WhatsApp is one of the most popular chat applications used today. Several years ago the system was bought by Facebook, which helped it to grow in popularity. The company had recently announced that they would be working on a business focused version of the app, which would allow companies and brands to create their own profiles for use in customer service and other activities.
This new business focused WhatsApp is now launching on the Android platform, and is available for use by businesses in the US, Mexico, UK, Mexico, Italy, and Indonesia. The app will roll out globally in the coming weeks, though there is no word yet on when an iOS version will be released.
Brands will be able to use the app to create a business-specific profile that will allow them to make custom categories, email addresses, physical addresses, hours of operations, links to company websites, and more. At this point, there will be no option to incorporate AI for auto responses, but that is something most people expect to see in the future.
WhatsApp has announced that they will have ‘Confirmed Accounts’ in the near future, which will help ensure people can tell which profiles actually belong to specific businesses. In addition, there is basic analytics available that will show how many people have messaged an account, how many messages have been sent, and how many have been read. It is expected that additional analytic information will be made in the future.
