Difference between Real Time Chat, In-App Messages, Live Chat and Push Notifications
People are often confused between Real Time Chat, In-App Messaging, Live Chat and Push Notifications and use it interchangeably.
In-App Messaging:
In-app messaging (also known as in-app communication) is the act of messaging, communicating with users through a software application, either on a mobile phone or tablet device or through software on a PC.
In-app messages can include images and text, and it is expected to gain more multimedia capabilities in the future. It often includes a call to action to take users to a certain destination within the app.
Marketers favor in-app messages over push notifications for contextual content.
In-App Messaging solutions: Kommuincate, Intercom, NudgeSpot, Urbanairship, Moengage
In-App Messaging example from Intercom
Live Chat:
Live Chat is a popular term used for online chat applications designed specifically to provide online assistance to users of a website. Mostly used to provide instant help to the website visitors. Users can chat with the online live chat agents.
Live Chat solutions: Kommunicate, Zopim, Olark, Smooch.io,
Live Chat example from Zopim
Push Notification:
Push notification is a message pushed from a software application to the user’s device.
Push notification originates from the server and they only reach users who have installed the application.
Popular Push Notification solutions: Apple Push Notification Service, “Google Cloud Messaging
The new version of GCM is Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)
If you are using push notification for marketing campaign then use it wisely.
Push Notification example
Real-time chat:
Real-time chat is any online communication that provides a real-time transmission of messages from sender to receiver.
There are a number of platforms available to let application developers include the real time chat in the mobile and web apps.
Popular Real Time chat solutions: Applozic, QuickBlox, Layer, SendBird
Real Time Chat example from Applozic
We believe very soon the live chat with support agents will become outdated. Chat bots are in its nascent stage, therefore, Application to Users messaging and direct user to user chat (eg: buyer-seller, teacher-student, doctor-patient) will take over the support agent based live chat solution.
We are moving fast towards all types of communication; not restricted to one thing and with all the new creative stuff coming up every day, developers need to build scalable and reliable cross platform communication be it in the form of chat, in-app message, notifications, application to user messaging or application to application messaging with very less human interventions.
This very need led us to build Applozic which lets developers add real time communication to mobile and web apps for chat, notifications, in-app messaging, application to user and application to application messaging.
References:
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/content/15978.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-product_communication#In-App_Communication
Original source: https://www.applozic.com/blog/difference-between-real-time-chat-in-app-messages-live-chat-and-push-notifications/
