Show HN: 99messages, a lightweight olark/intercom alternative
99messages.com
99messages.com
The idea is that a lot of simpler "chat with us" use cases should not resort to intercom's complexity, and most other simple products really get it wrong by asking for name/email address first (rocket chat) or simply looking pretty ugly (olark). As a bonus, 99messages uses browser push notifications that work pretty decent in the non-iOS world.
Thanks for trying it out.
Let us know what you think, here or via chat at https://99ms.gs/99messages.
Edit: wording
Kudos for attacking a problem many people would consider “solved” or a “saturated market.” It’s never a bad idea to incrementally improve on existing products.
However, looking at the market for these products I could imagine a freemium model where we might charge for some extra features (chat app on phone, customization of chat widget).
I strongly believe customers should experience the magic (wha! someone just started chatting with me and now has a nice, personal experience) first and freely.
Distribution, as so often, is probably going to be the challenging part if we really want to turn this into a business. We should maybe focus on some kind of niche where such a product is currently not used or not used often. Ideas welcome :)