Despite economic and financial issues the country is facing, Nigeria is at the forefront of business activity pioneering through WhatsApp since the year 2015. Tech companies are making use of WhatsApp’s API to improve their interactions with their customers.

A few e-commerce firms use WhatsApp to help customers. Chatbot functions have also been integrated into WhatsApp to boost customer engagement.

Small business owners have reported more trust from users of WhatsApp over others social networks. This is due to the personalized approach Whatsapp platform takes in its interactions with customers. This has resulted in more sales through WhatsApp over Instagram as well as Facebook.

WhatsApp for Business was designed for business to help users to enhance their customers’ experience. Apart from improving the communication between customers, WhatsApp for businesses has added features that help with the management of customers. For entrepreneurs, WhatsApp business also gives more credibility to your chats than the standard WhatsApp.

Nowadays in Nigeria, 8 out of 10 people with a smartphone in Nigeria currently have WhatsApp installed. WhatsApp is a social media platform purchased by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014 after it’s inception just half a decade, in fact, the most popular and fastest growing communication app.

If you believe that WhatsApp is only for sending texts, you’re very wrong. Today, people are spending longer on WhatsApp than they do on their personal social media accounts. I’m sure you have people on your contacts that you sells products either on their status it advertise things to you through broadcast messaging.

In Nigeria presently, WhatsApp is more popular than Facebook and even my the ageing population is using WhatsApp right now. It’s already replacing SMS and phonecalls and is rapidly becoming our main mode of communication.

While the majority of users are know about using WhatsApp for messaging, it can also be used as a very effective marketing tool to small-scale enterprises. In this article we’ve provided some simple guidelines on how to sell products on whatsapp in Nigeria.

How To Sell Products On Whatsapp In Nigeria

WhatsApp has no “ads, games, gimmicks,” unlike Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & Twitter but you can still make use of the platform to promote your products or services. It’s all about how can you make use of it to benefit your company?

• WhatsApp Groups

Facebook groups are an excellent opportunity to market your business or products. You can create your own online seller’s group or join one using an invitation link.

Consider it an online community that allows you to not only publish links to your services or product, but also share business information. To begin you can set up an account for your business or join groups with similar interests of sellers and buyers in your neighborhood.

• WhatsApp Status

WhatsApp unveiled a feature known as Whatsapp Status. Like Instagram or Snapchat stories, WhatsApp Status allows users to post short images or videos which disappear after a time that is 24 hours.

Your WhatsApp status will be distributed to your contact list, so you’re guaranteed the most exposure. You can make use of this feature to show pictures of your product or a quick demonstrations of how your product will benefit the user. potential buyers will begin to follow with excitement about.

• WhatsApp Broadcast

Do you want to send a private message to everyone, but do not want to copy and paste it over and over? Make use of WhatsApp Broadcast Lists to broadcast messages in mass.

You can reach a large amount of people using just one feature. To achieve this, make lists of topics that you want to cover and then send out one-way messages that are designed to boost engagement, just like you use on Twitter. For example, you could include hyperlinks or invitations in your tweets.

• Direct Messaging (DMs)

Utilizing Direct messages on WhatsApp is among the most effective methods for business development that you can utilize. Direct messaging is a way you can search directly for a potential lead customer and send them a an individual message about your services and products.

Keep in mind that it’s not all about you, so exercise care when using this method to avoid sending out bother your potential customers.

• Cold Calling using WhatsApp Call.

The term “cold calling” refers to the process of making a call that is not solicited to a person (prospective potential customer) in order to sell products or services.

WhatsApp offers a call feature that lets you make calls to anyone at no cost. This is an excellent method to keep in touch with certain business contacts.

WhatsApp calls can be also used to assist customers for support reasons, allowing customers to dial to your office for free in the event that they require a conversation with a person on your team.

Watch How To Sell On WhatsApp (Complete Step by Step Guide)

Conclusion

WhatsApp is an effective communication tool. It is becoming popular due to its simple interface. In addition to being used for personal communications. You can also utilize WhatsApp to run your business in many ways. It’s affordable and can be set up in a short time.

Many WhatsApp sellers make use of the InvoiceApp Online Payment feature as their primary payment method.

All you need to do is post the payment link via WhatsApp and allow them to pay you in any way such as debit Cards and Credit Cards Netbanking, UPI. Are you making use of WhatsApp to market or sell your company? Tell us more about your experience in the comment section below.

Since its takeover by Facebook in 2014, WhatsApp has seen a tremendous increase in annual income. The App can be a fantastic tool for users to make a few cash. In this article, I will show you a few tips on making money from WhatsApp.

Before we go into the tips, I would like to share a  brief history of WhatsApp.

About WhatsApp

Founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, Whatsapp started as a free messaging platform. In 2014, Facebook paid a whopping $19 billion to become a part of the messaging platform.

The App has since developed into one of the most used messaging platforms in the World. WhatsApp currently has over two billion users across the World (2021). 

The App’s revenue has also increased since Facebook became a part of the platform. Also, a few more monetization features have been added to the App. WhatsApp business accounts are one of the developments that have leaped their revenue in recent years. 

Now looking at how to make money from WhatsApp, I will share a few tips.

Five ways to make money from WhatsApp in 2021

WhatsApp has put a reasonable effort into monetization in the last few years. These strategies have yielded good performances, as WhatsApp revenues have shown. Nowadays, users have used the App for different marketing and promotional ideas. 

Below are five tips on how to make money from WhatsApp in 2021.

• Affiliate Marketing
• Sell your products
• Short links
• Pay per download
• Cross Promotion

The above ways can help you generate a lot of money from WhatsApp. Here, I will show you how to go about these methods.

Affiliate Marketing

Earning through affiliate marketing involves promoting and selling products for a company to get a commission. You need to receive their affiliate link and get customers to purchase products using your links.  

Affiliate marketing has become one of the best ways of making money through any platform today. You can also earn a lot of money with WhatApp via affiliate links. Prompting products to your potential customers on your contact list is a productive way of making cash on WhatsApp.  

You can also join large groups with many contacts to promote our affiliate links. This strategy has become a famous way in which affiliate marketers make money from WhatsApp.

Sell your Products

In 2021, selling your products via a  physical store is not just the only answer. Having an online presence can go a long way in boosting the sales of your products. Promoting your products on WhatsApp through marketers on related groups can work magic in taking your business forward. 

If you have a skill or other services you to offer your potential clients, Whatsapp is an excellent platform to render your skills for money. 

You can make sales by simply putting images of your products on WhatsApp status every day. This strategy can work well in selling products to your contacts. An advantage of selling your products on WhatsApp is getting repeat customers to your business. Since they have your number, your customers can contact you quickly. Opening a Whatsapp business account will be suitable in this case.

Short Links

Making money with the use of short links is very popular within WhatsApp. So you might be thinking, what are short links? Well, you might have come across this type of link before. 

 These links are directed to websites that caries information, news, or product reviews. The link usually displays adverts after someone clicks on it. You need to copy the URL and paste it on sites like Shorte. The URL will be shortened automatically.

People get paid by sharing these short links to their WhatsApps contacts. You get paid if you share the links and a contact clicks on them. 

If you have a lot of contacts and groups on Whatsapp, this opportunity is an excellent way of earning reasonable cash on WhatsApp.

Pay per Download

This method is another unpopular way of making money on Whatsapp. If you have never heard of ‘Pay per download,’ I will tell you how it works. 

Some websites pay you if people download content you upload on their site. The process is easy; you can select a niche that interests your contacts, upload videos to the websites, and share the links with your contacts. Alternatively, joining groups related to the contents you want to post would be an added advantage.

Once they click the link, ads will display, or they will be required to perform online surveys before downloading the main contents. A typical example of these kinds of websites is uplod.org.

Cross Promotion

This method is a very strategic monetization technique. Many people are yet to tap from the effectiveness of cross-promotion. Although it is an indirect way of making money from Whatsapp, it works like magic. I will give you a brief explanation of how to use this strategy. 

This technique is usually relevant if you have a YouTube channel or a blog that you want to monetize. The idea is straightforward; to earn from your website blog or YouTube channel, you need a reasonable amount of traffic. 

You can get this traffic from Whatsapp. You need to get contacts of people interested in your niche and share the content. This technique will drive traffic to your blog/channel, and as a result, you can earn money. Affiliate marketing, Google AdSense, and other monetization sources you have will increase with visitors from your Whatsapp contacts.

The options to monetize through Whatsapp are limitless as many ways are still yet to unfold. However, the proven methods I have just highlighted are excellent sources of making money from Whatsapp.

How does WhatsApp make money?

Whatsapp’s revenue has been over a billion dollars in the last few years. This revenue may be a massive surprise to many as the App does not allow direct advertisements. However, there are a few ways Whatsapp generates its income. Whatsapp business is one of the primary sources of income for the App. Also, clicks to Whatsapp ads from Facebook is a monetization strategy. This technique is what Facebook uses to leverage the App.

A new method still not yet established is ‘Whatsapp pay.’ This feature is similar to other payment platforms like Google pay and others. Although this medium is not currently in full fledge, it could be a potential hit for the company. 

Whatsapp is also looking to put in place potential monetization strategies that generate a lot of revenue. They are suggestions about displaying ads on Whatsapp status in the future. It will be a massive leap for Whatsapp after working without advertisements for over a decade since its start. 

Adopting Whatsapp pay in different countries worldwide would also be a good idea for revenue. At the moment, the Whatsapp business account remains the only stable way the App generates income. 

How much is Whatsapp worth?

It was a big surprise to the World when Facebook spent $19 billion to be part of the App in 2014. However, this action does not seem to be one made for profit. As perceived by some, the money spent is due to Facebook looking to eliminate competition with Whatsapp. 

Whatsapp’s increase in users must have prompted Facebook to make that move. This move also led to a rise in their revenue. 

As of 2014, the App had $1 million in annual income in 2021; Whatsapp generated an estimated sum of over $5 billion seven years later.  

Standing at over two billion users and with potential monetization techniques, the App would be worth a fortune in the next few years.

Whatsapp first came into place as a messaging platform. However, it has now turned into a money-making tool for the owners and users. Whatsapp users making money from the App is not a big surprise. A platform with over two billion users across the globe is inevitably an asset. 

If you were wondering how to make money from Whatsapp, your options are many today. Want to know more about this topic? Check out the ‘Frequently Asked Questions and Answers” section below.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

How can I make money from Whatsapp?

You can make money from Whatsapp with different methods, and we have mentioned a few in this article. The common ways of making money on the App are selling your products, affiliate marketing, promoting your monetized blogs/channel, and other ‘Pay per click” platforms. 

Leveraging the Whatsapp Business account feature is a huge plus if you sell your product. With affiliate marketing, joining groups related to the products you are promoting will give an added advantage. Alternatively, you can create groups and add contacts interested in your niche and content.

How does Whatsapp make money?

Whatsapp makes its money mainly from the Whatsapp business application. This feature allows users to promote their business to their customers. The App also earns indirect revenues from Whatsapp ads on Facebook. 

Whatsapp’s payment platform, known as the ‘Whatsapp pay,’ is another source of revenue. However, this feature is yet to be available in all countries. 

How many users does Whatsapp have?

Whatsapp had 500 million users in 2014 but has had a 200% increase since then. At the moment, Whatsapp has over two billion users across the globe.

How much activity takes place on Whatsapp every day?

As of 2020, records from Facebook highlight the massive activity of the App by users. Over 100 billion messages are sent on Whatsapp every day. On the other hand, about two billion minutes are used on Whatsapp voice calls and video calls every day.

How much is Whatsapp worth?

In 2014, Facebook disclosed that it had acquired Whatsapp for $19 billion.

Conclusion

Making money from Whatsapp in 2021 is not difficult. Many people are already exploring one of the numerous opportunities. You can also start earning from one of the ways we have explained in this article.

Affiliate marketing, selling products, referring people to download apps, and cross-promotion are all top of the lists in monetizing your Whatsapp. You can do more research and look for other technique that works well for you. The options are always limitless. 

After reading this article, I believe you now know how to make money from Whatsapp. It is now time to leverage this knowledge and start making money. Use one of these famous techniques and try out a few ways. You can also start earning a lot of cash on the App.

Facebook, having enjoyed its dominance, was always going to thrive with the green App. It should be no surprise why WhatsApp generates a lot of money. But if you are still in doubt and thinking, how does WhatsApp make money? Do not worry; we have some answers for you in this article.

How did WhatsApp start?

Brian Acton and Jan Koum were the orchestrators of the World’s most famous messaging App today. The App was first launched as a platform for updating your status, which members of your network can see.

The WhatsApp 2.0 was the version that had the messenger feature. Brain and Jan were both colleagues at Yahoo for nine years before the birth of WhatsApp. The inspiration behind WhatsApp was to create a medium that is 100% free of Ads.

WhatsApp’s resistance to interested investors was because of the no-ads policy they had at that time. By 2011, the messenger App has already racked up about 300 000 users around the World. They also got a deal with Sequoia, who agreed to the no-ads policy.

Two years later, in 2013, WhatsApp’s had grown to 200 million users, and they still stood their ground on ads. Their revenue resulted from providing the App for free in its initial year, followed by $0.99 for continued access.


Facebook eventually purchased WhatsApp in 2014, and it was already having over 450 million active users. The valuation of WhatsApp at $19 billion was a massive shock to many. This price may have been because of Facebook’s ambition to dominate the messaging system and saw WhatsApp as competition.

Over the years, Facebook has made its mark on Brian and Jan’s work. The App became accessible to all members in 2016 for free. The creation of WhatsApp for Business in 2017 was also a significant leap by the new partners. They are also the prospect of displaying ads in the nearest feature.

It is still a shock how Brian and Jan, who got rejected at Facebook, get to initiate the most popular messaging platform in the World. However, they both left in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

How does WhatsApp generate revenue?

At the moment, WhatsApp directly makes money in two ways. WhatsApp for Business and WhatsApp pay are the direct source of income for the owners. However, the app still gets indirect revenue from ads redirecting users for its mother company, Facebook.

How much WhatsApp earns from these sources could increase in the future with a newly proposed idea for charges. The idea is to charge Business accounts for sales they make through the platform.

How does WhatsApp make money from Business WhatsApp?

WhatsApp makes money from this feature by charging registered Businesses for late replies to their customers. The Business feature of this App was meant to create good customer support by Business.

If you have a business account, you must ensure that customers’ messages are replied to within 24 hours. Otherwise, you will get a charge, and WhatsApp makes money from your payments. This method is to keep business on the messenger platform.

Registered businesses are charged for slow replies, and the price is dependent on the country of the account. In the early days of these services, companies like Netflix and Wish were already testing the feature.

Today, many businesses have WhatsApp business account’s features to create product catalogs and provide their services. It is not difficult to open one of these accounts.

You can open a business account with a new phone number. Alternatively, you can use your existing contact to open a WhatsApp business account.

Although the business account is free, there are possibilities of charges per sale with this type of account.

How to open a WhatsApp Business Account

A business account for WhatsApp has some unique attributes, making it suitable for business owners and companies. To open one of these accounts is straightforward. It only takes a few steps to complete. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to open a ‘WhatsApp for Business account.

• Firstly, go to the Google play store and download the App. The WhatsApp business app is different from the regular messenger.
• The next you should do is verify your phone number
• Complete the backup and restore procedure
• Finally, set up your business profile and your business name.
• To build your profile, click on ‘More options. Then tap on the ‘settings.’

The simple steps I have highlighted above can get you up and running with your WhatsApp business account. This type of account helps you show your business to your new and existing contacts. It is also one of WhatsApp’s ways of monetizing the platform.

WhatsApp Pay

This method is another way in which this messaging App makes money. WhatsApp pay, just like ‘Google Pay’ is a payment platform. It uses the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to complete transactions. This feature was only accessible to only a few countries.

Although the platform is still not accessible to all users, it could be another big-money alternative for WhatsApp owners. The platform charges close to 4% for each transaction. However, it has been adopted by only 20 million users.

This platform could be a valuable tool for many users when it is finally accessible to everyone.

WhatsApp Ads

Brian Acton and Jan Koum were the masterminds of this App and had some reservations about displaying ads on WhatsApp. Both men leaving a few years ago has not changed in terms of ads on the WhatsApp platform.
The ‘WhatsApp ads’ are not ads running in the app. However, these ads come from external sources that redirect you to WhatsApp. People that click on these ads will visit WhatsApp from Facebook.

This method is one of the monetization techniques in which WhatsApp utilize by taking advantage of Facebook. Since the Ads are not in WhatsApp, this seems like an indirect means of generating revenue.

These three methods are the methods WhatsApp makes money today. As the App has grown over the years, monetization has been relatively slow. However, they seem to be a few possibilities of monetization with WhatsApp.

The possible placement of Ads to users’ status can be a reasonable means of how WhatsApp can earn money. The payment platform could also be another promising feature that would thrive the monetization of the App.

After a big-money purchase in 2014, WhatsApp owners will be looking to leverage their massive number of users.

What is WhatsApp Worth?

WhatsApp was becoming one of the most popular messaging service providers in 2014. Their rapid uprise prompted the purchase by Facebook for a shocking $19 billion. The App has since created a few methods to monetize without the use of Ads.

The number of users has become very large since 2014, and a few upgrades have also occurred. Although WhatsApp does not openly reveal its revenue, the estimates of WhatsApp revenue have seen consistently increased. The App has also seen a 400% increase in members since Facebook came into the fray in 2014.

Looking at the price of purchase, you will be wondering, how does WhatsApp make money? Can they recoup the $19 billion they spent?
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WhatsApp’s recent activities and changes have mostly gone in the direction of monetization in different ways. WhatsApp for Business, WhatsApp pay, and WhatsApp Ads on Facebook are recent developments after Facebook’s takeover. It will not be a surprise if WhatsApp’s worth reaches the $19 billion spent seven years ago.

A good advantage is that they now have 2 billion people using this messenger App. This fact means that when monetization is brought to the forefront, they can generate more money.

How much does WhatsApp make?

WhatsApp’s annual revenue has increased a lot over the last few years. A compilation of the estimation of WhatsApp revenue reveals that there is always an increase in income annually. This trend dates back to 2014 when Facebook became a part of the messaging App.

In 2014, WhatsApp generated $1 million, following Facebook’s partnership, which was the beginning of the usurp. Two years later, in 2016, it was already developing an estimated $200 million.

The following two to three years was when WhatsApp had a record number of downloads. 2018 saw the App at a whopping $1.3 billion in revenue. As of 2020, the numbers were over $5.5 billion.

Today WhatsApp generates over $5 billion in revenue and could make more with potential monetization strategies.

WhatsApp’s current ways of making money have been mentioned in this article. However, check out our ‘Frequently Asked Questions and Answer’ section below if you have any more questions.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Is WhatsApp free?

WhatsApp is completely free. Although it had a small monthly subscription during the first few years, in 2016, the app became accessible for all users at no cost.

How safe is WhatsApp?

WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption for all your messages. However, its mother company Facebook can use data like your contact list to give you specific friend suggestions and ads. You will likely see posts from companies on your contact list. These activities are because of data shared within Facebook and WhatsApp.

How many countries have access to WhatsApp?

The messaging app is available in 180 countries and around the World. WhatsApp also allows over 60 languages.

How many users does WhatsApp have?

Whatsapp currently has over 2 billion users across the globe. India is the country with the highest number of users at 390 million users. Brazil, the USA, and Indonesia are also among the top 4 countries with many WhatsApp users.

How many Internet users have WhatsApp?

About 70% of internet users have WhatsApp accounts (with the exclusion of China)

How much is WhatsApp worth?

Facebook purchased WhatsApp for the sum of $19 billion in 2014.

How many messages are sent on WhatsApp every day?

They are more than 100 billion messages sent on WhatsApp every day. On the other hand, approximately 2 billion minutes are spent on calls and videos on the platform.

Conclusion

WhatsApp has been evolving since its integration with Facebook. The platform has recorded an increase in different aspects. The number of users, revenue generated, total downloads, and messages saw more activities.

However, monetization of the messaging platform has got a few limitations. The absence of ads could be one of them. WhatsApp has made a lot of revenue, but it has not recouped the $19 billion they spent. But they are suggestions from people that the purchase was not to get a return on investment but to overcome competition from WhatsApp.

As of 2020, WhatsApp made approximately over $5 billion in revenue. This figure is only a quarter of the purchase. The numbers are encouraging as the monetization of this messaging App is getting robust by the day.

So if you once thought, how does WhatsApp make money? I believe you now know the primary sources of income of this messaging App.