Facebook parent Meta on Thursday said that it is making its paid verification service – Meta Verified, available to all eligible small businesses in India using the WhatsApp Business app.
This rollout comes around a year after its initial announcement in September 2023. The company said in June that Meta Verified would be available to WhatsApp Business users in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Colombia.
Also Read: WhatsApp rolls out new feature that lets users organise events within group chats
Meta Verified for WhatsApp Business starts at around $8 (about Rs 639) a month for users in India, reports TechCrunch.
India is WhatsApp’s biggest market with more than 500 million users.
As mentioned in the report, the company is trying to make most of this market potential by promoting WhatsApp Business, as the app is used by the majority of Indians for messaging and has evolved as a popular platform for small businesses to communicate with clients.
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Moreover, the company mentioned that Meta Verified subscriptions give Whatsapp Business users access to features such as the ability to create custom WhatsApp pages discoverable on the web, multi-device support, and multiple employee accounts.
In addition to Meta Verified, WhatsApp Business now offers small businesses the ability to schedule and send customized messages – think birthday wishes, appointment reminders, or sales updates – to customers for less than a rupee per message. Businesses can also include customer’s names and add customizable call-to-action buttons, the report noted.
Additionally, WhatsApp is embarking on an initiative called WhatsApp Business Yatra, which aims to provide in-person training to small businesses in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the country.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature that will allow users to organise events within group chats, according to the release notes for the latest update.
The new feature will allow users to organise events, meetings, and social gatherings directly within a group chat.