A few days ago, WhatsApp rolled out its payments feature for select Android and iOS users. WhatsApp payments are great but what can it do for your small business? Is it the right payment mode for your company? Let’s find out.
What is WhatsApp Pay and how does it work
Before we get to explaining how WhatsApp payments may not be the right fit for your business, here is a small excerpt on how it works.
News about WhatsApp payments launching in India broke a couple of months ago. It was speculated that it would work on UPI (Unified Payments Interface), a framework built upon the IMPS method that helps money reach your bank directly from one account to another.
We got access to WhatsApp’s latest feature and tested it out. Here’s where/how you can activate it once it’s available publicly.
Check your WhatsApp settings for the payment option. Verify your phone number and select your bank.
Then verify your debit card and create your UPI PIN.
Once you’ve verified your UPI you get a success message:
Payments will now be available in the attachments section of your WhatsApp. You can now send money to your contacts directly from WhatsApp:
4 Reasons WhatsApp Payments Doesn’t Fit Your Business Needs
We’ll cut straight to the chase:
- WhatsApp Payments is a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platform that doesn’t really work for a business. A business’ payment needs are different and diverse. Why would you limit payment options to just UPI?
- Only people in your contact-list can pay you. Also, they should have WhatsApp payments enabled, only then they will be able to pay you. How many customers will you keep adding to your contact list to be able to receive payments on the app?
- WhatsApp Payments is not a CRM. Sure! You’re getting paid! But what about an invoice? Sales reports? Data exports? None available yet.
- One Word. REFUNDS. Do we even need to talk about how businesses would tackle refunds/fraud claims?
Our Take:
While WhatsApp Payments is a great way for more people to discover UPI, it doesn’t offer a great deal to a small business yet.
To understand what payment mode fits your small business best, take a look at this graphic:
Payments on WhatsApp is NOT NEW!
Long before WhatsApp Payments was a thing, one could easily collect payments on WhatsApp with Instamojo – just by sharing a payment link. Over 100,00 Instamojo payment links have been shared via WhatsApp.
Don’t wait for WhatsApp Payments to come to you. Start collecting payments on WhatsApp today with Instamojo.
4 comments
Great article. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
I have never used this application so much, but it’s good to know! Everyone wants to use a lot of solutions that will help him in running the company. I use G2A PAY for my ecommerce business. Very satisfied to find a payment gateway with simple and intuitive integration!
Well, all the aforementioned context are a relevant enough to comply with the fact that UPI isn’t enough for fulfilling payment needs, and apart from that UPI isn’t also reliable every time for payment at least not for me because I had a horrible experience with it. However, they should have gone a little bit forward in terms of integrating payment feature in it.