Meta said on Thursday that it is rolling out its Meta Verified program to WhatsApp Business users in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Colombia, and eventually to other countries. Subscription plans for the service start at $14 per month.
The company is adding more features to its messaging service for businesses, and allowing companies to use its API to serve customers through in-app calls.
Meta launches its verification program Creators in March 2023 And It was extended to businesses in September 2023This program was till now limited to Facebook and Instagram.
The company said that merchants who subscribe to this plan on WhatsApp will get a badge and impersonation protection after sharing their business details with the company. These businesses will also get a verified WhatsApp channel for their marketing.
Under this plan, businesses can use their WhatsApp Business account from multiple devices. Also, they get the facility to create a custom web page with their business details which they can share with customers or vendors.
WhatsApp already offers some of these features WhatsApp PremiumTesting of which began with some businesses in some regions in 2022, but was never expanded to other markets.
Meta is also introducing the ability for users to call large businesses using WhatsApp through the API – like banks or airlines. For users, this will work like calling a customer support number, but through the app. Until now, WhatsApp Business users had to use their personal phone numbers to service customer calls.
WhatsApp said it would charge companies for the service, but hasn’t yet revealed any pricing details.
Focus on businesses
Also coming up A personalized messaging service for businesses This allows merchants to send messages to customers such as coupon codes, information about new launches, or birthday wishes.
With over 200 million monthly users on WhatsApp Business, Meta is trying to build a full suite of solutions that businesses can use to communicate with their customers. Meta also separately said it is launching new AI-powered tools for automated customer support and ad creation today.
Click-to-WhatsApp ads have worked well for Meta. In 2023, Zuckerberg said these ads has hit $10 billion annualized rate and is growingIndia-based logistics company Shiprocket has also seen positive results for merchants.
“The introduction of click-to-WhatsApp ads is providing sellers with a more effective marketing channel, driving strong 3-4x return on ad spend (ROAS), thereby increasing transactions and engagement on the platform,” Praful Poddar, chief product officer at Shiprocket, told TechCrunch.
Meta focused on construction last year shopping Experience Within WhatsAppBut it is now working on features related to messaging and customer support as it is a key cash driver for the company.
during this Q1 2024 Earnings CallMeta’s family of apps generated $380 million in revenue, primarily from business messaging on WhatsApp, the company’s CFO Susan Lee said.
In one discovery In a recent collaboration with Bain & Co, Meta said there is a huge opportunity in conversational commerce in India, as only 200 million of the 650 million users active on social media and messaging platforms shop online. The company said existing commerce and payment services serve only the top 200 million users. With WhatsApp, which has over 400 million users in India, the company sees a huge opportunity to add more merchants and offer shopping features to the remaining user base.
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