WhatsApp Business Gets New Features Like Chat With QR Codes, Catalogue Sharing, More

WhatsApp Business is getting new features like QR codes to start chats, links to product catalogues, and 'open for business' stickers that businesses can use. WhatsApp Business is a tool for businesses to manage their presence on the messaging app, and is designed with features like Business Profiles, away messages and greeting messages, and verification. With the new features, WhatsApp hopes to make it easier for businesses to start chatting with prospective customers, and new stickers to show that the businesses are back in action. 

WhatsApp stated in a press release that as businesses across the world begin to re-open and expand online, they will need simpler ways for their customers to get in touch with them and also let people know about their business and catalogue. For this, WhatsApp Business has got three new features – using QR codes to start a chat, the ability to share links for catalogues, and a new sticker pack.

WhatsApp has also revealed that there are now over 50 million WhatsApp Business app users around the world, of which 15 million are Indian.

Start chatting with the help of QR codes

While chatting with a business on WhatsApp Business is still possible, users needed to add them to their phonebook and then start a chat. The company has rolled out QR codes for businesses to make the process a little less cumbersome. Customers will be able to scan a QR code that a business has on its storefront, receipt, or product packaging, and start chatting with a representative.

WhatsApp Business users on Android who want to use QR codes can do so by tapping on More options > Business Tools > Short link > View QR Code. iPhone users can tap on Settings > Business Tools > Short Link > QR Code.

Catalogue sharing improvements

WhatsApp Business users can also make use of the catalogue feature to show customers the products they offer. According to WhatsApp, this has been a very useful feature for the businesses it works with; but these were hard to share until now. With the new update, WhatsApp has improved sharing both catalogues and individual products through social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others.

Businesses can simply copy the link and share it in any way they want, WhatsApp said.

Open for Business sticker pack

The Open for Business sticker pack includes more than 20 new animated designs to “help people and businesses stay connected, say thanks and get business done.” These stickers will be available to both WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business users. The pack includes stickers for ‘out of stock', ‘sale', 'closing soon', ‘address please', free delivery', ‘back in stock', ‘closed', and several other designs.

There are a variety of stickers for business owners to choose from

To access this sticker pack, tap Emoji icon > Stickers > Add, and you should see the pack. Tap on Download next to the pack and once done, it should show in your list of stickers.

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