{"id":28500,"date":"2023-01-24T16:48:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T16:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=28500"},"modified":"2023-12-08T14:24:36","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T14:24:36","slug":"intercom-customer-service-messenger-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/intercom-customer-service-messenger-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Reinventing our wheel: The vision behind Intercom’s redesigned Messenger"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Intercom, we\u2019ve reinvented different parts of our product many times over the years \u2013 most recently, our Messenger. This evolution always starts with one thing: a clear product vision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All products follow the same life cycle: development, growth, maturity, decline.<\/span><\/p>\n

An inevitable slide into decline sounds ominous. And, when products are in this phase, users can<\/span> feel<\/span><\/i> it: it\u2019s the slow, clunky, dated experience you get when using previous-generation tech. Businesses can feel it too: declining KPIs, competitors catching up, market impact waning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Great companies reinvent products <\/span>before<\/span><\/i> reaching decline. They recognise when a step change is required to solve new problems, deliver a better experience, and drive higher growth. Through reinvention, they extend the life span of the product, and create new value for customers and the business.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Product<\/p>\n

Reinvention requires a <\/span>product vision<\/span>: a visual artifact that sets product direction over a longer term time horizon. Product vision is the critical bridge between strategy and execution. It\u2019s the catalyst for getting teams moving with speed towards a compelling and coherent future state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most recently, we reinvented the Intercom Messenger<\/a>. The previous version was almost five years old, and we knew that we needed an ambitious and clear vision to bring a next-generation Messenger to the market. <\/span>Here\u2019s how we did it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surveying the landscape<\/span><\/h2>\n

First, we zoomed out from day-to-day execution and evaluated Messenger across multiple dimensions \u2013 product, market, customers, and business. <\/span>When we looked at things from this higher altitude, we saw a confluence of factors that indicated that the current Messenger product needed to be reinvented.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Intercom<\/p>\n

The Intercom Messenger before reinvention<\/em><\/p>\n

Product<\/b><\/p>\n