Published: May 2, 2022
15 min read
In this article, you'll learn:
1
💧 Why Clubhouse is Only a Drop in the Ocean
2
🎧 Top Features of an Audio Messaging App
3
📊 Admin Panel
4
🔝 Top Things Worth Attention to Build an Audio Messaging Application or Integrate it into an Existing Solution
5
💰 What Affects Voice Chat App Development Cost
6
💡 Takeaways
Clubhouse saw a remarkable increase in its weekly active users, growing from 600,000 to 10,000,000 in just three months. During the same period, searches for the app increased by 3250%.
This success is particularly impressive considering that audio chatting features are not new to the market, with many messaging apps already offering them. Clubhouse's ability to reinvigorate interest in audio chat apps has prompted many companies to reconsider this opportunity.
Considering that the Clubhouse app increased demand, developing a voice chat app might be beneficial. (image by Serj Marco)
Although Clubhouse and its use of audio messaging tools received much attention, there are many more ways that organizations may incorporate this feature into their use cases.
Our team is fully aware of this and is committed to assisting businesses as they develop apps with more engaged and unified communities.
Our way of life has become much more digital, particularly since the COVID-19 epidemic. For instance, there's likely never been a greater need for practical, cutting-edge communication solutions, whether it's through applications designed particularly for communication (like Clubhouse) or any other use case.
So, if you are willing to build an audio chat app, integrate such functionality into an existing solution, or have any other amazing use case that we’ll gladly get to know — welcome!
As we stated before, there are several ways to utilize the audio messaging feature – Clubhouse is just one of them. The success of Clubhouse, however, is a completely singular instance that may never occur again.
This implies you shouldn't strive to mimic this app's design by using it as a flawless model. But this story has a lot to teach other companies, including how to avoid certain common blunders and share effective marketing techniques.
This section will examine Clubhouse's unique selling points and how their expertise might benefit your company.
Although voice chat apps are typically compared to Clubhouse apps, there are numerous other uses for them. (image by Valera Pevnev)
Let's start by breaking down the key success factors of Clubhouse:
At the same time, platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, or Skype became commonplace for users. They are just a way to communicate with friends or colleagues. Meanwhile, Clubhouse has more of a "social" aspect in its app. Users have the opportunity not just to join a call via an invitation link but to surf and join rooms they like.
Clubhouse offers the opportunity to listen to any user in real-time. If you imagine that instead of "any user" you could follow a conversation with Oprah or a performance by Elon Musk, it becomes clear why Clubhouse gained such popularity.
Another trick was to make the app in demand. Users couldn't just download the app and start using it; they had to receive an invitation from others. This created a sense of specialness, motivating even those who initially did not plan to use it to strive for an invitation and become "chosen."
A voice chat software similar to Clubhouse might utilize the Clubhouse app case study as an example and extract specific lessons. (image by CMC Distribution)
We've previously spoken about the elements that contributed to Clubhouse's success, so let's explore what they represent for your company:
The success of Clubhouse is due to a combination of innovation, popularity, and favorable launch timing, making their example unique.
Your approach may significantly differ from Clubhouse's approach. Therefore, let's consider different ways of using the functionality of voice messages that may suit your idea.
Such tools can find application in the corporate sphere to facilitate communication between employees, various departments, as well as for communication between managers and their teams and vice versa.
For example, construction companies can implement the use of audio messages to coordinate the work of builders on sites. The advantage of this approach is time-saving, as message exchange is quick and efficient. Moreover, such solutions can be customized according to the specific requirements of each individual case, ensuring a high degree of functionality.
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An example of a platform offering such capabilities is Zello . This tool can be used by drivers, construction crews, retail employees, and many others to improve internal communication.
An excellent example of how audio (and maybe video) can be handled differently from chat apps like Clubhouse is the voice chat service Zello. (image by Zello)
This app's intriguing feature is that it uses the Push-to-Talk model. In other words, users press the button when necessary and release it when finished, rather than muting and unmuting their microphones while speaking.
Within the driving community, the app gained a lot of traction, particularly with truckers and taxi drivers. As a result, it enables them to seek for assistance in the event of a breakdown or other issues, stay awake at night, and obtain real-time traffic information from their colleagues.
To create a voice chat social media like Clubhouse is another use case.
It can take several forms, such as offering a virtual co-working area or a real-time language learning platform with native speakers.
Examples of social media apps with audio chat capabilities are voice chat apps like Clubhouse. (image by Afterglow)
Numerous widely used, frequent, or anonymous audio social media chat applications are also regarded as social networks.
A good way to conduct lectures, seminars, webinars, or podcasts is also gained from the audio message functionality.
As such, firms extending educational platforms, membership or loyalty programs, several types of after-school activities, workshops not involving video streaming, and so forth stand to benefit.
For instance, consider the Tandem app, an educational app that lets you practice speaking any language with native speakers, or simply learn from each other. It doesn't concentrate only on audio chatting but handles voice messaging and audio messaging as well.
The functionality found in an app like Clubhouse can be utilized to create a drop-in audio chat for podcasts, eLearning etc. (image by Tandem)
By creating a custom solution, these companies may have a platform that is entirely tailored to their requirements and devoid of extra features, which can speed up development and save expenses.
Some businesses use the functionality of such apps as audio rooms with customer support.
The audio chat can be beneficial for any company with customer support services. Agreeably, using the audio chat function with support specialists is much more convenient than making phone calls or attempting to reach out via email.
If your business is involved in organizing online appointments or consultations, you may find this feature beneficial.
It’s particularly useful for educational institutions, online/offline courses, or any other business offering similar services. For instance, many teachers and professors regularly conduct office hours, and with the use of this feature, they can provide users with the opportunity to easily join a voice chat and ask their questions.
Another example of its usage could be mentorship within various courses, such as digital marketing courses, for instance. If someone is offering individual consultations with lecturers and experts, this can also be facilitated through the use of the audio messaging feature.
In this section, we'll go over the features you might wish to include into an already-existing solution or add to your app in this part.
First and foremost, the information required throughout the sign-up procedure shouldn't be excessively demanding. You may either allow users to access it without providing any personal information or request some basic data, such as an email address and phone number, in order to set a password.
In addition to other features, the first sign-up process in an app such as Clubhouse is crucial since it represents the user's first app experience. (image by Anna Paraniak)
Offering Social Sign-Up is a great idea as it provides users with an easy and quick way to join your platform. This approach also provides your business with valuable user profile details that can be used for more targeted audience engagement.
The Feed is a screen where users can view new announcements, upcoming events, presentations, or recent posts.
The feed may be used in app development to create an application that seems like other applications that include audio chat rooms. (image by Gareth Johnson)
Personalized content offerings are possible if your use case involves providing material based on an individual's interests.
But, as we've already covered, audio messaging is significantly more adaptable than social networking, which makes it suitable for a variety of use cases.
Rooms are the settings for audio conversations. Two primary categories of rooms exist:
A development team for the app may utilize various APIs and coding to completely customize the rooms to your use case. (image by Pieter-Pleun Korevaar)
Typically, there are three main roles with varying levels of access in a chat or discussion platform:
It's possible for one person to have different roles at different times, depending on the situation.
However, the need for these roles and the separation of public and private rooms can vary depending on your specific use case.
The voice chat feature itself ought to be thoughtful and practical.
If you're creating an app similar to Clubhouse, member voice chat may be the main feature, thus you need to make sure it runs well. (image by Antilustrations)
Aside from enabling communication through APIs and microphone use, this feature includes:
Depending on the use case, some functions may not be necessary. For example, in a building company scenario, participants might not need the ability to use their microphone.
Develop an in-app calendar to enhance the user experience. A tool like this might be useful for helping people schedule their time and visualize events that are coming up.
Some use cases may require these characteristics more than others. For instance, a schedule isn't very helpful if you use a social media app like Clubhouse for voice discussion. But with a feature like that, an app for internal meetings would be more useful.
The features of the Clubhouse app might not be sufficient for the audience in order to create such an app, thus you could want to take the calendar into consideration. (image by Divan Raj)
It could be beneficial to allow users to sync your app's calendar with their phone's calendar, such as Google Calendar or iCloud Calendar, for more convenient use.
This integration could include details like:
Will your application have the capability to upload files? For instance, if your application is a platform for audio message exchange, geared towards professional collaboration in a social network setting, you can allow users to upload scans of their diplomas, licenses, certificates, and more.
For an audio chat application complementing a membership program designed for conducting lectures, file upload functionality may be necessary to provide users with PDF files containing checklists or similar materials.
These features could be enjoyed by users of such apps, therefore you might create them as well. (image by Ivan Poddubchenko)
You can consider adding the following features for users:
If you plan to host a lot of live audio sessions, the screen sharing option might be quite helpful. As a result, material would be simpler to digest if it included some visuals.
Your audience may require screen sharing in these kinds of apps, so take that into consideration while developing them. (image by Mohamad Rasouli)
It can include:
By creating tailored offers, enhancing brand loyalty, and retargeting consumers, push notifications may help you boost sales. As an example, you could:
You, as the company's owner or managers, may require an admin panel with full feature access in order to digitally oversee every operation within the program.
You'll need an admin panel to effectively administer your online or mobile application, which includes enhancing user experience for your users. (image by Dmitriy Groshev)
For an admin dashboard, the following functionalities can be included:
Additionally, in some cases, it might be important for the dashboard to provide statistics such as the total number of users, new users, active users, retention rate, average time spent in the app, and stats about each separate event or room.
These metrics would be particularly relevant for an audio chatting social media platform, but may not be necessary for in-company communication tools.
The ways you can implement such functionality vary widely, especially when integrating with your current solution, which differs from building an app from scratch. The pitfalls also differ.
Let's briefly discuss a few aspects of this development that could save you time and reduce costs if planned in advance.
Incorporating audio messaging functionality into your app can be approached in two ways: as a standalone feature, creating a new user flow, or as an enhancement to an existing feature.
For example:
Whether the mobile or web app will be a new or distinct flow should be decided before development begins. This will affect development costs and the functionality that users will require, among other things. (image by Valera Pevnev)
For the audio feedback implementation in a marketplace app, there are two approaches:
Understanding these two approaches is crucial for explaining them to your development team, as it will influence the coding approach they need to take.
Audio Storing may have a significant impact on the complexity and expense of development. This will specify the characteristics of the program and which Cloud Storage best suits your needs.
You should be clear about how you'll keep the files because your development costs include a budget for storage. (image by Marcus Gellermark)
Thus, there are a couple of important questions to ask yourself:
- Will users have access to recordings after the live session, or will it be real-time only?
Clubhouse operates on a model where you can only listen to conversations in real-time, and recordings are not available. This might not be suitable for everyone who prefers flexibility in when they listen.
- How will you store audio files and for how long?
Either local or external cloud storage is an option. You can have both. For example, after three weeks in internal storage, data that is no longer relevant will be stored in an external one. It actually relies on the particular circumstances surrounding you.
- Do you need additional features like local storage, audio conversion, or manual deletion of files?
To give an example, you might want to consider implementing features like using local storage to access audio messages offline, the ability to convert and download messages as audio files, manually deleting audios from the storage, and other similar functionalities.
To enable audio chatting in an app, you’ll need to use a third-party SDK. Some of the most popular options are Twilio or Agora. By the way, Clubhouse uses Agora API for back-end infrastructure. When ensuring data security, Clubhouse made a mistake, and this is an important lesson for other businesses.
The specific error lies in the encryption of data. Joining a room involved the creation of an open-text metadata file containing user and room identification numbers. These data were then directly transmitted to the Agora server. Such an approach openly exposed the possibility for any third party with access to the user network to collect this information.
This situation led to a tarnished reputation for Clubhouse and raised doubts among users about the integrity of Agora, despite their lack of culpability in this context.
The moral of the story is: pay extra attention to security. Especially if you have data of many people in your hands. To enable high-level security, you can:
You can watch this explanatory video for deeper understanding:
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Making a cost estimate is crucial to ensuring that there aren't too many charges that you can't afford. Yes, since every situation is different, it is difficult to predict every move or potential hazard.
To get the answer to the question, "How much does it cost to create an audio chat social media app?" there are a few factors that you may consider:
To sum up, an audio messaging app or feature can be beneficial for various use cases, and its implementation can vary depending on the business. While each case is unique, there are some general tips that can be helpful for everyone:
What we’d like to point out is that such functionality can be tailored to almost any use case, so if you’re not sure how to enable it in your solution, need help with the development, or just have some questions left, feel free to reach out to us. We’ll find a way to help you!
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