[App Fridays] NoMyID lets users send emails, without the need for the recipients’ email IDs

Friday March 27, 2015 , 5 min Read

NoMyID, a 'Made in India’ app, provides a platform for users to send emails to any mobile number worldwide. Users can send emails to contacts from their phone book even if they don’t have their email IDs. The use cases for this would be sending documents and presentations of large size, which would not have been possible or convenient over instant messaging. On the commercial side, it can be used by banks which have access to phone numbers of their clients, but do not have their email IDs, and may want to send emails about an offer or promotion, which can’t be done over SMS.

The app is available on Android and iOS platforms, free to download and use. After downloading the app, the user has to configure it with his or her mobile number, select a username and will then be able to send and receive mails to and from any mobile number, besides being able to chat with them.

While a user sends a mail to a contact, their number is automatically converted into an e-mail ID with a ‘nomyid.com’ domain.The mail will then be sent to the recipient’s number. In case the recipient is a non-user of the app, they will get an SMS notification and can download the app to check it out or check it through webmail.

Other Features:

-The user’s mobile number is unique, and it works as their email ID.

-Users can send and receive any kind of documents via email.

-Offers users the option to send messages, images, video and location to contacts with live chat and push notifications.

- As the platform uses mobile numbers, chances of frauds are minimised. NoMyID also claims that the platform is reliable and secure.

Team behind it

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Husband-wife duo Aman Sikka and Rajula Sikka are co-founders of NoMyID, with Rajula functioning as the CEO and Aman acting as the mentor to the startup. With a master’s in fine arts, specialisation in advertising, Rajula comes with an experience of more than a decade in the field of creative arts and education.With a master’s in international business, Aman is a banker by profession and his passion lies in finance and technology. He currently holds the position of Deputy Vice President with HDFC Bank handling retail branch banking business in parts of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

“This app aims to provide the platform to corporates to send all detailed service information to their customers. Corporates like banks, insurance companies, e-commerce companies, etc. have contact numbers of their customers, but email IDs are not available in all cases. With this app, they can communicate with any one through their mobile number. Right now,they’re either providing information through paper or SMS, both of which involve big cost. Through this mobile app, same can be reduced and managed,” says Aman.

This initiative is currently self-funded and has also received some angel funding from investors. They’re marketing their product through various digital platforms like Facebook ads, Google AdWords, Google Admob, InMobi Ads and various email marketing channels. The major challenge for them was to connect everyone on number-based mail, especially non-smartphone users and non-internet-enabled phones. They have developed utility to register and check mail on computers for these kinds of phones.

NoMyID is currently seeding the product, and in the future,they’ll monetise through a B2B model by providing their services to large organisations. The future plans include providing an email platform for landline numbers as well. They aim to target the large untapped market in rural India.

“There are 950 million mobile users in India and 3.75 billion mobile users world wide. Our goal is to penetrate and reach more users in rural India. This might interest e-commerce players as well,” said Aman.

Competition

While apps like Whatsapp, WeChat and Hike provide platforms for instant messaging and Google, Yahoo, etc. provide platforms for email, NoMyID aims to provide a unified platform for both these services.

NoMyID can be considered a competitor to Telegram as it provides instant messaging and the ability to send large attachments (upto 1.5GB). The difference, though, is that Telegram does not support email services.

What we liked?

The idea behind using mobile numbers as extensions for email IDs is interesting. The app has a simple and easy to understand UI. Users can send emails, and also have live chats with others on the platform.

This could be a feasible solution for organisations such as banks, as they would have to keep tabs and collect only one data point-phone numbers instead of phone numbers and email IDs. To make communication among larger groups of people easier, there is also an option for groups.

What could be improved?

While the app has a fully functional UI and provides a good UX, there is room for improvement. Another feature we would like to see would be support for dual SIM phones, and ability to set up multiple accounts in the same application.

YS verdict

This app is interesting and unique with its approach and execution.It has the potential to make it easier for corporates and other large organisations to reach out to customers over email. The challenge for NoMyID now would be to get sufficient traction and keep users engaged.

Website : NoMyID, Android, iOS