WhatsApp Business is finally available in India after being announced in markets like Italy, UK, Mexico, US and Indonesia. Users can now jump on the system and create their respective Business Profiles.

Currently, the app is only available for Android Users on Google Play Store. iOS users might have to wait for a bit. The WhatsApp Business service is very different from the WhatsApp service and caters more to business owners. You will be required to verify and register your mobile number once again. It will ask for a separate mobile number since it is a separate service meant for different users. This will also allow you to keep your regular WhatsApp separate from WhatsApp Business. You can either move your current mobile number to WhatsApp business or use a second number for the purpose of verification.

The company has explained all the features in its blog post which highlighted how small business owners can use WhatsApp to connect with their customers and business partners. The normal WhatsApp is meant for people and not for business purposes. WhatsApp for Business is free to download to Android users and will make it easier for business owners to connect with their customers. There are new features like Business Profiles, Messaging statistics, Messaging tools, WhatsApp web and Account type. The features are described in detail below:

• Business profile will help the customers get additional information like email or store address, website or any other description of the business.

• Messaging tools will enable business owners to quickly reply and ensure that they can send answers to queries. It will also allow business to set custom messages when the owners are busy or during off hours.

• WhatsApp web is the web interface of WhatsApp Business which allows business owners to send and receive messages through a desktop.

• Messaging Statistics provide metrics about the number of messages that were read so that they can tweak the content of their strategy of contacting the customers.

• Another important feature is the account type. The business owners can list themselves as businesses after they install the app in order to ensure that the customers contact them to know that they are the business owners. Over time, these business accounts will also get ‘confirmed accounts’ after it has been verified that the operator of the business account is using the same number as the actual business number.

There will be no change in WhatsApp for normal users and they have all the control on the messages that they receive. Additionally, users can also report messages from business accounts as spam if they are spammy in nature.