Learn how to build in-app communities that boost engagement, retention, and loyalty through chat, moderation, and user-driven features.

What Are In-App Communities, and How to Build Them From Scratch

Why is moderation so crucial for platforms? How does it influence customer behaviour and loyalty? What do recent studies claim on the connection between safety in digital space and business growth? And how do we handle this?

Safety VS Censorship: Our Approach to Moderation

Watchers’ CPO Adel Gaisin discusses analytics, metrics, and user insights that can completely transform platform performance.

Adel Gaisin, CPO at Watchers, shares how their analytics system was built and can be used, how the company protects personal data and complies with regulations in different markets, and how user insights gathered from chats can change everything.

Adel Gaisin: “We know how to work with user feedback, extract the meaning, and communicate it to the client”

An AI assistant will help with the back office, triggers for badges award your users automatically... Read to know about other improvements for the best and clearest experience.

Discover the latest Watchers community chat platform updates: automated badge triggers, enhanced user experience, paywall integration, and powerful back office tools to boost engagement and monetisation.

Last Product Updates: New Features & Enhancements

<h2>Triggers for Badges</h2>We’ve added triggers to our badge system. Now, our clients can build an automated badge experience. This means your users can earn badges by sending a certain number of messages, frequently reacting (e.g., Chat Empath), or maintaining a streak – for example, by using chats regularly. This helps users feel more engaged, similar to how Duolingo motivates learners.<h2>Look and Feel in Chat</h2>We prioritise making the end-user experience simple and enjoyable. Digitally savvy users engage with many messengers and social platforms and have high expectations. That’s why, over the past month, we’ve introduced several minor improvements to make users feel as comfortable as possible:<ul><li>Swipe to reply</li><li>A selected images gallery</li></ul><h2>Paywall in Chat</h2>Previously, chats could be shown in read-only mode. Now, you can place a paywall over chat. Why is this useful? It allows you to turn the chat feature into a conversion tool. You can restrict chat access to subscribers or users who have completed specific actions. The paywall doesn’t just block the chat – it explains its value and communicates what users need to do to gain access.<h2>Back Office Improvements</h2>Since our chats are managed via a back office, it must remain user-friendly and familiar. Here’s what we’ve recently improved:<ul><li>New statuses and templates for marketing offers</li><li><code data-start="1652" data-end="1665">postMessage</code> support for theme, language, and coefficient changes without reloading the chat</li><li>Avatar settings flow redesigned: you can now choose between platform-driven avatars, which you provide from your primary platform, and user-controlled avatars, which users choose or upload.</li><li>Support for various language code formats</li><li>An assistant who helps you find an answer to any question about the admin panel usage and creates a ticket if the problem hasn't been solved</li></ul><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Inter;font-size:0.9375vw;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.38;margin:0pt 0px;orphans:2;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;" dir="ltr"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">***<p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Inter;font-size:0.9375vw;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.38;margin:0pt 0px;orphans:2;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;" dir="ltr"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Please fill out the form below if you'd like to integrate community-based live chat or other social tools into your website or app. We will help you find the best solution for your engagement strategy.&nbsp;

Community is often seen as a universal remedy for digital success. Community is the answer, they say, but what’s the answer to how to build one? Now it’s here. Follow seven strategic steps, along with several technical actions, to create it.

Learn how to build and grow a thriving online community for your app or website with these 7 essential steps, from defining purpose and audience to ensuring safety and engagement.

How to Turn The Platform into Community-driven

Fans are the heart of any sports club or brand, and you must ensure fan engagement is done right. Discover how to increase fan engagement in sports with these best practices and fan engagement strategies.

Fan engagement should be a top priority for sports clubs and brands, given that it can improve ticket sales and brand reputation. Learn what fan engagement in sports is, why it’s beneficial, and eight fan engagement strategies you can use.

From Fans to Family: How to Increase Fan Engagement in Sports

Collecting user insights is vital for providing a personalised user experience. Gathering information directly from your target audience will help improve the user journey and content strategy.

Learn how to collect first-party data with the right tools and why it matters.

How & Why Is Collecting Users' Insights Crucial for Your Business

We've been working behind the scenes to bring you some updates that improve how you manage and engage with your communities. From new roles to advanced analytics, let's dive deeper.

Discover the latest Watchers live chat updates to boost engagement and enhance your engagement strategy. New analytics, custom avatars, and improved moderation features.

March Product Updates: New Features & Enhancements

👥 Introducing the Community Manager RoleManaging your community just got easier and safer. We’ve added a community manager role to the admin panel, giving your team more flexibility in assigning permissions.What can community managers do?<ul><li>Access all messages, rooms, and moderation.</li><li>Manage widgets.</li><li>Handle technical support requests and export data reports.</li><li>Customise stickers, reactions, and language settings.</li><li>View analytics and information sections.</li></ul>You can update an admin panel user's role anytime if needed. More control, less hassle!📊 New Analytics Features📈 30-Day Retention DashboardWant to understand how well your platform retains users? Head to analytics to explore the necessary data and track engagement over time.📈Active Users Per HourEver wondered when your chats are buzzing the most? Now, you can see peak activity times by going to analytics and selecting your preferred time period.🧠 AI-Powered Semantic AnalysisAnalyse chat conversations with ease. You can now transfer messages directly to our AI model for semantic analysis. Simply go to Semantic Analysis, select a time period, and let the AI do the heavy lifting.🖼️ User Avatars: More Customisation OptionsWhat if your users want to have their cats or favourite actors on avatars? We’re giving users more ways to personalise their profiles. Admins can now enable user-uploaded avatars while ensuring content safety with AI moderation.Three avatar options:<ol><li>Preset avatars only: users select from a predefined set.</li><li>Custom avatars only: Users upload their own images.</li><li>Both options enabled: Users can choose between preset or custom avatars.</li></ol>Admins and moderators can review and block inappropriate images manually if you find that AI options are not enough. And as with all our features, you can activate or deactivate it in settings.🎨 Stickers for Specific UsersWant to make stickers more exclusive and award users with something special? You can now link a sticker pack to a specific badge, so that only users with that badge can use it. Exclusive perks made easy!🔗 Easy Invitation Links for Admin Panel UsersInviting new admin panel users is now seamless. Admins can **generate invitation links** with expiration dates and even revoke or regenerate them if needed. Only admins can create these links, keeping access secure.🕵️‍♂️ Shadow Ban for All RoomsPreviously, shadow bans only applied to specific rooms. Now, when moderators shadow-ban a user, their messages will be invisible in all rooms. If you lift the ban, their new messages will become visible again everywhere. A smoother way to maintain community integrity!<hr>That’s it for last month's update! Have any questions? Feel free to contact the Watchers team by emailing us at hello@watchers.io.Happy chatting! 🚀 &nbsp;

Exploring how community-based live chat has positively impacted the utility of various platforms and how to integrate it easily.

How and Why to Integrate Live Chat: Crucial Reasons and Simple Steps

Retention and engagement growth are crucial goals, and they can be significantly enhanced by implementing community-based live chat features. Users naturally gravitate towards platforms where they can share experiences with others who share their interests, whether in sports, foreign languages, or TV series. Imagine someone excitedly sharing details about your website over coffee — community-based live chat creates that space where users can connect with like-minded individuals and share their enthusiasm.But what can be included in this strategy, and how can you achieve your goals once the decision to implement live chat has been made?<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/a8e08749-ccee-4c78-a6a7-042684174b0f.jpg"><h2>Why?</h2>Let’s start from the beginning — community-based live chat features are essential for your platform for various reasons. So, why are they beneficial, and how can they help you?<h3>Regain users from social media platforms</h3>Companies invest heavily in attracting users on social media, gathering thousands of followers. Without a live chat feature, users seeking engagement will turn to social media to discuss their experiences. However, providing an in-app chat function ensures that users can engage in discussions without needing to leave.By fostering engagement within your platform, you encourage users to spend more time interacting with both the platform and other users. This enhances user satisfaction and strengthens brand loyalty.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.laliga.com/en-GB/news/enjoy-the-clasico-with-la-liga-virtual-arena">A prime example is La Liga</a>. While having millions of followers on social media, they lacked direct access to first-party user data. They implemented a second-screen experience that led users to their app to address this. By scanning a QR code, users gained exclusive benefits and participated in fan communities. This approach brought fans closer to their favourite league while allowing La Liga to understand their needs, desires, and behaviour more effectively.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/c2dfee05-0be6-4624-8f4d-50955e5f2c8c.jpg"><h3>Stand out from the competition</h3>If users are choosing between similar services, they are more likely to select the one offering a unique, engaging experience. Consider social media behaviour: users return frequently to check messages, comments, and updates. By integrating community-based live chat within your platform, you create a similar incentive — users return not just for your content but to interact with their mates. This level of engagement makes your platform more sticky and reduces the risk of losing users to competitors. Additionally, it eliminates the exposure to competitor ads, which is common on social networks.<h3>Improved retention rates</h3>The benefits outlined above naturally lead to better retention. Customers can be fickle with their preferences, making it challenging to keep them engaged over time. If they don’t find ongoing value in your platform, they will move on to competitors. However, live chat can boost retention by keeping users engaged and invested in your community.<h3>Understand your customers’ needs and pains</h3>Community live chats offer <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/post/semantic-and-sentiment-analysis-what-are-the-best-sources-of-consumers-thoughts">direct insights into user behaviour, preferences, and concerns.</a> Unlike support tickets, which only capture negative experiences, live chat lets you observe real-time interactions. Why do users engage with specific content? What time of day do they use your platform? What do they discuss most? These insights help refine your platform’s offerings and improve the user experience.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1000/1000;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/474c51ed-5545-49df-859a-51c44d631984.png" width="1000" height="1000"></figure><h2>How?</h2>There are several steps to launching an in-app community chat for real-time messaging. Key technologies include SDKs, web views, and chat APIs. Using webview and iframe integration simplifies implementation, allowing clients to access new updates and features immediately without being tied to release cycles.Steps to Implement In-App Live Chat:1. Define chat visibility: decide whether users can see the chat before logging in or after authentication. Chat can function similarly to media paywalls, where users must subscribe or, at least, log in to participate.2. Choose an authentication method: will customers interact using their main profile names and avatars, or will they remain anonymous with specific chat nicknames?3. Determine the chat entry point: this varies by industry. Some platforms benefit from placing chat lobbies on the homepage, while others integrate chat within content pages for context-driven discussions.4. Customise the chat and enable moderation: activate necessary moderation levels (or all of them) and ensure users are aware of the new feature. Engagement tools like in-app live streaming, quizzes, and interactive widgets can further encourage participation.By following these steps, you can create an engaging community that drives user retention, improves brand loyalty, and enhances the overall experience on your platform.***If you'd like to integrate community-based live chat or other social tools into your website or app, please fill out the form below. We will help you find the best solution for your engagement strategy.

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