WhatsApp Business App

• 27 February 2018 | 950 Views | By Mint2Save

Whatsapp business app has taken the social media marketing world by a storm. More than a million downloads, open user interaction and increasing transactions via it has proven the point of necessity for this application. Merely a month old, this app builds on the customer base of the user friendly messenger app, WhatsApp, which had notably created many business avenues for marketing and shopping. WhatsApp, now a Facebook subsidiary, took no time in acknowledging the opportunity for small businesses and gave us its exclusive business app. What is this app? How was the need created? How does it work? This and more information in this article.

WhatsApp: Power of Digital Communication

In today’s times even the smallest vendor and a person with limited means has access to the internet using just their smartphones and the most popular application that one can find in any smartphone today would definitely be WhatsApp. WhatsApp doesn’t need any introduction, it is a free messenger application which uses the phones internet connection which could be Wi-Fi, 4G, 3G, 2G or EDGE. The app lets you message and call (audio and video), exchange documents, images and multimedia with friends and family. According to the last available data, Whatsapp has nearly 1.3 billion users.  A very recent addition to this is the WhatsApp Business-a free-to-download Android app for small businesses. Its task is to manage different aspects of the business account so that the customers can get in contact with the business via Whatsapp chat. The only requirement is to register your business to gain official WhatsApp Business status.

With increased globalization, people across the globe want to connect with small businesses they care about and what better way than to connect with them through Whatsapp. Whatsapp has designed a separate app for small businesses to connect easily and seamlessly with the customers. For instance, if a person runs a small online clothing company or has a local grocery store or a bakery, then WhatsApp Business app can help them to connect more efficiently with their customers. The company broadcasted its plans to start off its “WhatsApp for Business” in September last year and launched a pilot or we can say an experimental version of it by associating with companies such as BookMyShow, Netflix and MakemyTrip. The business app was tested in countries like India and Brazil before its public launch. It was then launched in a few countries, which included Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom, and the United States.

What is WhatsApp Business App?

It’s completely separate app as compared to the standard version of WhatsApp, but it works in a similar manner – only its purpose is connecting businesses and customers, rather than friends and family. The app is designed keeping in mind the small businesses. WhatsApp Business app has a similar logo as compared to the regular WhatsApp app, but the only difference lies in its symbol where instead of its green speech bubble badge Whatsapp business app contains a white B rather than a phone symbol. Unlike the original WhatsApp application, the business-centric app permits businesses to create their own profiles with information such as business explanation, email and allows business to store addresses and website. It also provides smart messaging gears to let businesses use quick replies and give fast answers to frequently asked questions. The app also offers the option to send greetings messages to new customers and one of the unique features it offers is to send set away messages when the companies are busy.

Small businesses using WhatsApp Business can get in touch with ordinary WhatsApp users in an easy and usual manner, as ordinary WhatsApp users need not download the separate business app to get in touch with the businesses. Ordinary WhatsApp users will know when they are being approached by a business account rather than an individual account, as it will be listed as a business account on their Whatsapp. In addition to this, businesses will only be able to contact people who are willing and have provided their phone number and agreed to receive messages from the business. The regular Whtaspp users also retain the ability to block numbers and report spam these business accounts.

Those people who use a business number and a personal one, both the WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Messenger apps can be used on the same device (i.e. the same smartphone) with different registered numbers. Businesses using Whatsapp business app will also be able to know the messaging statistics, like the number of messages read, as they can send and receive messages from the desktop via WhatsApp Web.

A business account can be identified with a green checkmark badge in its profile as “an authentic brand” by WhatsApp. A Business account with a grey checkmark in its profile would mean that it has been established to be using a phone number that matches the phone number of the business it claims to be owned and functioned by. A Business account with a grey question mark in its profile would indicate that the account hasn’t been confirmed or verified by WhatsApp yet.

Notably, as far as security is concerned, the app offers end-to-end encryption for all the messages and calls it circulates to restrict any unwanted third-party access and intrusion to information or the account.

On the flip side to this, the companies would knowingly or unknowingly share a lot of information about its business, which will not be good, as these businesses will expose themselves to loss of confidential data that they might store. Another risk for businesses could be the risk of loss of goodwill and credibility as users have the power to report the account as spam, which would ultimately lead to blocking of the business account by Whatsapp.

This instant messaging app is making things hard for its rival by introducing captivating features such as delete for everyone, YouTube integration etc. Meanwhile, it is also exploring new opportunities and is even in the process to integrate a UPI payment feature in the near future. This Business app might later be joined by an enterprise solution aimed at large businesses with a global customer base to integrate different industrial sectors – like airlines, e-commerce sites, banks etc.

It could open up more revenue possibilities for WhatsApp, as it has over 1.3 billion users in the world. Though WhatsApp is free and has no ads on the service, so it will have to be on lookout for new ways of monetizing the app.

WhatsApp Business is an imperative tool for companies and businesses that wish to interact and connects with their customers directly and seamlessly through the most widely used instant messaging service across the world.