Recently we started building some small solutions on Whatsapp through BSP. Also use it as a primary comm channel. It’s abundantly clear the limitations of WhatsApp while even building simple stuff. And the cost of messaging has increased to 0.80 in India. With delivery rates reducing businesses will need to look for another solution like RCS. This almost mimics the path brand Facebook pages took. Organic reach used to be 100% and now it’s barely there
Love this. I used to work for a WhatsApp BSP, so I get where you’re coming from. This is one of the clearer breakdowns I’ve seen even after reading plenty on the topic.
I was impressed by how seamless WeChat felt when I visited, and now I’m curious about the ONDC model too.
Having built on WhatsApp for the last 3 years, this is a bang on analysis. What I've learnt is that they are very clear about not competing with SMS or Email, that's why they keep making marketing expensive and are very strict with bans.
But they value niche and utility use cases which makes things efficient, since that also showcases the power of all the API functionality they've built, and does not promote spam, tho that is already very high from a consumer standpoint.
You might also would want to study WhatsApp flows, which is their take on forms and quite powerful.
Very detailed post, really enjoyed reading it. The comparison to WeChat and WeCom was especially illuminating. Would have loved to know why your experiments to build in this space failed.
As someone who is a tech student, who felt that whatsapp, google such products had no flaws / gaps that could be built on by new age startup . This blog shatters that narrative.
The gaps left behind by WhatsApp and Meta might actually be a huge opportunity for India. SaaS startups have a market right in front of them; what's needed are good policy and visionary VCs who believe in the potential. Great analysis!
Interesting read. What about Arattai? What's your view about that? Not sure if that is built to support ONDC. Zoho needs to create a business version of Arattai.
Just in terms of how critical WhatsApp has become, maybe get them to store data in India? or have India specific servers.
Recently we started building some small solutions on Whatsapp through BSP. Also use it as a primary comm channel. It’s abundantly clear the limitations of WhatsApp while even building simple stuff. And the cost of messaging has increased to 0.80 in India. With delivery rates reducing businesses will need to look for another solution like RCS. This almost mimics the path brand Facebook pages took. Organic reach used to be 100% and now it’s barely there
Whats rcs ?
use claude to help you edit but please write in your own words. you're doing a disservice to your great content by letting claude write it.
Love this. I used to work for a WhatsApp BSP, so I get where you’re coming from. This is one of the clearer breakdowns I’ve seen even after reading plenty on the topic.
I was impressed by how seamless WeChat felt when I visited, and now I’m curious about the ONDC model too.
Having built on WhatsApp for the last 3 years, this is a bang on analysis. What I've learnt is that they are very clear about not competing with SMS or Email, that's why they keep making marketing expensive and are very strict with bans.
But they value niche and utility use cases which makes things efficient, since that also showcases the power of all the API functionality they've built, and does not promote spam, tho that is already very high from a consumer standpoint.
You might also would want to study WhatsApp flows, which is their take on forms and quite powerful.
Nice
Very detailed post, really enjoyed reading it. The comparison to WeChat and WeCom was especially illuminating. Would have loved to know why your experiments to build in this space failed.
Crucial insights, marvelous story-telling sir .
As someone who is a tech student, who felt that whatsapp, google such products had no flaws / gaps that could be built on by new age startup . This blog shatters that narrative.
The gaps left behind by WhatsApp and Meta might actually be a huge opportunity for India. SaaS startups have a market right in front of them; what's needed are good policy and visionary VCs who believe in the potential. Great analysis!
Interesting read. What about Arattai? What's your view about that? Not sure if that is built to support ONDC. Zoho needs to create a business version of Arattai.
Just in terms of how critical WhatsApp has become, maybe get them to store data in India? or have India specific servers.
Insightful! Forwarded it to someone trying to build a product.
Very well researched post. Lots of insight to be gleaned
Just use wechat
Brilliant ; what perspective'!
Keep writing, it's was eye opening to learn about the simple things we ignore
Extremely insightful!
Thank you for making the effort to put this together🫡