4 ms·

Interesting article and I must say I am quite surprised having used Whatsapp religiously for now over a decade that I had never heard about _WhatsApp for Busine

Interesting article and I must say I am quite surprised having used Whatsapp religiously for now over a decade that I had never heard about _WhatsApp for Business_. Makes me wonder when I will get to interact with this part of the app too... Not that I want to though.

isodev 2y ago
I discovered the feature while on holiday once, we could IM orders for food and drinks while near the pool so they can just bring them. It’s was awesome. Since then I’ve had several customer care services using this instead of email or calling. I like the async/treat it like a normal chat aspect to it.
- ValentineC 2y ago
  WhatsApp's single main life-changing thing for me was not having to pay exorbitant roaming charges to receive calls from hotels (mainly to tell me that my room is ready) while on a trip. There's always been methods to contact customers using data instead of VoLTE, but WhatsApp is simple and ubiquitous enough for businesses to adopt, since a lot of people outside the US use it in a personal capacity as well. More hotels should get onto WhatsApp.
  - manquer 2y ago
    As non WhatsApp user or any other app for that matter. It annoys me that services expect me to install yet another app to get basic customer service. I haven’t used WhatsApp in 10 years , one time I tried to install it because of some stupid service provider who I really needed to get info made me do it , they said my number is suspended or blocked whatever . I have no interest to chase their non existent support or change my number! to resolve this issue. You don’t have this problem with telecom providers even if AT&T refuses to do business with you , there two other actual and dozen other MVNOs who will . Businesses should absolutely stick to open standards and protocols for essential communication and not ask customers to also have service with another specific company for basic communication . Delivery is the first consideration, not some value added functionality.
    - epolanski 2y ago
      Not sure what are you talking about, but if I'm abroad I'd rather have the hotel call me on WhatsApp than on my phone. The second option can be extremely expensive in some places. There's no expectation for you to have it by the way.
      - manquer 2y ago
        Depending on the county, that IM app could WhatsApp , WeChat , telegram, Douyin or something else. You don’t know what the other person uses if any at all. SMS and phone just works out of the box everywhere and given a phone number the both likely will always work. If you were traveling abroad you would put a mobile roaming plan in the first place. It is not that expensive. I am not that big traveller perhaps do 5-6 international trips a year to few countries on my standard T-Mobile roaming plan I get 5GB data unlimited calls and texts on roaming almost in every country I visit out of the box no extra cost. It is just $10 extra per month, It is only expensive if you travel without doing that small change WhatsApp would need internet to work, WiFi is not ubiquitous everywhere or easy to use, many public ones have some captive app that needs something or other like local phone number - I have seen in some airports(!). To get reliable internet on your phone abroad you need data roaming in the first place, if you have that then there is no benefits of WhatsApp over call/sms. I don’t have a problem if there is extra communication or features in their IM workflow versus sms or voice , but places just assume you have what they use although you are not from there even in tourist friendly places, that is just rude.
        ValentineC 2y ago
        > WhatsApp would need internet to work, WiFi is not ubiquitous everywhere or easy to use, many public ones have some captive app that needs something or other like local phone number - I have seen in some airports(!). > To get reliable internet on your phone abroad you need data roaming in the first place, if you have that then there is no benefits of WhatsApp over call/sms. I buy eSIMs, which often don't come with a local number. But I get data. I don't need to receive normal calls apart from the rare hotel call. Receiving SMSes while roaming tends to be free, while calls aren't.

isodev 2y ago

I discovered the feature while on holiday once, we could IM orders for food and drinks while near the pool so they can just bring them. It’s was awesome. Since then I’ve had several customer care services using this instead of email or calling. I like the async/treat it like a normal chat aspect to it.

ValentineC 2y ago
WhatsApp's single main life-changing thing for me was not having to pay exorbitant roaming charges to receive calls from hotels (mainly to tell me that my room is ready) while on a trip. There's always been methods to contact customers using data instead of VoLTE, but WhatsApp is simple and ubiquitous enough for businesses to adopt, since a lot of people outside the US use it in a personal capacity as well. More hotels should get onto WhatsApp.
- manquer 2y ago
  As non WhatsApp user or any other app for that matter. It annoys me that services expect me to install yet another app to get basic customer service. I haven’t used WhatsApp in 10 years , one time I tried to install it because of some stupid service provider who I really needed to get info made me do it , they said my number is suspended or blocked whatever . I have no interest to chase their non existent support or change my number! to resolve this issue. You don’t have this problem with telecom providers even if AT&T refuses to do business with you , there two other actual and dozen other MVNOs who will . Businesses should absolutely stick to open standards and protocols for essential communication and not ask customers to also have service with another specific company for basic communication . Delivery is the first consideration, not some value added functionality.
  - epolanski 2y ago
    Not sure what are you talking about, but if I'm abroad I'd rather have the hotel call me on WhatsApp than on my phone. The second option can be extremely expensive in some places. There's no expectation for you to have it by the way.
    - manquer 2y ago
      Depending on the county, that IM app could WhatsApp , WeChat , telegram, Douyin or something else. You don’t know what the other person uses if any at all. SMS and phone just works out of the box everywhere and given a phone number the both likely will always work. If you were traveling abroad you would put a mobile roaming plan in the first place. It is not that expensive. I am not that big traveller perhaps do 5-6 international trips a year to few countries on my standard T-Mobile roaming plan I get 5GB data unlimited calls and texts on roaming almost in every country I visit out of the box no extra cost. It is just $10 extra per month, It is only expensive if you travel without doing that small change WhatsApp would need internet to work, WiFi is not ubiquitous everywhere or easy to use, many public ones have some captive app that needs something or other like local phone number - I have seen in some airports(!). To get reliable internet on your phone abroad you need data roaming in the first place, if you have that then there is no benefits of WhatsApp over call/sms. I don’t have a problem if there is extra communication or features in their IM workflow versus sms or voice , but places just assume you have what they use although you are not from there even in tourist friendly places, that is just rude.
      - ValentineC 2y ago
        > WhatsApp would need internet to work, WiFi is not ubiquitous everywhere or easy to use, many public ones have some captive app that needs something or other like local phone number - I have seen in some airports(!). > To get reliable internet on your phone abroad you need data roaming in the first place, if you have that then there is no benefits of WhatsApp over call/sms. I buy eSIMs, which often don't come with a local number. But I get data. I don't need to receive normal calls apart from the rare hotel call. Receiving SMSes while roaming tends to be free, while calls aren't.