touch with the business. Messaging platforms allow companies to revive their approach from improved branding to enhanced customer service. Besides, it improves communication and engagement among the personnel. Over time, more and more brands will use messaging platforms to increase customer interest and loyalty, as these platforms will have rich bot capabilities and an integrated approach with various business functions.
Instant messengers
Messengers allow not only to exchange messages and funny stickers with friends or have business correspondence with colleagues. Nowadays, a key feature of popular messengers is that they have billions of active users, and this audience should not be ignored. People communicate with each other every day and spend a lot of time on WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Skype, or Hangouts. In 2020 instant messengers are only gaining in popularity. They give us many opportunities: communication with customers on behalf of the brand, public accounts, chats, newsletters, and channels. Besides, many services help to organize the workflow, and Linksmanagement is one of them. “Follow our tips to improve your website step-by-step, to finally arrive at the sky-high sales rates and profit” – Linksmanagement service that helps you to manage any difficult process. They will answer every question that you struggle with. The most popular is “ how to build a reliable SEO strategy with the app” or “ where to buy real backlinks”, and so on. The main thing in the internal and external work processes is not to forget about the quality and another trend – personalization.
Despite a difficult year in the media spotlight, Facebook still dominates the messaging industry. In the first place, quite expectedly, is WhatsApp, with one and a half billion users registered. In China, WeChat and QQ share over 1.8 billion users.
The global messaging space remains as fragmented as ever. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger lead in the US, Africa, Australia, and most of the Middle East. While their competitors such as Viber, WeChat, Line, and Telegram maintain their position in countries such as Russia, China, Japan, and Iran. The market of instant messengers is growing every day, therefore, marketers and entrepreneurs need to know about relevant tools and trends of this fast-changing market.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger – chat for communication within the social network Facebook that does not require constant authorization. The program is free and automatically synchronizes the contact list from the personal page of Facebook. The user receives notifications about comments, meetings, or alerts from friends. It has an intuitive interface.
The service provides written communication, voice messaging, as well as the possibility of attaching stickers and emoji, sharing photos and videos, making video calls, and creating group conversations. There is also a secret chat option, with the ability to set a specific message storage time, after which all messages disappear. You can make electronic payments, although this function is available only if a bank card is issued in the US.
Pros:
- encryption option;
- bot support;
- the ability to disable notifications;
- geolocation definition;
- message viewing confirmation;
- Secret Chat function and self-deleting messages.
Cons:
- always run in the background;
- data confidentiality issues;
Facebook Messenger isn’t the most user-friendly but can be named one of the most popular messengers. Facebook Messenger is perfect for Internet services in which the target audience actively uses Facebook and Instagram. So, according to Jenny Rose, communications manager at Photza Retouching, conversion after switching to Facebook increased by 17.3%.
Pinngle Safe Messenger
Pinngle is a secure mobile messenger with free voice calls, HD video chats and channels. Their top priority is security and accessibility. The messenger was created in 2016. The core value is privacy and protection. User-to-user encryption and serverless architecture provide security. No third parties included. Governmental structures cannot receive data from your correspondence or calls. Only the sender and receiver can access the conversation. All this you get by default as a Pinngle user.
Pros
- Pinngle does not store or sell user data;
- Enjoy high-quality and free voice and video calls even on 2G networks;
- Public channels;
- Find and share unique content through Pinngle channels;
- Communicate and collaborate with loved ones, friends, and employees without interfering in chat rooms with thousands of people;
- Share location, voice messages and files of any type and size.
Cons
- better to use for private messaging;
- always run in the background.
Hangouts
Hangouts is a Google calling and messaging app. There is a function of archiving information, all photos from chats are uploaded to online albums, correspondence is stored on servers which can be accessed from any device. The service is used for confidential correspondence, exchange of information and files, organization of corporate communication, and video conversations. The program shows whether your message has been read. There is synchronization with Google+ and Gmail, you can add Google Voice, Emoji emoticons, stickers and animations, pictures, and geolocation position. You can organize chats for up to 100 people.
Pros:
- group conferences up to 100 people;
- Google Voice;
- history storage on the server;
- Integration with Google+ and Gmail.
Cons:
- somewhat complicated interface;
- a small number of users;
- image compression.
Skype
Skype is a program that is great for communicating with colleagues and friends. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Pocket PC platforms, and there is also a mobile application. It supports instant messaging and file sharing. Besides, it is possible to create video/audio conferences with friends or remote employees in real-time.
In the program, you can simultaneously correspond in several chats, create a group or individual chat rooms. Calls within the program are free. You can set up the call and message forwarding to your phone. There is also an option to forward files and store message history.
Pros:
- free calls and video conferencing;
- group chats and video calls;
- screen sharing during a call;
- offline messaging;
- bot support.
Cons:
- does not determine geolocation;
- poor synchronization when used on different devices;
- no templates;
- no proper encryption.
iMessage
iMessage is a service for sending short text messages on Apple devices for free. It is built into every iPhone and Mac by default. Apple has created a messaging platform, which consists of complex constituent elements, and they are connected by a non-trivial logic of work. Besides, the program is in the constant pursuit of the safety of the transferred user data. Although, it is worth noting that the complexity of the implementation didn’t affect the product itself. It has a minimum of settings, it is simple and convenient to use.
Pros
- integrated into every iPhone and Mac;
- sending messages in safe mode;
Cons
- directly binds your phone number to ID;
iMessage may well claim higher positions in our hit parade, but alas, only iPhone owners can appreciate its functionality.
You can learn more about other instant messengers that are not included in our comparison. Don’t forget that technology doesn’t standstill. Next year, some new daredevils might break into the messenger market with something truly unique and worthy, but this will be a completely different story. In a constantly evolving world, we should be aware of any new technologies released.
