Facebook’s WhatsApp unit will eventually start charging companies to contact their users as the company seeks to make money from its chat product, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

WhatsApp’s free business tools are currently being tested by companies in Brazil, Europe, India and Indonesia, the Journal said, adding that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is among the users.

A WhatsApp executive didn’t describe the paid features to the paper or say when they would be rolled out.

“We don’t have the details of monetization figured out,” Matt Idema, WhatsApp’s chief operating officer, told the Journal.

WhatsApp, which said in August that it has 1.3 billion users, began testing the features earlier this summer. When launched, they could allow businesses that create verified accounts to offer sales and support services to users who agree to be contacted on WhatsApp.

In a blog post on Tuesday, WhatsApp acknowledged that business chat services are coming in various tiers.

“We’re building and testing new tools via a free WhatsApp Business app for small companies and an enterprise solution for bigger companies operating at a large scale with a global base of customers, like airlines, e-commerce sites, and banks,” the company wrote.

Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014 and has yet to focus on turning the popular chat app into a money maker. WhatsApp said last year it would eventually begin testing tools that could let users communicate with companies via secure messages, part of a broader overhaul to make the service more business friendly.

Users must “opt in” to be contacted by a company, according to the Journal.

Source: Tech CNBC
Facebook is planning to make money on WhatsApp with business chat features