WhatsApp seems to permeate all our waking hours. It helps us keep in touch with family and friends, willy-nilly drags us into school/college/work/family/hobby groups almost against our better judgement. It entertains us and informs us; sometimes spreads fake news and at times is something of an irritant. Its utility cannot be denied however and now this utility is set to increase with WhatsApp for small businesses.
This app is meant to facilitate contact and communication between businesses and customers. The app was formulated with small businesses in mind; those who may not have marketing resources or ad budgets and so on. It has all the functionalities of regular WhatsApp such as multimedia support, free calls, free international messaging, group chat etc, plus additional features.
There are built-in features that help to sort, automate and quickly respond to messages. The quick replies feature helps answer FAQs quickly and easily. It helps the user set up a business profile with details such as the web address, email, business description and so on. The stats feature offers information about how many messages were delivered, read and so on.
It is possible to use WhatsApp’s new business app with landlines as well and customers can send messages to that landline number as well. Those who have separate personal and business numbers can have both WhatsApp messenger as well as WhatsApp Business installed on the same phone and register each with different numbers.
A few months ago in November 2017, a fake version of WhatsApp business had surfaced. Created by an organisation calling itself Whasp. Business Inc., this app was full of ads and was also described by some users as being a ‘fraud app’ that engaged in ‘data theft’.
If you have a small business (or plan to launch it) such as a catering service, laundry, design studio or any sort of commercial establishment, it’s useful. If it is the usual forwarding of good morning homilies and scary/funny/bizarre videos, then you don’t need it.
Currently, the app is launched in several sectors across the world. However, the WhatsApp business app is not yet rolled out in India. So if you try to download the app right now, this is the message you're likely to see. The desktop version is likely to say that there are ‘no eligible devices for install’.
WhatsApp business will be a free service at least for some time. However, WhatsApp has indicated that the app may be monetized later. Users will also be able to know about ‘confirmed accounts’ once the proper verification is done by WhatsApp.
So this was troubling me – what about spam? Will I be troubled by businesses who want to sell me stuff? WhatsApp says that that the control to block and even to report spam will be with the user. So hopefully WhatsApp business should be something that businesses choose to utilise and not misuse.
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