Another Irish startup has thrown its wares into the in-app messaging ring. After working with and developing its product alongside a number of enterprise customers, Dublin-based Converser opens up to mobile developers today with an in-app communication platform that can be incorporated into iOS/Android apps to provide two-way communication with users — real-time chat, marketing messages, polls, feedback, and click-to-call — supported by what’s being described as a “self-learning” CRM system, and analytics.
The company is also announcing that it recently closed a seed round of $1.2 million led by Lough Shore Investments and Enterprise Equity, with support from Enterprise Ireland.
The idea behind Converser is to enable companies via their own mobile apps to learn more about and better target customers as well as “appify” customer communication. This includes advertising, direct marketing, and customer support, which would typically be conducted by post and over the phone, thus something like Converser can potentially produce significant cost savings.
Claiming utility companies, banks, and insurance companies as existing customers, today Converser is opening up the platform to any developer via an SDK for Android and iOS, as well as launching on the StackMob marketplace. It’s free to use for a limited number of app users or if all you require is in-app user feedback/support. However, for anything more, the service is priced from $0.02¢ per monthly active user for unlimited messaging.
Underpinned by its “self-learning” CRM, which enables individual custumer insights related to an app’s usage and any in-app communication (e.g. ‘Nick Jones, male, 38, married, lives in Santa Clara, active in-app last week’), as well as broader customer segmenting, is what Converser calls its in-app “conversation engine”. This supports a range of two-way interactions, including updates, offers, polls, tickets, questions, competitions, in-app chat, and lead generation forms. Setting up any of these, once the SDK has been incorporated, is likened to creating a PowerPoint presentation. In other words, it’s fairly non-technical.
As expected, a full suite of analytics is provided, too. This means that engagement levels can be tracked per “conversation” and to measure ROI per marketing campaign.
In fact, on the direct marketing side, Converser appears to have some crossover with Dublin and San Francisco-based Swrve, whose in-app direct marketing platform lets mobile games developers, or anybody making or responsible for marketing an app, to send in-app marketing messages to users on a targeted and measurable basis.