Meta has revealed several new WhatsApp features aimed at enhancing business-customer communications.
Announced at the company’s third annual Conversations conference in Sao Paulo, Meta described the fresh capabilities as part of its strategy to “help people and businesses connect and get business done on WhatsApp.”
The new tools and advancements include a WhatsApp AI assistant, the availability of Meta Verified for WhatsApp Business users, and a calling function for larger businesses.
Speaking at the event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, outlined his vision for how the new AI assistant will improve WhatsApp Business’ customer service and experience offerings:
Any business should be able to quickly stand up an agent that can talk to your customers, provide support, and facilitate commerce.
Meta’s decision to put more resources into WhatsApp Business is unsurprising, given its widespread use as a customer service tool.
Indeed, research conducted by What’s the Big Data at the end of 2023 revealed that there were over 50 million companies using WhatsApp Business, with the messaging platform capable of boosting sales by 127% and increasing customer service standards by 225%.
So, let’s take a closer look at how Meta’s latest enhancements will impact WhatsApp Business users and their customers.
AI Tools to Help Businesses Better Assist Customers
With plans to roll out the new assistant to customers and businesses in India, Singapore, and Brazil, the AI tool will be trained to answer common business inquiries on WhatsApp for faster customer support.
Meta is also using AI to help businesses create ads on Facebook and Instagram, reminding customers of abandoned carts or offering purchase discounts.
While these features will be new to users, Zuckerberg was also keen to point out the AI benefits that customers and businesses are already enjoying:
Up until now, businesses would typically message all customers who had asked to receive updates on WhatsApp.
“But now you can use Ads Manager to deliver messages to those customers who are most likely to be interested with our AI systems recommending the right subset of recipients."
Meta Verified for WhatsApp
Meta is launching Meta Verified on the WhatsApp Business app in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Colombia.
The badge indicates that a business has registered with Meta, providing them with improved account assistance – including impersonation protection, and enabling WhatsApp use across multiple devices for their employees.
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Meta News: New AI Tools, Meta Verified and More for Businesses on WhatsApp[/caption]