Just how Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat Helps Make Money Even while Offering up Free Texting And Calling817474
Have you ever wondered the way a messaging app can make money whilst giving free texting and calling? WhatsApp users at India may be surprised to discover that there are far more to messaging apps than communicating. Here is how: by offering services like digital payments, online shopping and content.
China's WeChat is probably the best example of the large possibilities that messaging apps hold. With well over Nine hundred million monthly active users, WeChat helps them do everything from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, buying online food and even offline payments at restaurants - this all without having to go to another app. These kinds of services not merely offer the company unbelievable customer stickiness, in addition they create a exceptional revenue model.
At the moment, WeChat's competitors outside China including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber and also Line are behind the curve on this front, even though some have started on the road to becoming greater platforms. "The reason chat apps are expanding beyond communications is to develop 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 from being merely 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 largest messaging app in the world 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 less difficult 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 mostly at giving a direct communication platform to small enterprises, many of who might be using WhatsApp already.
While Whatsapp has kept the service free, it may broaden it to larger businesses with added features like analytics, from which it may well charge a usage fee at a later stage, therefore developing a revenue model, segment watchers said. This actually also is geared at raising subscriber connect that it can leverage for future monetization of their other services. The bigger agenda - and a more crucial one - for these firms is to get active users to take much more time on the app or services as well as make it viable for revenue generation, according to experts.
"Every single technology company is competing for consumer stickiness, interaction as well as time spent on the app, and in order to keep them in the app's ecosystem they are broadening themselves to become platforms. Just being messaging applications that offer cost-free services isn't going to be a good revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founder of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
