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In 2022, WhatsApp Business was the biggest social messaging platform in the world.
And in 2023, they're planning to get bigger and better. Their goal?
“We're building out a number of tools around business messaging so that people can follow up and complete transactions and get support through messaging, and then payments so that people can complete transactions, too,” explains Mark Zuckerberg.
In a conversation with Reuters, Zuckerberg further revealed, “the reality is that business messaging is probably going to be the next major pillar of our business as we work to monetize WhatsApp and Messenger more.”
Not sure if WhatsApp Business is for you? Read on.
How many users does WhatsApp have?
Before you invest your time and energy into WhatsApp Business, you probably want to know if your potential audience even uses this platform for communication. How many people use WhatsApp in general?
Let’s find out.
- Towards the end of 2022, there were 2.4 billion WhatsApp users.
The number is steadily increasing. To put it into retrospect, 1 out of 4 people use WhatsApp for communication and staying in touch with friends and family.
- Out of them, 45.8% are female users and 54.2% are male users.
- Daily active users (DAUs) has increased by 4% since January 2021. Its competitors, Telegram and Signal, have reported a loss of more than 60% DAUs over the same time period.
- WhatsApp also boasts 1 billion more users monthly than Facebook Messenger.
- Gen Z and millennials make up the highest percentage of WhatsApp users. 31% of WhatsApp users are between the ages of 18 to 34 years old. Next are 27% of WhatsApp users, between the ages of 35 and 44 years. The least percentage of WhatsApp users are aged 65+.
Which country has the highest number of WhatsApp users?
- Brazil has the highest share of WhatsApp users, with a percentage of 98.9%. Next came India and Italy, with a WhatsApp penetration rate of approximately 97%. The United Kingdom has a WhatsApp penetration rate of 71.3%.
- The country with the highest number of WhatsApp users in India with 487 million WhatsApp users.
- Most WhatsApp Business downloads in 2022 came from users in India.
- On the second number? Indonesia with 73 million downloads.
- In general, the Asia Pacific region has the highest number of WhatsApp users. In the Asia-Pacific region, around 779 million WhatsApp regular users and company accounts were estimated to have interacted on WhatsApp Business in 2021.
How do users use WhatsApp?
"We are proud that WhatsApp is able to deliver roughly 100 billion messages daily and we're excited about the road ahead, says" Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Meta.
- Over 100 billion WhatsApp messages are sent every day.
- And over two billion minutes are spent on WhatsApp voice and video calls per day.
- An average user opens WhatsApp around 23 to 25 times a day.
- WhatsApp is available across 180 different countries, accessible in 20+ different languages.
- WhatsApp is the third most popular social media network after Facebook and YouTube. It’s also the third most used platform globally.
- 50% American users use WhatsApp messenger daily, 78% use it weekly and a whopping 91% use it monthly.
- In 2021, global users amassed approximately 220.5 million downloads of WhatsApp Business. Compared to 2020, this was up by 25.3%.
How many businesses use WhatsApp Business?
- In 2020, there were more than 50 million WhatsApp Business app users.
- In 2021, the number of global consumers and companies using WhatsApp Business was estimated to surpass 1.2 billion users.
- WhatsApp Business was downloaded 292 million times on Android and iOS devices in 2022.
Why do consumers and businesses use WhatsApp Business?
- 64% of WhatsApp users agreed that WhatsApp fosters a personal connection to businesses.
- And 65% feel more confident messaging businesses vs. sending an email.
- 68% of users also call WhatsApp the easiest method of contacting a business.
- WhatsApp is also one of the 4 most popular platforms consumers use to explore new products.
- On WhatsApp, more than 40 million people view a Business Catalog every month.
- 83% of customers use messaging apps like WhatsApp Business to contact a business to learn about products, and 75% of them actually go on to make the purchase.
How popular is WhatsApp’s Chatbot?
WhatsApp Chatbot uses AI (artificial Intelligence to reply to consumers and answer their queries).
- Chatbots, including WhatsApp Chatbots, will save consumers and businesses over 2.5 billion customer service hours by 2023.
- 1.4 billion people use messaging apps and are willing to talk to chatbots.
- Chatbots saw a 92% use increase since 2019, making it the brand communication channel with the largest growth.
- 54% of consumers want to use WhatsApp Business (and similar communication tools) to seek customer service and support. While 42% of them use WhatsApp Business for pre-purchase queries.
- 65% of shoppers would buy from a business they can message.
Results?
- 55% of businesses using chatbots generate a greater volume of high-quality leads.
📚 Read more: How to build a WhatsApp chatbot for business (100% no code)
Who owns WhatsApp Business now?
Let’s go back a few years.
- WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by two former Yahoo employees, Brian Acton and Jan Koum.
- In October 2009, Brian Acton received $250,000 in seed funding for WhatsApp.
- They secured $8 million in VC funding and WhatsApp grew with over 200 million users by February 2013.
- In 2014, Facebook eventually acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion.
- WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API were slowly launched in 2018 to cater to business owners.
So who owns WhatsApp Business now?
- Meta Incorporated, previously known as Facebook, Inc., is the current owner of WhatsApp.
What is WhatsApp Business’s revenue?
“The WhatsApp Business app was designed with the small business owner in mind, specifically to make connecting with customers quick and easy. Whether it’s to send automatic replies or have a digital catalog of services, we hope businesses of all sizes find it helpful having an official presence on WhatsApp so they can spend more time on running a successful business,” says Helen Charles, Public Policy Director at WhatsApp.
- In 2021, it is estimated that WhatsApp Business generated around 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue worldwide.
- The Asia-Pacific and Latin American region count for the largest revenue share on WhatsApp Business.
- WhatsApp Business was estimated to have an average revenue per user (ARPU) of approximately 0.24 U.S. dollars worldwide.
How does WhatsApp Business make money?
- The business API for WhatsApp for Business charges businesses based on the number of messages they send.
- First 250,000 messages: $0.0085 per message
- Next 750,000 messages: $0.0083 per message
- Next 2 million messages: $0.0080 per message
- Next 3 million messages: $0.0073 per message
- Next 4 million messages: $0.0065 per message
- Above 10 million messages: $0.0058 per message
📚 Read more: WhatsApp Business pricing: all you need to know in 2024
What does the future hold for WhatsApp business?
Whatsapp business is only bound to get bigger and more important for businesses in the coming year.
- Research shows that by 2024, the total spending on the popular instant messaging app's business platform is expected to amount to 3.6 billion U.S. dollars.
- In 2019, companies worldwide were estimated to have spent approximately 38.7 million U.S. dollars.
WhatsApp Business is here to stay
With global recession looming, businesses, small and large, need to continuously work on their customer support services and meet their customers where they are.
And that’s where WhatsApp Business and Trengo come in.
Connect your business to the WhatsApp Business API via Trengo and unlock a plethora of features that boost sales and conversions.
