Intercom introduces new messaging service to rival popular apps

Customer communication platform Intercom has overhauled its messaging platform in a bid to rival some of the consumer messaging apps.

Intercom Business Messenger, which was developed by the company’s research and development team in Dublin, will bring a new interface and support for popular functions such as GIFs and emojis. The new features have been added with feedback from customers, and include personal team-mate profiles that will bring a more personal face to interaction, multiple delivery options to minimise user disruption, and multiple message types.

“We’ve spent more time and attention on the Messenger than any other project at Intercom, and we’re really proud of what the team here has built,” said Darragh Curran, Intercom’s vice-president of engineering.

“We are helping businesses connect on a more authentic, personal and human level with their customers, enabling them to get the most out of the messaging trend. It’s exciting to see this come to fruition.”

Among the launch partners for the new service are Product Hunt, Expensify, Getaround, Fog Creek Software, and Le Parker Meridien New York.

In-app messaging

The company has been doing in-app messaging since 2011, allowing its users to talk to their customers. More than one billion end users are now reached through the platform, Intercom said.

Founded by Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciarán Lee and David Barrett, Intercom aims to help businesses to communicate directly with their customers through a suite of integrated products for teams throughout a business, including sales, marketing, product and support. The platform allows companies to communicate with customers via their own website, inside their respective web and mobile apps, and by email.

Earlier this week Facebook announced that its Messenger product now has more than one billion monthly users. The company has also been rolling out chatbots that are designed to help users buy products and services, for example, or assist with customer queries.

"There have been some incredible developments in social and messaging platforms in the past decade. Critically though, the world of business has been lagging behind," said Paul Adams, Intercom's VP of product. "Our goal with the new Intercom Messenger is to continue pushing ourselves to deliver the best business messaging product in the world, one that lets companies, and their customers, get much closer to talking to each other like people."