New features that will improve the user experience for businesses have been revealed for WhatsApp. Users in India may now make payments via the app thanks to a partnership between the platform and Razorpay and PayU. Additionally, WhatsApp unveiled Flows, a tool that enables companies to design bespoke forms for services like food ordering and appointment booking. For WhatsApp businesses, the platform recently launched Meta Verified, which provides improved account support and impersonation prevention. Business messaging is an important component of WhatsApp’s monetization strategy in India, which is considered as a key market.
On Wednesday, WhatsApp, a network for instant messaging owned by Meta, unveiled a number of new features aimed at enhancing user chat interactions with companies. To allow consumers to pay merchants via cards, UPI, and other methods, the site has partnered with online payment solutions providers Razorpay and PayU.
“WhatsApp has partnered with PayU and Razorpay to enable Indian users to conduct transactions through the app. We’re making it simpler to finish a transaction in-chat, it claimed.
It announced in a blog update that “as of today, people in India can add items to their cart and send a payment using the method of their choice from all supported UPI apps, debit and credit cards, and more.”
Along with the payment option, WhatsApp unveiled Flows, a tool that lets companies design bespoke forms and offer services like selecting a train seat, placing a food order, or scheduling an appointment without leaving the chat window.
WhatsApp stated that the functionality will roll out over the coming weeks. “With Flows, businesses will be able to provide rich menus and customizable forms that support different needs,” WhatsApp added.
Additionally, Meta Verified for WhatsApp businesses has been launched. Businesses who want to benefit from improved account assistance and impersonation security should sign up for the Meta Verified badge.
“Meta Verified will also include additional premium capabilities like multi-device support so that several employees can reply to customers and the option to establish a personalised WhatsApp page that is simple to find via a web search. Before bringing Meta Verified to companies utilising the WhatsApp Business Platform in the future, we’ll start testing it soon with small businesses using the WhatsApp Business app.
India is a critical market for the monetization of WhatsApp, with business messaging playing a vital role, according to Meta India president Sandhya Devanathan in an earlier interview with ET.
The decision to keep India as a priority market where business messaging will be utilised to drive the monetisation of WhatsApp was made by both the global and India leadership teams, according to Devanathan, who assumed leadership roughly nine months ago.
