Introducing in-app polls and scheduled messages for Sendbird Chat

We are happy to announce the launch of polls and scheduled messages in our new iOS, Android, and JavaScript v4 SDKs. These new features extend the capabilities for brands and communities to engage and grow with Sendbird Chat.

Quick highlights:

• Polls: Run polls to quickly gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ and community members’ preferences.
• Scheduled messages: Trigger actions effectively and delight recipients with timely scheduled chat messages.

Let’s dive deeper into each feature.

Running polls for in-app chat

Users can now run surveys directly within an active chat conversation thread and quickly get an understanding of their customers’ or community’s opinions and needs. For brands, the benefit of creating polls does not stop at useful product feedback or market insight collection; it is also an opportunity to create easily sharable, valuable content that can increase engagement and trust by augmenting thought leadership. For community leaders, in-app chat questionnaires simplify collaboration by giving a voice to anyone in a group to effectively share their opinions and make suggestions.

It’s important to remember that, used correctly, polls send a powerful message to your peers and customers. They show that you are listening, that you care, and want to understand them better.

Polls are valuable across a variety of industries:

• Education: Polls can help teachers improve their students’ learning experience. For example, they can submit quizzes in the format of polls to gauge their students’ understanding of certain topics or assess their preferred learning styles. As a result, teachers can make data-driven decisions to confidently adjust their pace or teaching style.
• On-demand: Polls can provide food delivery companies with essential customer insights. From customer satisfaction assessment to cuisine preference, polls allow on-demand services to stay in tune with market needs and keep a competitive edge.
• Marketplace: For e-commerce businesses, polls are an effective customer engagement tool to get free product feedback and improve upon current offers. For example, Mr. Dapper, a men’s online clothing store, can ask customers which fall colors to launch for their new chino pants and create a win-win situation for themselves and their customers.
• Communities: Suppose a church is planning a banquet. The staff is excited to host the event but is unsure of members’ dietary restrictions. The organizing team can overcome this hurdle effortlessly by adding a poll to a group chat of their app and inviting everyone to select a meal that works for them.

Scheduled messages for in-app chat

Scheduled messages allow users to reach their recipients at the most appropriate time. For brands, Jonah Berger reminds us of the importance of triggers to launch a successful campaign. He calls it the “top of mind, tip of tongue” strategy. A catchy slogan such as ‘Taco Tuesday’ is an effective reminder to trigger hungry customers. With scheduled messages, the media-rich promotional chat message of a taqueria can be prepared days in advance and delivered at the best time to bring in customers and drive sales.

Scheduled messages deliver essential flexibility for copywriters who author their messages before the suitable delivery time. For teams working in different time zones, communication can be challenging, and scheduling a message within peers’ working hours is both convenient for the sender and respectful to the recipient.

Scheduled messages are a useful and powerful tool for in-app chat users. Here are a few examples of how scheduled messages have uses in a variety of industries:

• Healthcare: Scheduled messages are useful as reminders of patient appointments. They reduce no-shows effectively and ultimately drive better health outcomes. With the Sendbird Chat API, automation can easily be programmed to deliver superior patient outcomes.
• Fintech: Organizations can use scheduled messages to send customers payment reminders and notifications to keep them informed and on top of any upcoming charges. Empathetic attention prevents friction and unnecessary frustrations, driving higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
• Marketplace: Scheduled messages can take the customer experience to the next level. Programmed check-in and check-out messages at a hotel or a rental can reduce customer anxiety with critical information and delight customers with warm greetings.
• E-commerce: With scheduled messages, e-commerce businesses can increase demand before a holiday season by sending in-app promotional messages with built-in offers and click-to-buy buttons. Scheduling these messages beforehand streamlines workflows and helps to ensure a positive customer experience.
• On-demand: On-demand ridesharing companies can schedule weather forecast notifications for riders. For instance, pedestrians commuting to work may be more inclined to hail a ride when it’s raining, and drivers may be alerted about upcoming rider demand.

The convenience and programmatic nature of scheduled messages make the new Sendbird Chat feature alluring to run small campaigns and streamline communication.

Boosting omnichannel marketing with in-app chat

Polls in group chats and scheduled messages are must-haves for all companies with a digital presence. From deep insights to perfectly timed communication, polls and scheduled messages can help you grow your business by creating bi-directional communication and effective promotional campaigns.

To learn more about integrating polls and scheduled messages, please check out our docs and sign up for a free trial to start building today!

Happy polls and scheduled messages building! 💻