Just how Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat Could Make Money Even while Providing Free Texting And Calling8723140
Ever thought the way a messaging app can make money whilst providing free texting and calling? WhatsApp users in India might be surprised to find out that there are far more to messaging apps than communicating. Here's how: by providing services like digital payments, online shopping and content.
China's WeChat is just about the perfect example of the great opportunity that messaging apps hold. With well over Nine hundred million monthly active users, WeChat assists them to do everything from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, buying online food and also offline payments at restaurants - this all without needing to go to another app. These services not just provide the company outstanding customer stickiness, they also create a exceptional revenue model.
Right now, WeChat's rivals outside China such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber and also Line are behind the curve on this front, even though some have started on the way to becoming bigger platforms. "The reason chat apps are growing 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 from being just a provider of communication tools chat, voice and video) to being a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms and also content consumption." WhatsApp, the largest messaging app in the world with 1.3 billion every month active users, introduced a business version in India early this week. "Based on research, we know that people are utilizing WhatsApp to speak with businesses. make business messaging far more convenient for individuals and much more efficient for businesses," a WhatsApp spokesman said in respond to ET's questions. Whatsapp Business is a separate app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed mainly at giving a direct communication platform to smaller businesses, many of who may be using WhatsApp already.
While Whatsapp has placed the service free, it could expand it to larger businesses with added features such as analytics, by which it may well charge a usage fee at a later stage, thus creating a revenue model, segment watchers said. This actually also is geared at improving subscriber connect which it can leverage for future monetization of its other services. The greater agenda - and a more important one - for these corporations is to get active users to take much more time on the app or services and make it viable for income generation, according to analysts.
"Each technology company is competing for consumer stickiness, interaction as well as time invested on the app, and in order to keep them in the app's ecosystem they're widening themselves to turn into platforms. Simply being messaging applications that provide free services certainly won't be a good revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founding father of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
