WhatsApp emerged to the market in 2009, when Jan Koum and Brian Acton came up with a product that revolutionized the world of communication. The simplicity and unique features of Whatsapp, such as stickers (yes, we love them!), voice, and video calls, are loved by all.
The future of instant messaging looks like one (or the least quantity of apps) doing everything: from managing your personal needs to managing your business. In the video below, you can see the vision of WhatsApp for this year: a platform that merges commerce and business processes.
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Following their goal, Whatsapp is making great improvements in personal and business use. Let’s explore the top 5 important features so far:
“Faster” is the new better
“Faster” is the new better
Whatsapp Business Message Templates
Whatsapp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, and in 2017, the company launched Whatsapp Business to create easier digital selling experiences and customer relationships for companies worldwide. Earlier in June, they finally launched what we´ve already seen on Facebook Messenger chats: the interactive messages.
According to WhatsApp documents, there are two types of interaction: list and reply buttons. Previously you had to type numbers or words manually when you wanted to select options from a given path. From now on, users can select between the options they are given with a simple click! If it’s a list option message you can set up to 10 options; if it’s a reply button up to 3 buttons.
Benefits for consideration:
Faster time response on customer experience
Supported in all platforms: iOS, Android, and web
Zero Mistakes on bot configuration and performance
No templates or pre-approvals
Business account creation
Also, WhatsApp has narrowed down the business account configuration to be set up in less than 5 minutes.
How do these features affect your business?
List messages and reply buttons have several applications: creating your available reservation times, repeating order, or even requesting a return or choosing from a support menu for quick answers. Whatsapp recommends reply buttons for creating very personalized workflows and responses for each type of business needs.
The great thing about it is that it is available in the Business API, which means every developer can make use of it without any restrictions. Also, it reveals the increasing importance of automation in business processes: with our workflows (link to releases), rele.ai provides a simple one-time setup for your needs.
In rele.ai it is possible to completely create these workflows from zero, and connect to any enterprise system as long as they have an API.
Maximum connectivity
Maximum connectivity
Join multi-devices
WhatsApp has done several user experience researches and found that people are starting to use their laptops and other non-mobile devices more frequently to open WhatsApp, as they need to split their time between work and personal matters. Even a lot of companies have encountered that WhatsApp is the main productivity tool in nowadays virtual work.
The main goal of this update is to be able to use WhatsApp on 4 devices and not depend on your main phone (for example, if the battery is dying) to connect with your important messages and information to be sent in a workday. The feature is nowadays in the BETA version, and they expect to launch it soon, as same as the iPad app, says Wabetainfo.
Everything is about sharing
Everything is about sharing
Improvement on image quality and document sharing
One of the most performed actions over WhatsApp is sending information in pictures. WhatsApp heard its users are concerned about the poor quality images that are being sent as the quality is reduced up to 40%, so they are working on a feature that will help solve this problem. In our system, you can also send and track multiple types of information: pdfs, audio, and video to your WhatsApp client chats, for example, and have it in your company systems.
Join a missed video call
Not only work matters are being done over WhatsApp chats, but also video calls or the well-known-you’re-on-mute virtual meetings. Now, you can join a missed video call (which supports up to 8 participants at the same time) in a notification. Here is a video on how you can do it in a 1-step tap and how to add more participants on these calls.
Again, these updates demonstrate the path to where WhatsApp developments are going: becoming one of the main tools for business matters.
The biggest buzz: virtual payments
The biggest buzz: virtual payments
Whatsapp Payments
This last, but not least, is probably the most awaited feature so far. Last month, WhatsApp launched its payments feature in Brazil. Zuckerberg, via his Facebook account, points out that the goal is to “… making sending and receiving money as easy as sharing photos. We’re also enabling small businesses to make sales right within WhatsApp.” using the platform they launched last year, Facebook Pay.
According to the Techcrunch article, the users can use it for free by linking their account to credit or debit cards, but businesses that use this feature “ pay a 3.99% processing fee to receive payments” and that this “will work by way of a six-digit PIN or fingerprint to complete transactions”.
What’s next?
What’s next?
Facebook and all its companies (Instagram, Whatsapp) are preparing to create a new portal for compiling all their “Business Apps” developed with third parties and a team of 90 developers. Their main approach in the last months has been creating business-oriented developer tools, so organizations can make more out of the use of WhatsApp in business-related matters.
RELE.AI fully believes in the use of WhatsApp for business purposes and integrates all-new WhatsApp features for the benefit of its clients. RELE.AI enables access to enterprise backend systems such as CRMs, ERPs, and many others to carry out business via fully customized workflows thus creating a new dimension of interaction between employees and enterprise systems.