Leading online messanger, Whatsapp is all set to monetization of their platform, in India. Whatsapp has announced that their API or Application Programming Interface would be now available for businesses, and MakeMyTrip would be their first customer in India.
Whatsapp’s payment services have now received another roadblock, and this time, it is their office which is to be blamed.
Whatsapp’s very
first revenue-generating product in India would be their APIs, which businesses can use to schedule and send commercial messages.
first revenue-generating product in India would be their APIs, which businesses can use to schedule and send commercial messages.
As per incoming reports, each commercial message would be charged between 0.5 cents to 9 cents (34 paise to Rs 6), depending on the country, and the business.
MakeMyTrip, India’s one of the most popular travel app would be the first to use their APIs and send commercial messages. Zendesk and 1MG will be also using the business APIs for sending commercial messages.
Fine for Late Reply?
Interestingly, there is a provision wherein, if businesses are late in sending replies back, then the cost of messages would increase.
This has been done to make businesses aware of the value of time, and to create a better user-experience for the users.
Besides, Whatsapp has also acknowledged that the charges for their text messages are indeed higher than SMS, which businesses are right now using. However, Whatsapp is confident that the value proposition will make the charges justified.
WhatsApp COO, Matthew Idema said " Last year we saw that a lot of small businesses were using the app for communicating with their customers. We realised that it was a useful tool for businesses in India and created value for the consumers as well"
Features :-
Businesses are keen to leverage Whatsapp’s immense reach and massive platform.
Airlines and travel businesses can use Whatsapp to send tickets to their customers and to update them about any delays etc.
Banks can use Whatsapp to keep customers updated about their account and to suggest new offers.
Health startups like 1MG can take orders from the customers directly, and even make the payments, once Whatsapp payments is live.
Ticketing platforms like BookMyShow are already using Whatsapp to share tickets with the users, like this:
