The Facebook-owned company has been testing the whatsapp Business app beta versions with various businesses across the world ( including some businesses in India such as BookMyShow and MakeMyTrip ) last year.Afrer a long time, Finally whatsapp plans for a separate business app going it's official rollout in late 2017. It's January 2018 and the app is available for download from google play store ( The app is currently available for Android platform ).It targeted millions of small business owners across the world can take advantage of what whatsapp Business has to offer.
As for the standard features, there are ‘Business Profiles’ that will help customers get additional information such as the email or the store address, website or any extra description of the business. These are quite detailed and help establish the nature of your business on WhatsApp.
How to set up whatsapp Business app ?
- If you already have a business number which is primarily used for WhatsApp, you will first need to backup your chat data to cloud storage.
- To do this head to Chats> Chat backup> and then hit the 'Back Up' button. Ensure that the upload to the cloud is complete.
- Next, download the app from the Google Play Store, install it and then launch it by tapping on the new WhatsApp Business icon on your smartphone's homescreen.
- Once you open the app, you will first need to verify your business phone number. This will be the same number that you will as a business use to communicate with your customers.
- Once your number is verified, you can choose to restore a previous chat associated with the mobile number. This would be the one you backed up in step 1.
- Set your business name and then once in the chat area, tap on the menu button and head to Settings> Business settings> Profile. Out here you will get a variety of fields similar to a contact card and you can fill in all the details that you want to share with your customers.
Once you have done the above, the basic setup is complete. You can now start connecting with people from your contact list and use the messaging tools to stay in touch with them.
WhatsApp Business has plenty of chances of turning into something really big and the addition of digital payment feature. The messaging app is at various stages of integrating its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based digital payments platform with SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank which works as catalyst.