The Way Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat Could Make Money While Offering Free Texting And Calling6548062
Ever wondered just how a messaging app could make money while offering free texting and calling? WhatsApp users within India may be surprised to discover that there are far more to messaging apps than communicating. Here's how: by providing services like digital payments, online shopping and also content.
China's WeChat is just about the best example of the vast potential which messaging apps hold. With more than Nine hundred million monthly active users, WeChat enables them do every thing from messaging, buying grocery, hailing cabs, purchasing online food and also offline payments at restaurants - this all without having to go to another app. These types of services not just offer the company incredible customer stickiness, they also create a exceptional 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 path to becoming greater platforms. "The actual reason chat apps are growing beyond communications is to develop a sustainable 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 just a provider of communication tools chat, voice and also video) to being a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms and also content consumption." WhatsApp, the biggest messaging app on earth with 1.3 billion monthly active users, introduced a business version in India early this week. "Based on research, we all know that people are using WhatsApp to speak to businesses. make business messaging far more convenient for folks and much more effective for businesses," a WhatsApp spokesperson 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, the majority of who might be using WhatsApp already.
Even while Whatsapp has maintained the service free, it could extend it to bigger businesses with added features like analytics, in which it could demand a usage fee at a later stage, as a result making a revenue model, segment watchers said. This also is geared at improving 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 far more time on the app or services and make it viable for revenue generation, based on 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 broadening themselves to turn into platforms. Simply being messaging apps offering cost-free services isn't going to be a strong revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founding father of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
