WhatsApp is set to enhance its in-app shopping experience with the introduction of “Flows”, a feature that will allow users to perform tasks such as selecting flight seats or making appointments without exiting the app.
This new tool will provide businesses with a variety of building components, including text boxes, calendars, and seat selectors, to customize their in-app experiences.
The company has announced that these resources will be rolled out to merchants in the upcoming months.
The intended applications of Flows, as highlighted on its support page, encompass activities like appointment bookings, product tailoring, account logins, form completions, and event registrations.
WhatsApp has already been piloting the Flows feature in collaboration with several businesses, including Banco Pan in Brazil, retail giant MagaLu, tech company Lenovo, Indian travel agency Redbus, India’s SBI bank, and auto trade platform Spinny.
Nikila Srinivasan, VP of business messaging at Meta, emphasized to TechCrunch the company’s ambitions in the realm of shopping and e-commerce.
She stated: “Our objective is to evolve business messaging, enabling richer engagements directly within chat threads. The feature is integral to this vision.”
While e-commerce entities are currently primary users of Flows, WhatsApp aspires to create valuable experiences for a broader range of businesses.
Interestingly, Meta has decided not to levy separate charges on merchants for the Flows feature. Instead, interactions using Flows will be incorporated into the existing payment structure.
At present, WhatsApp bills businesses for specific types of conversations that occur within a 24-hour timeframe, categorized under marketing, utility, authentication, and service. For example, a customer’s in-chat appointment request would typically be classified as a utility.
WhatsApp is also collaborating with new payment partners to refine the payment experience for its substantial user base in India, which exceeds 500 million.
