Meta tries again and again to monetize WhatsApp. The parent company of Facebook, which has owned the instant messaging solution since 2014, hopes to convince companies to pay for WhatsApp in exchange for some advanced features. The solution, cleverly named WhatsApp Premium, has just been rolled out to the four corners of the globe.
A slow deployment
According to the website WABetaInfo, an option to subscribe to the premium offer of WhatsApp is starting to appear on the accounts of certain companies that use the beta version of the application on iOS or Android. Not everyone is entitled to it yet, and WhatsApp seems to be rolling out this new feature little by little; don’t worry if you can’t find it at home. Please also note that this offer specifically concerns the application WhatsApp Business and not the consumer version of the service.
The premium offer, whose price seems to vary depending on the country, includes several options for businesses. The first is a personalized link (on the model “https://wa.me/lenomdemonentreprise”) which allows Internet users who click on it to arrive either on a page briefly presenting the company, or directly on a discussion session with the targeted business. “A WhatsApp webpage can help boost your online presence and reputation, and make your business easier to find on search engines” indicates the company on the service’s help page.
WhatsApp remains free
The other cool feature is the ability to link up to 10 devices to a single Premium account. Thus, no need to centralize all professional discussions on a single phone, all employees whose mission is to ensure customer relations can access the company’s WhatsApp account on their own phones. It is even possible to assign certain requests to certain employees in particular.
The arrival of WhatsApp Premium does not mean that instant messaging will suddenly become chargeable. Only additional options reserved for businesses will be subject to a monthly payment, the other features already present in WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business will remain free. For Meta, it’s a way to generate revenue via its messaging solution which, until then, had remained devoid of any and other monetization systems.