Messaging programs: 5 chosen for you, and features

Choosing the best messaging programs is essential to improve the responsiveness of your contacts and reduce response times. Interactions with customers, school groups, and daily friendliness are essential to developing high-quality communication. Relationship management goes far beyond responding to precise immediate needs. It is necessary to implement loyalty strategies in which the interlocutor feels valued and respected thanks to short response times to notifications and the easy exchange of content.

What Is A Messaging Program?

An instant messaging app is a program or application that allows the connected Internet user to communicate in real time with people from an already pre-established contact list. The software informs the user of the online presence of address book components and allows them to send and receive text, audio, and video messages and attachments.

The messaging programs’ graphical interface allows the ability to customize the App with one’s own photo and a specific status that can be permanently changed. Furthermore, a real-time notification service informs the user of receiving a message or other content. From a technical point of view, sending texts, or other types of files, is based on a client program that connects to a messaging server.

To download or subscribe to the right messaging software, evaluating the platform’s security and handling of sensitive data is always necessary. Instant Messaging chats shorten distances and interaction times, which is why they have proved to be very useful for improving communication at work, internally between colleagues, and externally with customers.

You need to know how to evaluate the most secure messaging clients to protect metadata and know how to preserve downloaded assets so they are not deleted. Some software uses an E2E (end-to-end) encrypted system in which only the two interlocutors in contact can intercept the exchanged contents. This is very useful to avoid intrusions and improper data acquisition on the network.

The most extensive IM (Instant Messaging) companies that have taken hold in Italy are undoubtedly WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger; however, in a few years, the Telegram company has established itself, both at a corporate level and a friendly and playful level.

The data speak of 32 million Indian users for the first App, to drop slightly to 23 million users for Messenger, and observe the exponential growth of Telegram, which boasts more than 400 million users worldwide.

What Is Messaging Software Used For?

Messaging apps are nowadays a reflection of everyday life. Just take a look at the software download platforms to realize the amount of options available. Instant messaging improves communication, and when applied to business, it can help increase sales and deliver excellent customer service in real-time. Messaging programs speed up the exchange of information and multiply relationships.

They help optimize home deliveries, perfect online purchases, make appointments, and shorten geographical distances between users. Furthermore, the fact that the best messaging software is free allows anyone in private or working life to maintain relationships in real-time and at no cost. The customer can establish a direct relationship with his favorite brands in the business sector, while companies can use the App to develop effective marketing strategies.

Unlike the old Telephone Customer Assistance, instant messaging eliminates waiting and frustration. Avoid communicating on many different channels, such as sending documents by email. With this agility of exchange, the costs of Customer Service are also significantly reduced.

It is also possible to send photos and advice on using your products or demonstration videos to increase the potential buyer’s interest. The communication strategy that can be implemented through messaging programs is always successful because the user does not have to leave his comfort zone to exchange information, making him more receptive to the subject matter.

How Messaging Programs Work

Messaging programs are needed to send and receive information in private and professional communication. To understand how a messaging client works, it is necessary to analyze the various protocols used for the exchange. They will be responsible for sending, receiving, and storing electronic messages.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) ensures communication between messaging servers and allows them to be transferred. It has a dubious reputation for letting a lot of spam through the net.
Receiving a message, or another type of file, via the POP (Post Office Protocol) protocol allows detection on the server and offers the possibility of consulting notifications even offline.
The IMAP protocol (Internet Message Access Protocol) acts differently from POP since the synchronization between the server and your computer, tablet, or smartphone is permanent. Messages and emails are stored in total security to be consulted from any device.
For the user to exchange messages with his contacts is very simple, but the underlying technology of messaging software is more complex than it seems.
A message is transferred to an SMTP server or Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) before sending.
The outgoing server is responsible for transporting the written, audio, or video content to the recipient’s MTA.
The protocol transfers the message to an MDA (Mail Delivery Agent).
Whether POP or IMAP is used, the incoming content server stores the message until detected by the recipient.

The Advantages Of Using Messaging Programs

The extreme simplification of WebMails services allows immediate use of the platforms but does not offer any extension. Messaging programs, on the other hand, offer numerous features requiring minimal learning. These accessory functions applied to Instant Messaging allow you to save time and create personalized consultation folders.

The most significant advantage of messaging software lies in the possibility of sending text, audio, video, or attachments even if the device is not connected to the Internet. The clients upload the messages to the PC or smartphone, contrary to WebMails, which reads the files recorded on the server.

Access to information, even offline, allows you to work or communicate even during long journeys by train or plane. Another strong point of messaging programs is the default that makes the messages loaded only located on the device. In any case, if you want to keep communications, you can change the configuration.

The instant messaging clients’ excellent notification responsiveness is another valuable advantage; thanks to visual or sound alerts, it is possible to check incoming messages regularly. Messaging apps and email management are functional for increasing productivity and optimizing platform customization. Downloading a messaging app on a PC or smartphone has many benefits:

Customize: applying different functions to the instant messaging service to optimize the client according to one’s convivial or work needs is possible.
Safeguard: messages and e-mails can be accessed even during a device breakdown. The client saves the contents to be sent that can be retrieved on the PC’s hard disk.
Productivity: a messaging program can optimize the production organization chart. It is possible to decide which priority contents must pass first (snoozing), organize specific folders, and integrate the platform with ad hoc services for the intended use.
Local storage: thanks to the instant messaging client, emails and messages are not only stored locally. Contacts and folders are also stored; if you migrate to another messaging software, it will be easier to transfer sensitive content.
Network absence: even in connection loss, the messages downloaded to the client’s server remain intact until the Internet network is restored.

How To Choose Messaging Programs: Advantages And Features

Maintaining constant interactions with clients, friends, or school and family groups is vital. Maintaining good quality relationships builds customer loyalty and conviviality; both will feel valued and respected, becoming receptive to the content of existing messages.

Choosing good instant messaging software is essential for the optimal management of Customer Service, which will be able to respond immediately, analyze user behavior, and predict future sales. Improving company responsiveness and drastically reducing search times are the main advantages of a messaging app. The parameters to choose messaging programs are:

Ease of use and configuration, with an intuitive and ergonomic interface.
Support POP and IMAP protocols.
Manage several email accounts at the same time.
Interact with different address books and mailing lists.
Have tools to manage mailing lists, signature lists, and acknowledgment notifications.
Be Open Source, i.e., free and available to everyone.
Work cross-platform with equivalent compatibility for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Messaging program features offer unheard-of user experiences until recently; even the graphical interfaces of the best clients are increasingly pleasant and easy to use. Some messaging software has tenfold interaction capabilities; for this reason, they are not free but require a license or subscription purchase. Depending on use, they provide advanced features intended for professionals or specific operating systems.

Costs And Limits Of Messaging Programs

When you have to choose the most suitable messaging app for your use, you need to shed light on several factors:

It is used for recreational or business use
What operating system the installation device uses
How much content do you need to send or receive
It is used for chat, notifications, or marketing
Open Source (free) or Premium (paid).

The costs of messaging programs are negligible; in many very valid Apps, they are equal to zero. For example, even for business use, Messenger is free and allows you to reduce personnel costs in the pre-and post-sales assistance sectors. Some software is only free for the first months of trial; subsequently, it is necessary to subscribe to a subscription which can vary from 3.90 Euros per month up to 5.99 always per month.

There is an excellent choice of free and free messaging software; however, the free Apps have some limits regarding the visibility time of the files uploaded to the personal work area. You can generally search documents, audio, video, and PDFs for only three months; only with an upgrade to paid software will you have access to the entire history of personal content.

The retention period of data uploaded to the platform is also restricted in free messengers. It is only possible to hold messages and files for a few months in the free plans. In the Pro paid plans, however, the configurations can be extended, and you can also choose to keep specific chats. The limits of free Instant Messaging software also concern the space related to installing Apps and integrations.

Many programs allow the insertion of up to 10 Apps, which can be eliminated to be integrated by other updated versions. It is possible to overcome the restrictions of messaging clients by subscribing to Premium subscriptions for a few monthly euros. Thanks to the Pro plans, the user can enjoy many benefits:

Have countless chats identified with separate folders
Increase the aesthetics of photos and videos thanks to fonts and extended captions
Double the available GB limit compared to free software
Follow a vast number of channels
Access to continuously updated GIFs, emojis, and stickers
Elimination of advertising
Optimization of bugs.

Five Messaging Software: Which Ones To Choose In 2023

Telegram is a messaging software solution offering extensive features: group chat, audio and video files, photo, video, and archive sharing. Among its advantages of use, the speed of interaction stands out. The encrypted security of the client also optimally protects your files against hacking attempts. The minimalistic interface allows for easy navigation, even for newbies. The cons of Telegram reside in the lack of popularity it enjoys among families, schools, and convivial groups.

Signal

Experts and world government organizations see the Signal messaging app as the most secure. It is free software compatible with iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. It has open-source code, self-deleting messages, primary data storage, and password security. It presents almost no vulnerability risk, even if the account is tied to the user’s phone number. The developers of the Signal client are constantly working to ensure the protection of sensitive data.

Zendesk

Zendesk is one of the most established providers of messaging apps; it offers a range of exciting features. The platform allows you to manage customer data and assets excellently and to extrapolate personalized customization experiences from purchasing behavior. Content security is also guaranteed; the graphical interface is immediately simple but becomes more sophisticated in the premium subscription plans. Still, it’s worth spending a few hours on the board to customize your messaging client.

The WhatsApp messaging app has developed a new upgrade on the Microsoft Store. Not only does it improve client responsiveness and performance, but it also allows you to reply to messages when the phone is turned off or deactivated. You will always need a SIM and a number to access WhatsApp, but the software guarantees enormous autonomy in the Windows ecosystem. A client compatible with Mac users will soon be developed.

Viber

More than 1 billion people worldwide use the Viber messaging program; It is important to underline that the exchange of information, texts, and calls is free only from Viber users to other Viber. The video quality is excellent, calls are encrypted and protected, mobile devices are synchronized with the desktop, it is possible to create groups, and the variety of emojis, GIFs, and stickers is constantly updated on the platform.