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Many contemporary businesses in today’s remote economy rely on scattered workforces to operate. Effective communication becomes difficult when employees are dispersed worldwide. This means a corporate messaging platform can be a useful tool for a company in today’s world.
According to a social conversational commerce report, about 60% of workers prefer using an enterprise messaging app to communicate between clients, coworkers, and bosses than communicating through separate individual emails.
Using lists, locations, and visual intelligence, an enterprise messaging app enables businesses to convey pertinent warnings and information via numerous channels to its employees. One particularly enterprise messaging app is Slack.
This article will discuss what Slack is and everything you need to know about how to build a messaging app like Slack.
What You’ll Learn In This Post
- What Is Slack?
- What Is An Enterprise Messaging App?
- Popular Enterprise Messaging App Features
- Top 3 Slack Competitors
- Under the Hood: Technical Considerations
- 4 Steps to Develop an Enterprise Messaging Messaging App
- Marketing Considerations
- Monetization
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What Is Slack?
Slack is a messaging app for businesses that allows multiple people to coordinate together. Software like Slack helps you stay connected while working from different locations. It offers flexibility and inclusivity and helps ensure all the members are on the same page while you work on a project together.
Popular Enterprise Messaging App Features
It is important to know the features needed to build an app like slack. Some popular features include the following:
Voice Notes
People may now communicate more freely and quickly thanks to voice messages. Voice messages on enterprise messaging apps are frequently chosen over text messages because they are more natural for elaborate explanations and better understanding.
Screen Sharing
Thanks to the screen-sharing feature, working on team projects from different locations is now easier than ever before. This feature allows you to view the screen of another user. You can carry out PowerPoint presentations and work on several things together while viewing the screen of the other user. It also allows you to share your own screen with the team and show them what you are working on or walk them through a new project or business plan.
Public Channels
Public channels are much like group chats. They are an excellent way to organize teams by projects. You can group your communications into different categories using message channels. This feature helps you stay organized and prevents communication mistakes and mixups.
User Invites
In enterprise messaging apps, roles control what users can see and do. There are administrative positions created specifically for those in charge of overseeing the app’s settings and account management. The administrators can send invites for people to join the specific and private channels.
Top 3 Slack Competitors
To build an app like slack, you must ensure that you know the software and its competitors, so you know the right things you need to build your app successfully.
1. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams was announced during an event in New York. The service launched worldwide on March 14, 2017. In fact, Microsoft Teams was created at their company HQ during an internal hackathon. Currently, it is led by Brian MacDonald, Vice President of Microsoft.
Some features of Microsoft Teams are:
Integrated Office 365 – Microsoft Teams seamlessly integrates Office 365. This is great if your business already uses Office 365. Apps like Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word are all accessible with Microsoft Teams.
Quick Chats – Users may instantly chat with their team members with Microsoft Teams. Do you need to write a note to yourself? In that case, Microsoft Teams lets you chat with yourself or even transfer files to your other devices.
Discussion Channels – Microsoft Teams lets users create channels divided by topic, creating less clutter. No longer will you receive messages that are irrelevant to your task. As a result, you’ll be more able to focus on your main task.
2. Discord
Discord didn’t actually begin as a chat app. In fact, it was just a feature in a game that the founders created. It came from a gaming studio managed by Stan Vishnevsky and Jason Citron. Originally, the studio created a multiplayer game with a built-in voice function to allow users to communicate.
Here are some of the features that Discord has:
Video Calling – With video calls, you can easily stay connected with everyone in your direct messages (DMs). You can join a voice channel and do video calls with each other.
Restricted Commands – These are commands from apps that may have age-restricted material. The commands can only be accessed by people 18+. This can be useful in protecting sensitive files or preventing underage individuals from seeing adult content.
Server Discovery – With server discovery, you may find communities you can join. Whether gaming, business, or fashion, Discord has various servers where people can discuss their passions and interests openly.
3. Google Chat
Formerly known as Hangout Chats, Google Chat was developed for teams and corporate sectors. However, the general public has also recently been given app access. Hangout Chats was launched on March 9, 2017. It was to replace Google Hangouts and Google Meet. On April 9, 2020, it was renamed to Google Chat.
The features of Google Chat are as follows:
Organized Messages – Users may use Google Chat in Gmail or install the app separately. The integrated tools allow users to keep track of all their communications at work and pick the right channel for all discussions.
Dedicated Collaborative Spaces – In Spaces, users may engage with their teams in discussions, share ideas and knowledge, progress on projects, create communities, and strengthen workplace culture.
Google Workspace Integration – Google Chat integrates Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Users can easily locate previous conversations and files with the help of Google’s search engine. Additionally, bots can be allowed to connect with meeting attendees and finish tasks more quickly.
Under the Hood: Technical Considerations
To build an app like slack successfully, you must know the technical considerations you will need to incorporate into your app. These technical considerations are as follows.
Message Encryption
End-to-end encryption can be utilized for all your suitable messages and any concurrent files, such as videos and images. Messages are secured using end-to-end encryption as a safety standard. End-to-end encryption stops unauthorized people from receiving eligible messages between their phones, Google searches, and other platforms.
The messages sent on an enterprise messaging app like Slack are encrypted as the data travels between devices. Generally, the data is transformed into unintelligible text by encryption, and only a private key held by the recipient can decrypt the encrypted messages.
Scalability
Scalability is an app’s capacity to support more users or customers than it did at the start of its operation. To give your consumers a positive experience, whether they double or even triple in number, scalability is one of the most important elements to consider when developing mobile apps.
Taking on too much too fast can be bad for the enterprise messaging app. It is important first to create an app with a minimum viable product and scale up as the user base expands. This helps ensure that your app is well-equipped to handle explosive growth and won’t crash because of too much traffic.
4 Steps to Develop an Enterprise Messaging App
To ensure that your enterprise messaging app is successful, you must follow these crucial steps.
1. Research
The first step in building successful communication platforms like Slack is researching your customer demographic.
In this stage, your business concept is thoroughly examined to determine the specifications that your product will need. You will need to specify required and optional features for your customer base, present market research, and check out competitors to see what their enterprise messaging apps may be lacking.
Also, you should consider the demographic of your user base. For example, if you are aiming at older people, your app’s user interface should be simple and easy to use.
After finishing this research phase, you will better understand your main goals, target audience, scope, and difficulties.
2. Design
The next step is to design the enterprise messaging app using User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) as a guide. When using an app or interacting with screens, buttons, toggles, icons, and other visual elements are referred to as UI. How good the UI is can determine whether or not users will keep using your app.
Meanwhile, UX describes your overall experience using a product, including your feelings during that experience. UX determines how well your app is developed. Is it simple and easy to use? Or is it complicated and difficult to navigate?
UI and UX are used to design an app that serves the user accurately and keeps the user invested in the app.
You will have to determine the theme of your platform, the type of logo you will use, the aesthetic you are going for, and how you would like to add your brand’s touch to the application.
3. Develop and Test
The next stage is to develop and test the app. If you do not have the knowledge to develop a mobile app yourself, it is best to get the assistance of a professional mobile app development agency. When hiring an app development agency, make sure to check out their portfolio to see if they can properly execute what you have in mind.
Once developed, testing your app ensures that the final product released to the public is not riddled with bugs. This could significantly impact the launch of your messaging app. Therefore, make sure to beta-test your app and make changes based on the feedback received from the testers.
4. Deliver and Maintain
After completing the three steps mentioned above, your enterprise messaging app should be ready for release on app stores. This could be both for iOS and Android or just one platform.
It is important to note the progress of your enterprise messaging app after its release. Check the feedback from users and use that to update your app and make it better. It is important to keep refining your app and fixing bugs.
Marketing Considerations
After you are done creating your enterprise messaging app, you will need to generate a user base through marketing.
App Store Optimization
App store optimization is the process of optimizing mobile apps to have a higher rank on an app store’s search results. Your enterprise messaging app must be well-optimized for the app store to rank higher and attract more users. The higher your rank, the easier it will be for your app to reach new audiences and the better your rating.
The following ranking factors will help your app rank higher in Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
Ranking Factors for Apple App Store:
- Name of the App
- Frequency of Updates
- Number of Downloads and Engagements
- Subtitle of the App
- Presence of In-app Purchases
- Reviews and Ratings
Ranking Factors for Google Play Store:
- Title of the App
- Download and Engagement Count
- Short and Long Description of the App
- Keywords and Fundamentals of app store algorithms
- Ratings and User Reviews
- Purchases In-app
Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is a form of free organic marketing. Users who start using the app can invite their friends to the app so they can talk on the platform. The app could have a referral scheme and invitation process offering rewards to those that share the app.
Another method is to ask users if the app can read or access their contact list and send invites out to everyone. Ensure the users that their information is safe and spam messages will not be sent to their contact when given access to their contact list.
Social Media Marketing
You can advertise your enterprise messaging app by creating social media platforms and building a presence. Posting the features of your app on your social media account and the benefits of using your app is a free and great way to market your enterprise messaging app.
You can also pay for ads on social media platforms or pay influencers to use and talk about your app.
Monetization
When creating communication platforms like Slack, there are many different approaches you can take to monetization. Here are a few monetization ideas.
Account Upgrades
An enterprise messaging app can be monetized by making users pay for an account upgrade. There could be a free version available with limited features and a premium version with multiple features that increase the overall value of the app.
Show Businesses
The enterprise messaging app can be monetized by allowing companies to advertise their business on the platform. Users can pay to have their business advertisements appear on the app as ads. Other users can see these ads as they use the app.
Charge For Emojis
The enterprise messaging app can have exclusive emojis that can only be accessed when paid for. Generally, the app could charge for app-exclusive emoji usage, either a small amount per emoji or a larger amount for a package.
Idea Maker’s Experience In Messaging App Development
Idea Maker has a team of expert app developers with the necessary experience to successfully create an enterprise messaging app that meets your requirements. We have worked on the development of apps like Quick Friends, I Am Available, Pink Avenue, and many more.
You can click here to schedule a call with us if you need a reliable enterprise messaging app development team.
