Following WhatsApp, Viber announced a new set of business tools for small and medium-sized businesses. In an attempt to turn its app into a “communications hub for a wide range of businesses,” Viber is now rolling out several new features that will be available for free for small and micro businesses.Inspired by the company’s successful Viber Business Accounts for enterprise-sized level businesses, the free offering includes new features such as:
Public business profiles (Businesses can create a public, searchable business page featuring all essential information. The profile can be shared with customers inside the app or even with people who are not Viber users yet.)
1:1 customer chats (Businesses can respond to customer requests right away over instant messaging.)
Discoverability through Viber search (Businesses can find and retain loyal customers on their preferred day-to-day conversations app, where customers can discover local products and services by searching for the business name or category.)
Dedicated chat folders (Businesses can conveniently store customer messages separately from personal messages with family and friends. Users will also have easy access to a separate Business Inbox folder for storing their conversations with businesses.)
Product catalog (Business owners can effortlessly add new products or services to their business page’s catalog. Customers can explore and inquire about the items by sharing the link to the product directly in the chat.)
According to Viber, these free business-oriented features will be followed soon by more services aimed at medium-to-large business accounts. It’s not clear if these will also be available for free, but it’s unlikely.
The company’s new self-serve business accounts are only available in Greece and the Philippines for the moment, but they will be launched in additional countries soon.
Viber also plans to add more useful features like broadcast messages, voice calls, as well as quick and automatic replies for small businesses. More importantly, Viber says that “tailored pricing plans” will be offered based on market feedback to expand the initial set of free self-serve business features.
