WhatsApp Introduces AI Assistants and New Features for Small Businesses in India

WhatsApp getting AI assistants for small companies to customise ads

After disrupting the SMS channel, WhatsApp is piloting calling functionality for large enterprises, which could cause a channel shift from IVR telephony currently used for customer services.WhatsApp voice calling for businesses, GenAI integration, click-to-WhatsApp ads are the next big disruption which will "turbo-charge" the platform's growth in India, Nikhila Srinivasan, VP Product Management at Meta told ET. After disrupting the SMS channel, WhatsApp is piloting calling functionality for large enterprises, which could cause a channel shift from IVR telephony currently used for customer services. "We look at it differently than traditional calling, and, by the way, calling is something which business users have been seeking from us for long," Srinivasan said, explaining that WhatsApp users will be able to make outbound calls to customer service agents of businesses in the context of already active chat. Also Read | Meta unveils verified badge, new AI tools for WhatsApp Business "It will be more focused on addressing complex queries, or contextually aware conversations which need immediate attention for use cases like flight cancellation support, or buying an insurance policy etc." Sandhya Devanathan, vice president at Meta India, said that Click to WhatsApp Ads on Facebook and Instagram are leading to more lead conversion, upselling and cross-selling for businesses. Revenue from click-to-WA ads have doubled in India. "WhatsApp Payments is another area which businesses are adopting in a big way...It's been nearly two years that we launched payments and we've seen the volumes double in just the last six months," she said. Meta, the global leader in GenAI development is also extending its AI model Llama's capabilities to WhatsApp Business users for two unique purposes - AI Agents and AI Assistants. "We envisage that every business will have the support that they need from an AI agent. We want AI to be a supportive tool around how they take care of customer engagement, how they close that sale, how they respond to complaints," Devanathan said. "That's piloting, as we speak, in India, and we hope to roll out AI agents soon." Meanwhile, AI Assistants will help small businesses to design personalised ad creatives within WhatsApp. "We're piloting that now in the US and Singapore and hopefully very soon in India." When asked about Meta's efforts in preventing spamming on WhatsApp, Devanathan said, "We are developing this channel very thoughtfully." "When they (businesses) want to reach a wider audience, we have Facebook and Instagram, and that's where we have click-to-WhatsApp ads. This way the users have the choice when they initiate that conversation." "The second thing is that when some business is potentially behaving badly or spamming customers, users have the choice to block or report a business. And we take that very seriously," she said.

WhatsApp has been a game changer for India's small businesses: Sandhya Devanathan

In a bid to further bolster their business messaging proposition in India, Meta announced a slew range of features for small businesses in India on Thursday. One of the key announcements included the Meta-verified badges on WhatsApp. In a one on one chat with businessline Sandhya Devanathan, VP, Meta in India explained the significance of these propositions for businesses on WhatsApp and consumers alike. QSince 2022, Meta has been focusing heavily on business messaging on WhatsApp, nearly two years on -- what do you think has worked or not worked for you? I have always maintained that WhatsApp has been a game changer for India's small businesses. So Meta always wanted to remain invested and focused on the small business space because they will be transformative for the country in terms of the economic value they will bring. In business messaging, we have launched a slew of features over the years. We have done a lot of skilling. So if you take a look at "payments" which Mark announced at Conversations last year, I can tell you for a fact that we have doubled the number of payments being done on the platform in the last six months. Going forward, I think GenAI will open a lot of possibilities for businesses in terms of bringing consumer support or helping in creatives. So, on that front we have announced GenAI assistance and GenAI agents. GenAI agents are currently being tested in India, GenAI assistance will be first piloted in the US, Singapore before we bring it to India. QMeta has enabled many new features to bring forth cross platform operability, where users can discover businesses on one platform and interact with said businesses on the other. But what can meta do to enable, discovery, interaction, and payment on one single platform? There is always more to be done, I don't think we have reached the goalposts in terms of what we want to build on the platform. But there are encouraging signs, such as payments doubling on WhatsApp, or businesses seeing improved operations from business messaging. More and more users are finding it much more intuitive to interact with the business within the app instead of leaving. We are pretty encouraged by these results. QWhat do you envision AI agents to be as a product? WhatsApp AI agent continues to be in its pilot phase. Our hope and expectation are that businesses will be able to have all the support that they need from an AI agent within WhatsApp. Every business can turn to an AI tool that will help them run the business better and grow their business. Obviously, all of this will be done within the context of WhatsApp. QDo you see Meta-verified on WhatsApp to prevent scams and frauds on the platform? I think it has more to do with businesses wanting to have a faster way to build trust with their users by furnishing the right kind of documents to get verification. I cannot comment specifically on whether frauds or spams are increasing or decreasing but we are taking the necessary steps to address that. For instance, we are actively training businesses to not needlessly spam users with content, especially as the festive season is on the horizon. Similarly, we have reporting mechanisms for users to block and report suspicious businesses as well. QAside from small businesses can you speak in detail about your partnerships with larger businesses. We are doing bigger partnerships, such as our collaboration with Max Life on payments front. But I will give you a few more examples that are also exciting. We launched the ability to book tickets on WhatsApp for Bangalore metro a while back. Since then, 6 out of 9 metros have introduced ticketing through WhatsApp. We also have DTC on WhatsApp. So far, we have done 6 million ticketing transactions where our previous target was 2 million, so that is exciting. SHARE Copy linkEmailFacebookTwitterTelegramLinkedInWhatsAppRedditPublished on September 12, 2024

Meta unveils verified badge, new AI tools for WhatsApp Business

At the WhatsApp Business Summit in Mumbai, Meta also spotlighted Artificial Intelligence tools for enhancing the messaging experience. To start with, Meta will make it easy to activate AI directly from WhatsApp Business app to enable businesses to engage more efficiently with their customers - it has recently started testing this in India, and says early results are exciting.With more businesses embracing messaging to engage with their customers, Meta on Thursday announced a slew of new features and programmes including full availability of verified badge - a trust marker- for small businesses to establish credibility and credentials with consumers. At the WhatsApp Business Summit in Mumbai, Meta also spotlighted artificial intelligence (AI) tools for enhancing the messaging experience. To start with, Meta will make it easy to activate AI directly from WhatsApp Business app to enable businesses to engage more efficiently with their customers - it has recently started testing this in India, and says early results are exciting. The US social media giant also announced customised messages on WhatsApp Business app, as it pledged commitment to supporting the growth of small businesses in India. Meta said the line up of features and updates will help businesses across the country build a presence and create great in-chat experiences for customers while driving performance ahead of the upcoming festive season. It also announced WhatsApp Bharat Yatra - an outreach to various tier 2 and 3 cities in India for offering on-ground, in-person training to small businesses. Under the initiative, it will train small businesses in setting up their WhatsApp Business accounts, creating catalogs, educating them on how to set up ads that click to WhatsApp, among others. Meta India, Vice President Sandhya Devanathan noted: "The way we WhatsApp a business has only continued to grow... The manner in which Indians are WhatsApping businesses is second to none." According to the platform, the ease of WhatsApp has placed it at the centre of India's digital transformation, helping businesses with ideas and new models of growth. WhatsApp presented various instances of how businesses are already using messaging to engage with their customers - from Max Life simplifying experiences for non savvy digital users with vernacular chat support, to Maruti Suzuki tapping digital-savvy customers with WhatsApp Flows. Meta said that the new features announced at WhatsApp Business Summit demonstrate its commitment to helping businesses maximise their value per dollar while providing exceptional customer experiences on WhatsApp. The verified badge would allow small businesses using the WhatsApp Business app to establish credibility with their customers. "Millions of small businesses use the WhatsApp Business app in India, and they frequently tell us that they want to stand out and build credibility with their customers. Now, Meta Verified is available to all eligible small businesses in India using the WhatsApp Business app," according to a Meta release. With Meta Verified, businesses that choose to subscribe and demonstrate their authenticity will receive a verified badge, impersonation protection, account support, and premium features that help amplify their brand online and make it more efficient to chat with customers. The same badge will appear on their WhatsApp Channels and Business pages, making it easy to share on social media and websites. Starting today in India, small businesses using the WhatsApp Business app will be able to send customised messages to their customers, say appointment reminders, birthday greetings or even updates on a holiday sale, more easily, and faster. "This new feature, available for a fee, gives businesses the ability to send personal messages with a customer's name and customisable call-to-action buttons and will also enable them to schedule the day and time the messages are sent," the release said. Meta also outlined best practices for businesses to build meaningful and valuable connections with people ahead of the busy festive season. "People don't want their WhatsApp to become overloaded like other channels, making them miss out on important messages from people and businesses they care about and want to hear from. That's why we're focused on helping businesses foster meaningful and valuable connections with people. Whether a business is creating a custom flow or running a messaging campaign for a holiday sale, there are several things to keep in mind to help them be successful on WhatsApp," it said urging businesses to seek customers' permission for each type of message being sent be it a timely update on a delivery or a holiday sale coupon. It also exhorted businesses to be thoughtful about when and what messages are being sent to customers. "Make sure the subject line or preview text clearly indicates the message's relevance and be thoughtful about when it's being sent..." The release said adding that basic information provided to businesses like read rates can help them gauge what's working and what's not, which in turn can help determine the right frequency for messaging customers to avoid overload.