The move is directed to make a distinction between an app for individuals, and that for businesses – with an end result of monetizing the latter. With the new app, businesses will be able to startup direct communication with their customers without fault yet ensuring that the account is authentic. In the past, businesses have been trying to reach potential customers by leaving their WhatsApp contacts on social media platforms, with no certain verification, and the social media platform has termed this as rudimentary. Also Read: WhatsApp introduces verified badges to selected business accounts So, the business app will give users a verified badge next to their names, with the ability to create a company profile with information such as address, business hours, description of product or service offered, as well as help when managing consumer chats. If you see a green badge next to a contact’s name, it means that WhatsApp has verified that the phone number of this contact belongs to a business account. If you’d like to stop a business from contacting you, you can block them. Note that “Businesses will only be able to contact people who have provided their phone number and agreed to be contacted by the business over WhatsApp.” The capabilities on offer are free to use but there are plans to charge businesses in the future. WhatsApp focuses on first getting businesses on the platform, and later look into monetizing it. With people expecting WhatsApp to be fast, reliable, and secure, when it comes to communication with businesses, the team will be listening carefully to feedback during the test phase and keeping people informed on any other tools available. We will keep you posted on any further updates.
