Slack Statistics, Trends & Insights for 2023

Did you know that Slack was initially created as an RPG marketplace in 2009?

It wasn’t until 2013 that the makers saw its potential as a business SaaS and launched Slack, which stands for “Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge.” The SaaS subsequently became one of the most popular business solutions ever.

As an industry leader in global collaboration and community applications, Slack gained unprecedented uptake levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and shows no signs of slowing down, especially since being acquired by Salesforce in 2021.

Slack’s significance in the Enterprise SaaS space means that marketers and competitors should be paying close attention to its performance. In this article, we’ll dive into Slack’s user statistics and growth in recent years, its market and revenue performance, and future trends for collaboration, along with Slack’s place in the ecosystem.

Key Slack Statistics for 2023

Slack is available in over 150 countries.
By 2025, Slack is expected to have 47.2 million daily active users (DAU) and 79 million monthly active users (MAU).
At least 400,000 organizations use Slack today.
Slack had over 140,000 paying customers as of Q3 2021, with over 30,000 joining during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Slack Connect is used by over 100,000 organizations, including 77% of Fortune 100 companies.
Slack was acquired by Salesforce in Q3 of 2021 for $27.7 billion.
Slack’s market share in enterprise communication is 34%, and in the collaborative software market, it’s 17.5%.

Slack User Statistics

Source: Business of Apps

First, let’s take a look at Slack users.

Slack’s offering is suited more to B2B than B2C, so most of its users are employees of organizations. Let’s dive into the users.

Slack Users by Region

Source: Statista

According to Slack, it’s available in over 150 countries.

The majority of companies that use Slack (46%) are in the US, but many of these companies have an international presence. According to 6sense, the UK is the second-largest market for Slack (8.4%).

However, in many countries, such as the UK and Spain, Slack is among the least popular messenger brands overall. A significant reason for this is that it squarely targets paying business and organizational customers.

Given this, relatively few consumers have adopted Slack for personal use in the way that they might use WhatsApp, for instance.

Slack Active Users

Source: Statista

By 2025, Slack is expected to have 47.2 million daily active users (DAU) and 79 million monthly active users (MAU). Compared to 8.7 million DAUs and 14.6 million MAUs in 2019, that represents significant growth.

However, when compared to Microsoft Teams’ DAU growth in 2019-2022 – going from 20 million to 270 million (172% growth) – Slack’s figures don’t look as impressive. We’ll take a closer look at the market share of the two companies later on.

Slack User Organizations

Source: Actioner

IBM is one of Slack’s largest customers, and over 300,000 IBM employees use it. Here’s an overview of some other large companies that use Slack:

Company	Key Statistic
Amazon	Saves the Alexa team 45 minutes of meeting time a week
Canva	Saves the finance team 63.75 hours a week
Gymshark	95% of communication is on Slack
Nexomics	Eliminates 30-minute delay in test results delivery
OpenAI	Over 170 Slack channels

Slack Users: Free vs. Paid

Source: Statista

It’s hard to estimate the precise number of companies using Slack, but sources estimate that at least 400,000 organizations use it today. Most of these organizations use the free version of Slack SaaS.

According to Slack, it had over 140,000 paying customers as of Q3 2021, with over 30,000 joining during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 2023, the number of paying users is likely to be higher, given Slack’s acquisition by Salesforce in Q3 of 2021 and the ongoing release of new features.

Slack Usage & User Engagement

On average, Slack users are logged into Slack for the entire duration of the typical working day, for 9 hours.

Slack saw significant growth in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching over 12 million Slack DAUs in 2020. The platform was instrumental in advancing remote work during this period – but it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

Slack Technical Statistics

Slack offers different enterprise solutions, such as Slack Chat and Channels, and Slack Connect, which is designed to boost productivity, customer support, and collaboration. It also has a suite of integrations for developers that can connect Slack with apps such as Gmail and Workday.

Let’s take a look at the figures and how effective these solutions are.

Productivity

Source: Slack State of Work Report

Today, Slack is an important part of many organizations’ tech stacks. According to a Slack report from 2023, teams that leverage Slack as the primary engagement layer for their stack are 49% more productive.

And companies that use Slack together with Salesforce 360 have teams that are 26% more productive and answer customers 28% faster.

Slack has also been invaluable during the acceleration of remote work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 87% of workers feel their ability to work remotely improved thanks to Slack, and 91% feel more connected to their colleagues.

Slack Connect

Source: Slack

Slack Connect is a tool that allows Slack users to collaborate with external organizations with the same speed and security as with internal stakeholders. Using Slack Connect reduces exposure to risks that stem from emails, such as phishing and cyber-attacks. It can host up to 250 connected organizations.

According to Slack, the tool was used by over 100,000 organizations in 2022, including 77% of Fortune 100 companies. These organizations report a 64% drop in customer ticket backlogs.

Slack App Directory Statistics

Slack’s State of Work report states that almost 70% of employees believe extra tools add value to the workplace, but a lot of time is lost switching between them (up to 30 minutes per day).

And that’s where the Slack apps suite comes in.

Slack’s suite of apps is available to every Slack user. They can choose from over 2,600 apps for productivity, customer support, in-house departmental needs, and other requirements.

Free Slack users can integrate their workspace with up to ten apps. There’s no limit for paid Slack users.

Apps include a wide range of Google Apps, Microsoft 365 Apps, and Atlassian Apps. Here’s an overview of some other popular Slack Apps:

Application	Category
Clever Ads Marketing Assistant	Analytics
Zoom	Communication
Zendesk	Customer Support
Miro	Design & Collaboration
GitHub Enterprise Server	Dev tools
Donut	Team Culture
Stripe	Finance
HubSpot	Marketing
PagerDuty	Security
Zapier	Automation
Loom	Productivity

Slack Adoption Statistics & Trends

We mentioned earlier that Slack’s adoption skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. And since it was acquired by Salesforce in 2021, the company has been growing.

Let’s take a closer look at Slack’s adoption statistics and why organizations adopt Slack.

Reasons for Adoption

Source: Forrester

Improvements in customer service and CX are important reasons why teams adopt Slack solutions, according to Forrester. And the same study showed that as of 2021, Slack adoption resulted in higher revenue from improved customer satisfaction, totaling over $967,00 over three years, on average.

Cost efficiency is another reason organizations adopt Slack. In 2020-2021, these organizations managed to reduce the costs of customer service tickets by $2.6 million, thanks to Slack.

Employee productivity is another reason for Slack adoption and a particularly common one since the pandemic – and, as observed, Slack can boost productivity by almost 50%.

Adoption Challenges

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Security is one of the main concerns of Slack adopters. But, as noted, Slack is more secure than email, as there’s less room for phishing attempts to get through.

However, Slack’s integration with third-party apps and the sharing of sensitive information within raises potential risks, especially in cases of breaches of third-party platforms. Companies need to implement security measures, define access controls, and educate users about data protection to ensure security and compliance.

Another challenge is info overload. With numerous channels, messages, and notifications, employees can become overwhelmed and lose focus or miss important updates.

To address this, companies must establish clear guidelines for Slack channel organization, message etiquette, and proper use.

Ensuring proper adoption of a tool such as Slack often goes hand-in-hand with organizational resistance to change.

Initiatives to introduce Slack require teams to shift from their familiar communication methods to a new platform. This can be met with reluctance, skepticism, or outright resistance, which can lead to communication silos.

Overcoming this resistance demands effective change management strategies from the company’s leadership. Encouraging Slack adoption necessitates active promotion, highlighting its advantages, and addressing any concerns or misconceptions.

Slack Market & Revenue Statistics

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Slack was acquired by Salesforce in Q3 of 2021 for $27.7 billion, and it’s been trading as part of Salesforce ever since.

For that reason, we’ll take a look at Slack’s revenue figures prior to acquisition and Salesforce’s financial data post-acquisition. Let’s dive in.

Slack Total Revenue

Slack’s primary revenue source is enterprise subscriptions from companies that buy add-ons.

The company’s total annual revenue was $902 million in 2021 – $270 million more than in 2020. In fact, Slack made $273.4 million in Q1 of 2021, a YoY increase of 36%. In the previous quarter, the company’s revenue was $250.6 million.

Since Slack is now part of Salesforce, it’s worth looking at their revenue as well. In 2022, Salesforce made almost $31.4 billion in total. In 2023, it expects about $1.5 billion in revenue from Slack in sales.

Slack Market Position

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Microsoft Teams is arguably Slack’s biggest competitor in enterprise communication and collaborative software markets. In 2022, Microsoft Teams reached 270 million active users. Compared to Slack’s 18 million active users, that’s quite a difference.

However, Slack remains a market leader in enterprise communication, with almost 34% of the market. WhatsApp Business has almost half of that at 18.4%.

Valuation & Funding

Before being acquired by Salesforce, Slack was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its share price rose to $41 when it started trading on the Exchange in 2019. It was delisted from the NYSE in June 2021.

Prior to the acquisition, the company managed to raise $1.4 billion across 13 funding rounds, including Series H. The last funding round was completed in 2019. At the time of the Series H round, Slack’s valuation was $6.7 billion.

Future of Slack

The acquisition of Slack by Salesforce means exciting possibilities for both companies and the enterprise communication and collaboration markets. This merger indicates a marriage of CRMs and collaboration platforms, paving the way for significant transformations.

One key aspect of Slack’s future is its integration with Salesforce’s CRM tools. It can create a seamless information flow between client data and team communication, enabling organizations to enhance customer engagement further and improve collaboration.

For example, sales teams can access customer data directly within Slack, providing real-time insights and enabling faster, more informed decision-making.

The merger can also help Slack become a hub for workplace productivity. By leveraging Salesforce’s resources, Slack can expand its capabilities beyond enterprise communication and collaboration by integrating various business systems and automating routine tasks. Such integrations can streamline processes, increase efficiency, and improve productivity.

The Salesforce acquisition can also let Slack make the most of the parent company’s extensive customer base and product ecosystem. By integrating with Salesforce’s suite of tools, Slack can provide a marketplace for third-party apps and integrations, offering organizations tools and services to customize their workflows and increase productivity further.

Is Slack Going to Retain Its Popularity?

One thing we can say for certain about Slack is that it’s not Slacking off… It’s experienced huge growth in the last few years, and armed with Salesforce’s resources and customer base, it has every chance of growing even more as part of the Salesforce family.

Slack has been integral to enterprise digital transformation. And given what we’ve learned from this article, we see no reason why it won’t continue along the same trajectory.

References:

Kate Sukhanova Senior Statistics Contributor

Kate is an accomplished tech writer and SaaS (Software as a Service) founder, renowned for his expertise in the technology industry. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from the esteemed University of Exeter, where she honed his critical thinking and analytical skills.

Beyond her entrepreneurial endeavors, Kate is a true statistics geek. She revels in the world of data and derives insights that drive decision-making and business strategies. This penchant for numbers enhances her ability to craft data-driven articles, guiding readers through complex topics with clarity and reliability.

Kate's passion for knowledge and curiosity about emerging technologies drive her to learn and stay ahead of the curve continuously. She is deeply committed to sharing valuable information about innovations that have a tangible, positive impact on businesses and society.

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Slack Statistics, Trends & Insights for 2023

Key Slack Statistics for 2023