Lift business-customer conversations on WhatsApp Business: segment, fixes and metrics

WhatsApp Business is the version of WhatsApp that businesses use to talk with their customers. As a product manager, how would you improve it so that it drives more engagement? Choose the users you will focus on, identify their problems, propose and prioritize improvements, and explain how you would measure success. ```hint Look at both ends of the chat The business uses the app, while its customers message it from ordinary WhatsApp. Decide whose behavior has to change for conversations to grow, and find the point where those conversations stall. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "WhatsApp Business" mean the free app that small businesses use, the paid platform that large companies connect to their own systems, or both? - Whose engagement counts: businesses using the app, customers messaging businesses, or the conversations between them? - Should I focus on a particular market, given that WhatsApp's role in commerce differs between countries? - Is there a target outcome beyond engagement, such as purchases made through business chats? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear definition of engagement for a two-sided product, and a chosen segment with a reason. - Pain points grounded in how that segment actually uses business chats. - Several solutions, prioritized with explicit criteria, and a recommended first bet. - A north-star metric with supporting metrics and guardrails against spam and privacy harm. - Trade-offs such as automation versus a personal touch, and engagement versus unwanted messages. ### Follow-up Questions - Your solution raises the number of messages businesses send, but customers start blocking business accounts more often. What do you do? - How would your plan change if you focused on large companies using the paid platform instead? - How would you design an experiment for your top solution when the outcome depends on both the business and its customers?