WhatsApp is now enabling small and medium-sized businesses in India to register for the Meta Verified badge and send customized messages to their customers.
India has more than 65 million small businesses, but only about 5 million of them sell online, according to a joint report released in May by Mehta and Bain & Co. The company is looking to capitalize on this market opportunity by promoting WhatsApp Business, as the app is used by a majority of Indians for messaging and has emerged as a preferred way for small businesses to connect with customers.
The company said that the Meta Verified subscription will give Whatsapp Business users access to features such as creating custom WhatsApp pages that are searchable on the web, multi-device support, and multiple employee accounts.
Pricing for Meta Verified for WhatsApp Business starts at around $8 (roughly Rs. 639) per month for users in India.
In addition to Meta Verified, small businesses using WhatsApp Business can now schedule and send customized messages such as appointment reminders, birthday wishes, sales updates, etc. to their customers for less than Rs 1 per message. Businesses can also include the customer's name and add a customizable CTA button.
Last September, Meta launched a verification program for Instagram and Facebook business accounts.
WhatsApp has also embarked on an initiative called “WhatsApp Business Yatra” (WhatsApp Business Tour in Hindi) through which the company aims to visit tier 2 and tier 3 cities in the country to promote its services and provide direct training to small and medium-sized businesses.
“As part of this effort, we will provide training to small and medium-sized businesses on how to set up a WhatsApp Business account, create catalogues, set up clickable ads on WhatsApp, etc. We will also build a resource centre on our website that will act as a quick-access tutorial centre for these businesses,” the company said.