Previously, WhatsApp Business in Germany was only available for Android smartphones. From now on, businesses can also use Messenger on iOS smartphones. As usual, the Business App can be downloaded free of charge from the App Store. This strong delay of the iOS release, which has only just taken place in other countries, is probably due to special technical and organizational requirements in the Apple App Store, which did not exist for the Android version. In addition to Germany, WhatsApp Business is now also available in Brazil, Indonesia, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.
A number of additional features are designed to simplify communication between small businesses and their customers. Companies can create a profile in the business app and store information such as the website, an address, and their contact details.
In addition, quick answers to frequently asked questions can be defined in order to react quickly and quickly to customer enquiries. Automatic welcome and absence messages enable customer communication even when no employee is currently present or available. Thanks to WhatsApp web support, the functions can also be used on the computer.
To evaluate the communication channel, WhatsApp Business provides statistics on the number of messages sent, including how many messages have been read.
With approximately 50 million Internet users using WhatsApp in the last three months, according to a survey by the Bitkom digital association in Germany, the messaging app is also becoming an increasingly relevant alternative to traditional e-mail for companies.
