Just how Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat Could Make Money Even while Providing Free Texting And Calling6896607
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 is a lot more to messaging apps than communicating. Here's how: by providing services such as digital payments, online shopping and content.
China's WeChat is just about the perfect example of the huge opportunity that messaging apps hold. With over 900 million monthly active users, WeChat assists them do every thing from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, ordering online food and also offline payments at restaurants - all this without having to go to another app. These kinds of services not just provide the company incredible customer stickiness, additionally they create a remarkable revenue model.
Right now, 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 started on the way to becoming greater platforms. "The reason chat apps are widening beyond communications is to build a lasting 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 simply 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 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 know that people are employing WhatsApp to talk to businesses. make business messaging less difficult for folks and much more efficient for businesses," a WhatsApp spokesman 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 small enterprises, many of who might be using WhatsApp already.
While Whatsapp has placed the service free, it may expand it to bigger businesses with added features for example analytics, by 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 raising subscriber connect that it can leverage for future monetization of their other services. The larger agenda - and a more critical one - for these companies is to get active users to spend more time on the app or services and make it viable for income generation, according to specialists.
"Every technology company is vying for consumer stickiness, interaction along with time spent on the app, and in order to keep them within the app's ecosystem they're widening themselves to become platforms. Merely being messaging applications offering cost-free services certainly won't be a good revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founding father of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
