Viber in Ukraine now allows creating business profiles: what opportunities does this offer small businesses?

Rakuten Viber has announced the launch of new free features for small businesses in Ukraine. Ukrainian entrepreneurs can now create and manage their company’s business profile for free. This will allow them to present their business in the messenger and interact with customers in the app.

It is noted that this feature was previously launched in Greece and the Philippines. This has led to a 65% increase in the number of business accounts since the beginning of 2024. And now Rakuten Viber is opening business accounts for small businesses in Ukraine.

The advantages of Viber business accounts for small businesses include the following:

• Open business profile. Businesses can create their own page with details and useful information, including name, logo, business category, description, working hours, website link, and contacts. New business profiles will be available in Viber search. Users can start a personal chat with a business or subscribe to updates from the business directly from the organization’s profile.
• Product catalog. Business owners can publish up to 50 of their products or services on Viber. Product and service descriptions include names, prices, images, and additional text. Business account owners can share individual products in the chat and offer discounts, and customers can find out details about a specific product by sending it to the seller in a chat.
• Visibility on the platform. Business owners can attract new customers by appearing in Viber search results by name, business description, address, or category. All business account owners have special marks — so they are better visible in the general list of chats.
• QR codes and links. Each business account has a profile visible on the Internet, including outside Viber. To promote their business, owners can share a link to their profile and a QR code with it in Viber and outside the app — on social media, in the media, or at the point of sale.
• Advertising tools. Businesses can launch promotions and special offers for free, as well as announce new products or services for users who have signed up for their business account.
• Advanced features for chats. Businesses can interact with customers using automated responses. When enabled, a business profile responds to messages from contacts and customers — sends welcome messages and automated responses after hours.
• Business statistics. Business profile owners can track the reach, number of subscribers, and average response time in chats.

Starting today, business accounts are available in Ukraine for Viber users with versions 24.0.1 on iOS and 24.0.2 on Android. Special tariff plans for additional features will be offered in the near future.