Soon, bigger businesses and enterprises using WhatsApp Business will be able to call and receive clients.
WhatsApp is expanding its business suite’s AI features. In order to enable the app to investigate the usage of AI-powered voice agents, the company stated yesterday that it is launching the capability for big enterprises to contact clients via voice calls.
The business is also investigating the use of AI to make product recommendations to customers.
Meta said on Tuesday that two additional features will soon be available to WhatsApp Business users. At its global Conversations conference in Miami, the company revealed new features for enterprises. Bigger businesses and enterprises that will soon be able to make and receive phone calls to clients are the target audience for the initial feature. The second feature introduces Business AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that can automatically offer products to consumers in order to increase sales. Notably, in the upcoming weeks, these functionalities will be shipped.
In the most recent quarterly earnings calls, Meta’s management mentioned that WhatsApp Business, which has more than 200 million monthly users, has been a significant source of revenue. The business charges merchants for the platform’s messaging functionalities and makes money from its click-to-WhatsApp advertisements.
The social media giant stated in a press post that it now plans to simplify the process by which companies develop and oversee marketing campaigns on all Meta platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Businesses can access this through Ads Manager.
Although the company does not charge at the moment for its AI features, once it reaches scale, it may implement a pricing structure.
Larger business accounts have not yet been able to use WhatsApp to voice chat with customers, while small business accounts can currently do so. Larger companies will be able to use the API to access this capability in the coming weeks. Customers will be able to voice call businesses and businesses will be able to return the call. (The latter is now available; it wasn’t during previous tests last year.)
By removing distinct experiences for companies of all sizes, WhatsApp Business is simplifying its platform. Within Ads Manager, all setup and workflows will now be combined in one central spot. According to the company, after onboarding, businesses can upload their subscriber list and use Advantage+, manually choose marketing messages as an extra placement, or have Meta’s AI models optimize budgets for them to deliver optimal performance.
A new chatbot called Business AI will soon be available to WhatsApp Business customers, one of the two new features. In an effort to increase sales, it might generate customized product recommendations for clients. In the WhatsApp chat, it can also follow up with individuals who are customers, respond to their inquiries, or provide them updates. First, a limited number of Mexican enterprises will be able to use this feature.
Receiving phone calls from individuals who are customers through WhatsApp’s Business dashboard was previously limited to smaller companies. The feature is currently being extended to bigger businesses as well. They can call a customer directly after they have indicated that they would like to speak with a representative, or they can get a call from customers who indicate that they would like to speak with someone in person.
Customers will soon be able to send and receive voice messages from businesses, according to WhatsApp.
For some use cases, WhatsApp Business will soon also offer voice messaging and video calls (for example, video calls will be accessible for healthcare appointments). According to Meta, speech support expansion will eventually lead to AI-enabled voice support. The business did not, however, specify a release date for the feature.
By turning on voice pipelines, businesses might use a firm like Vapi, ElevenLabs, Coval, or Phonic to put up an AI-powered speech agent to provide customer support on WhatsApp.
Additionally, a chat-based customer service and outreach tool driven by AI that was tested last year is now being made available to more Mexican retailers.
Furthermore, WhatsApp wants to use AI to drive product recommendations on a retailer’s website.
AI is being used by a number of venture-backed firms today to provide sellers with tailored product recommendations. Similarly, Meta claimed that its AI could respond to follow-up queries or send updates over WhatsApp following an initial suggestion or discussion.
With the public release, the upgrades will begin rolling out to corporate clients today and will expand to a larger user base in the upcoming weeks.
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