Your business can now get a WhatsApp account
>
Meta has added new business directory features to WhatsApp for users in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the UK.
Users of the encrypted messaging service can now browse businesses by category, such as travel or banking, or search by name to find the business. And it may prevent people from having to look up phone numbers on websites or search their contact lists.
In Brazil, the business directory search will also list small businesses, and it is also testing secure payments in chat in the region.
What’s next for WhatsApp?
The news comes as Meta may be trying to generate more revenue from the 175 million people who it says use a business WhatsApp account each day as advertising revenues from its core Facebook and Instagram businesses decline.
Facebook announced its first ever drop in user numbers in February 2022, and in October 2022 it posted a 4% year-over-year drop in revenue in the three months from July through September.
The tech giant began testing a payment service in Brazil in 2020, but struggled to get approval from Brazil’s central bank along with the necessary partners to make it work.
In April, WhatsApp received approval for WhatsApp to expand its payments service to an additional 100 million users in the Indian market, out of the more than 400 million people in India using the service.
We may see closer convergence between WhatsApp and the business world. At Dreamforce 2022, Salesforce claimed it will provide businesses with a new way to interact with customers through WhatsApp integrations with multiple Salesforce CRM applications.
Salesforce claimed the integration will create more “convenient, integrated, and personalized experiences between people and businesses.”