Show HN: 99messages, a lightweight olark/intercom alternative (opens in new tab)

(99messages.com)

13 pointsEmielMols8y ago4 comments

4 comments

4 comments · 2 top-level

chatmasta8y ago· 2 in thread

Nice landing page and the chat looks good. Is this meant to be a paid business? I do not see a pricing page (I’m on mobile).

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.

EmielMolsOP8y ago

Currently it really is a (free) experiment, not a viable business.

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 :)

DigitalNomadFC8y ago

As far as a niche. Any stats on how many websites don't have chat?

EmielMolsOP8y ago

Hey folks, this is a small (couple weeks) project spun out of another chat product we're building.

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

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

4 comments

4 comments · 2 top-level

chatmasta8y ago· 2 in thread

Nice landing page and the chat looks good. Is this meant to be a paid business? I do not see a pricing page (I’m on mobile).

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.

EmielMolsOP8y ago

Currently it really is a (free) experiment, not a viable business.

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 :)

DigitalNomadFC8y ago

As far as a niche. Any stats on how many websites don't have chat?

EmielMolsOP8y ago

Hey folks, this is a small (couple weeks) project spun out of another chat product we're building.

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

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse