How Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat Helps Make Money Even while Offering Free Texting And Calling2243213
Have you ever wondered how a messaging app can make money whilst offering free texting and calling? WhatsApp users at India could be surprised to know that there's a lot more to messaging apps than communicating. Here's how: by providing services for example digital payments, online shopping as well as content.
China's WeChat is probably the best example of the large possibilities that messaging apps hold. With more than 900 million monthly active users, WeChat enables them to do every thing from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, purchasing online food as well as offline payments at restaurants - this all without having to go to another app. These types of services not merely provide the company unbelievable customer stickiness, additionally they create a wonderful revenue model.
At the moment, WeChat's rivals outside China this includes WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber and Line are behind the curve on this front, even though some have begun on the way to becoming greater platforms. "The reason chat apps are growing beyond communications is to build a sustainable monetisation strategy," said Neha Dharia, a senior analyst with a focus on messaging at London-based research firm Ovum. "Chat apps are moving away from being just a provider of communication tools chat, voice as well as video) to becoming a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms as well as content consumption."
WhatsApp, the biggest messaging app on the planet with 1.3 billion every month active users, introduced a business version in India very early this week. "Based on research, we realize that people are utilizing WhatsApp to speak with businesses. make business messaging far more convenient for folks and much more efficient for businesses," a WhatsApp representative said in response to ET's questions. Whatsapp Business is a different app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed largely at giving a direct communication platform to small businesses, many of who may be using WhatsApp already.
Even while Whatsapp has placed the service free, it might broaden it to much larger businesses with added features such as analytics, from which it could charge a usage fee at a later stage, thus developing a revenue model, segment watchers said. This also is targeted at improving subscriber connect that it can leverage for future monetization of its other services. The larger agenda - and a more important one - for these businesses is to get active users to spend more time on the app or services as well as make it viable for profit generation, according to experts.
"Every single technology company is vying for consumer stickiness, interaction and time spent on the app, and in order to keep them around the app's ecosystem they're widening themselves to turn into platforms. Just being messaging applications that offer cost-free services isn't going to be a solid revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founding father of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
