Mobile messaging is eating the world!

Tired of trying out new messaging experiences yet? Sick of reading news on new messaging apps being launched (check out Bebo if you haven’t yet!), funded (Inbox), or acquired(Tinychat)? Heard too many “it’s like Whatsapp, or Snapchat, except…” style pitches? I believe we’re just getting started.

Here’s why the messaging space is bound to see more innovation & growth:

The “address book”: Mobile messengers (like Whatsapp) piggy backing on your phone address book has meant that messaging brought in a whole new user base into its fold — even a vegetable vendor in India who has never had an “email id” is now on a smart phone data plan just to message with his friends and customers! No need to build a new social network!

Communication Native to Mobile: Asynchronous messaging has emerged as the truly native communication experience on mobile — not even phone calls. Messaging is low friction, non-intrusive, works at your own pace, and is perfect for multi-tasking. It’s not just the teens anymore who are texting away. Lets face it, messaging is convenient!

The Sheer Numbers: Over a billion users across the globe love and use messaging apps. Whatsapp handles over 64 billion messages in a day. LINE, Kakao Talk, Whatsapp, WeChat, Telegram, BBM (oh I miss you!) have all over the years proven how we are addicted to this simple and light weight form of communication. Users are also adopting and using group messaging, voice messaging, stickers, etc., and there’s probably even more innovation that will be accepted.

There’s even more to explore! : The differentiated experiences built upon this style of communication are exploding. Think security(Telegram), anonymous messaging (anonyfish), ephemeral messaging (Snapchat), localized (Hike), Yo (sorry, couldn’t slot it), Ethan(aren’t you on PH yet?), userid/handle vs phone number based networks (twitter DM vs Whatsapp), in-game messaging, meeting new people vs. stay in touch with close network, etc. Not to forget bolder exploration built on the core messaging experience like Talko or Knock as well.

It’s getting even better: The messaging experience is so critical that the platforms are taking note and working on bettering it. iOS8 allows you to respond to an interactive push message right from the notification, we are seeing new smarter ways of responding emerge (predictive keyboards, voice to text), and the new form factors of computing also seem to give prime importance to messaging experiences (e.g.: this was a prime use case demonstrated on Apple Watch).

And It’s invading all walks of life!!
It’s a hands down winner over email and phone calls in personal communication.
We’re also increasingly messaging our business contacts (“HEY LinkedIn. Y U NO HAVE MESSAGING APP??”)
It is actively taking over how organizations communicate internally: Slack, GroupMe, and more informally even Whatsapp are used by internal teams in organizations to co-ordinate work and communicate.

What next you ask?

Here are some areas where messaging will likely see more traction this year:

User<-> Machines:

“Hey Siri”, is basically you messaging with your iPhone.

We should soon be messaging other devices — message with your DVR on new recordings or for resolving conflicts, message with your smart home or kitchen appliances, etc. As IoT takes off, won’t it be natural for a messaging layer to be the communication interface between us and our “things”?

User <-> Software:

Messaging could be the preferred interface to interact with software too, especially from the mobile. Software teams today are integrating github, asana, calendar, and other tools with their team messaging software such as slack. There are promising start-ups working on solving this better (I’m rooting for this!)

Business <-> User:

My favorite example — a mobile-only product like Uber sends me email today for their marketing offers, and fare updates & announcements (probably lands in your Gmail promotions inbox). If I need to reach them, my only options are twitter or email.

This is going to change! We will all be soon messaging back and forth with the businesses we engage with — airlines, service providers (telcos, financial services, healthcare), ticket booking services, food ordering apps, and in general anyone you are transacting with!

Marketing and CRM for an increasing number of big and small businesses will move from email to messaging. Here’s some how this shift has started to happen already:
* Path introduced messaging with businesses in their new app Path Talk
* Haptik in India built its app just to allow users get support from businesses through messaging and has seen good validation
* My own start-up Konotor bets on engaging users through powering a rich messaging inbox for commerce apps for marketing and CRM. We reach over 9 million users, and see that 5–10% of MAU of some of the apps we work with want to message with the businesses they transact with.
* “Ethan” and “Ethanifier”(see here) are a thing now. There is huge interest from small business owners (who don’t even have apps today) to engage with their customers through messaging — to just be more reachable, to offer support, or for announcements and offers.

It is pretty clear that email and phone calls will be replaced as marketing and support channels by messaging. Interestingly, the small business owners, and less skilled like plumbers and carpenters in India are already on Whatsapp, actively engaging with their customers. Big organizations though, are still coming to terms.

So are you getting your business “messaging ready” yet?