Just how Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat Can Make Money While Providing Free Texting And Calling1254558
Ever thought about the way a messaging app can make money whilst offering free texting and calling? WhatsApp users within India may be surprised to find out that there's more to messaging apps than communicating. Here is how: by offering services such as digital payments, online shopping as well as content.
China's WeChat is among the ultimate example of the large opportunity which messaging apps hold. With over Nine hundred million monthly active users, WeChat enables them to do every thing from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, buying online food and also offline payments at restaurants - all this without needing to go to another app. These types of services not just offer the company outstanding customer stickiness, they also create a wonderful revenue model.
For now, WeChat's competition outside China including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber and Line are behind the curve on this front, even though some have begun on the way to becoming larger platforms. "The actual reason chat apps are widening beyond communications is to create a lasting monetisation strategy," said Neha Dharia, a senior analyst with a focus on messaging at London-based research firm Ovum. "Chat apps are shifting away from being just a provider of communication tools chat, voice and also video) to becoming a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms and also content consumption."
WhatsApp, the biggest messaging app on earth with 1.3 billion every month active users, introduced a business version in India very early this week. "Based on research, we know that people are using WhatsApp to speak with businesses. make business messaging more convenient for individuals and more productive for businesses," a WhatsApp representative said in response to ET's questions. Whatsapp Business is a separate app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed mostly at giving a direct communication platform to smaller businesses, a lot of who might be using WhatsApp already.
Even while Whatsapp has kept the service free, it may expand it to much larger businesses with added features for example analytics, in which it could demand a usage fee at a later stage, as a result making a revenue model, segment watchers said. This actually also is geared at raising subscriber connect which it can leverage for future monetization of its other services. The larger agenda - and a more critical one - for these companies is to get active users to take a lot more time on the app or services and also make it viable for revenue generation, based on analysts.
"Each and every technology company is vying for consumer stickiness, interaction and time invested on the app, and in order to keep them around the app's ecosystem they're broadening themselves to turn into platforms. Simply being messaging apps that provide cost-free services isn't going to be a solid revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founder of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
