Telegram is letting users to convert personal account to business account

Telegram is trying to expand its base to compete with WhatsApp Business and Facebook Business by allowing users to convert their personal accounts to business accounts. Telegram’s Business Accounts will enable its users to display information like hours, locations, a customized start page, and more.

As per the Telegram Business announcement, telegram business features are free for Business Account users, but the conversion requires a Premium subscription costing $4.99/month.

Telegram Business Accounts have varied features at their disposal

After getting a business account, the suite will allow its users to craft Quick Replies. Quick replies are preset shortcodes that include formatted text, links, images, stickers, and even PDFs. For instance, a coaching institution can effortlessly send the schedule or brochure of the batch with a preselected PDF file. As of now, Quick Replies are accessible only for personal chats by typing ‘/’ into the message bar.

For the one who is contacting the business for the first time, an Automated Greeting Message is the tool. This mechanism sends instant replies with the predetermined message, which can be any crucial information about the business, FAQs, or Away messages (when closed).

Telegram Business makes the segregation of customers easier. It allows to label chats with different tags like Delivery, Feedback, Order, etc. In individual chats, you can create links to chat with your business. These links work within the Telegram ecosystem or outside the app. Each link shows live performance tracking.

AI-enhanced Chatbots for Businesses

Business users can connect Telegram bots, that will reply on behalf of the owner. The owner can integrate it with existing tools and workflows, and even add AI assistants that manage these chats. In case the user feels the chats are sensitive, they can easily be excluded.

“This opens a new era for Telegram Bots – we welcome all developers to create new services that will help businesses automate and improve their communication with Telegram users.”, says Telegram.

Telegram Business is a very strategic move by Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, to widen its users by inviting businesses to AI-powered chatbots for enhanced customer service. Telegram Business is an excellent mode to adopt some of the best monetization practices. However, Telegram has a long way to cover the 200 million active WhatsApp Business users. The earning model of Telegram Business heavily depends on subscription fees, meanwhile, its competitor relies on the type of conversations.