AppTrendsWhatsApp Business: what it is and how it works

WhatsApp Business, the new free app for managing contacts and work conversations, is now available in Italy for Android, and is coming soon to iOS. We’re want to find out how it works and what sets it apart from the original messaging app.

WhatsApp Business: the new features

WhatsApp has donned its smartest attire and transformed into a business app. With this new update, the app brings professional conversations out of email and into instant messaging. According to a study by Morning Consult, 69% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)already use whatsapp to facilitate communication with clients, while 52% of them use it as an integral part of their business development. The new app offers certain specialized functions for business that aren’t part of the standard version. Let’s look at what those are.

1. Business accounts must be connected to a different SIM card and number from the one being used with the standard app.
2. The company can create a profile to display a business description, its physical address, email and website.
3. Welcome messages and away messages: companies can pre-set welcome messages for first user interactions with their profile, and display away messages to let clients know that the business is closed and can’t reply.
4. Based on the most frequent requests, companies can create short one-off messages to quickly send to everyone.
5. Statistics: companies can visualize certain important data to help grow their business, such as the number of messages sent, delivered and read by their clients.

Similarities and differences between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business

The identity of WhatsApp Business is immediately clear. First, there’s the logo – instead of the little phone icon, it will now have a “B” for Business against a green background, showing that it’s reserved for companies.

Users will be able to identify verified business accounts by a symbol, like the blue icon next to a name on Facebook.

WhatsApp Business also lets you connect a landline so clients can send messages to that number.

As far as the rest, all the functionality of  Whatsapp Messenger is included in the Business version (including end-to-end encryption). This means that companies and professionals can create groups, make voice and video calls for free, send messages offline and use Whatsapp Web.