The global market for digital solutions has changed significantly over the past few years. Newspaper headlines and online portals are dominated by AI and chatbots, social media algorithms have become more complex, advertising costs have risen, while users have become more cautious about marketing.
With this in mind, many people are asking the logical question: is WhatsApp still an effective way to communicate or is it gradually losing ground? We will explore this issue and take a look to see how things are currently going for the famous green messenger.
Table of Contents
What’s happening
It’s not the first year that analysts from various portals have been discussing the decline in popularity of the messenger, claiming that it will soon be replaced by artificial intelligence. The time is passing, yet the promised change has not arrived. Although chatbots are actively involved in the process, they are not used as standalone solutions but rather in combination with the messenger. This is not quite what some people had predicted.
Sure, AI is great for everyday tasks, but it can’t completely replace WhatsApp in familiar scenarios yet. When you need to dive deep into the details, neural networks “crash” and make mistakes because they just aren’t trained to handle certain situations.
So why did these conversations arise? There is only one conclusion: when the audience is measured in billions of users, it is natural that the growth rate is not so noticeable. This is a sign of the platform’s maturity, not its decline. For business, the activity and engagement of the existing audience is more important.
As long as billions of people use WhatsApp daily for personal and business communication, the channel remains operational. Moreover, a stable audience makes it a predictable tool, which is especially valuable for corporate clients.
Who is taking the lead?
Let’s move from speculation to hard numbers. How is WhatsApp doing in this regard? It is doing quite well. According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, WhatsApp’s audience exceeded 3 billion monthly active users in the first quarter of 2025. It is clear that it is still the most popular messenger and part of the world’s largest ecosystem. And we are talking about a global scale, not just popularity in certain regions.
In a number of countries, WhatsApp has long been the basic means of communication, as it is used as the primary communication tool. This is an important point for business, as it is always easier to sell where the customer has been for several years and uses it “by default.”
Let’s say you are a business owner and want to offer a potential customer a product or service. You write to them on WhatsApp, they open the chat and continue the dialogue. Familiarity with the messenger and the habit of using it lowers the barrier to communication and directly affects conversion. Simply put, there is no need to spend time and money to attract a buyer when that buyer is already available on WhatsApp.
If you look at the numbers and business indicators around the world, the answer is clear: WhatsApp remains one of the most sustainable and stable channels of communication with customers.
WhatsApp and the rest
Digital communications research regularly confirms the same trend: people read messages in messengers faster and more often than emails.
Email remains an important business channel, but its readability and response rates are inferior to the latter in most industries. With WhatsApp, communication takes place in real time—the user sees the notification, opens the message and responds, which means a reduction in the transaction cycle that is beneficial to the business.
In sales, time is of the essence. The faster a company responds to a customer’s question, the more likely it is that the conversation will not “cool down.” When the dialogue develops immediately, the customer does not go to a competitor in search of a quick answer. Less time spent means more money and therefore more profit. It’s simple math that must be taken into account.
To clearly demonstrate the advantages of WhatsApp, let’s consider another scenario. A customer wants to leave a request on the website and fills out all the necessary forms to wait for a call back or message. They leave their details, but still don’t know when they will receive a response and who exactly will respond to them.
In WhatsApp, they can see that the message has been delivered, read and responded to. There is a clear sense of close contact. This is especially important in services, e-commerce, education, medicine and any other business. People are more willing to ask clarifying questions in correspondence than in a formal request. They can calmly discuss details, send photos and ask additional questions. This makes communication less formal and more understandable for the user. It is this simplicity that often leads to successful sales.
Is WhatsApp still best for sales?
These days, the messenger is rarely used on its own. In most cases, it’s built into a company’s overall marketing system. For example, a customer might come from an ad or search query, go to the website and instead of filling out a form, click the “Write on WhatsApp” button. Then a dialogue begins, during which the manager clarifies the details, offers a solution, sets a date and time for an appointment or visit (in the case of services), sends an invoice and accompanies the customer through to payment.
In this role, WhatsApp becomes both a communication channel and a working tool for processing customers. It allows you to retain the customer’s attention and bring them to a decision without unnecessary transitions between platforms.
The role of WhatsApp in the corporate segment
The common belief that messengers are only suitable for retail sales has long been outdated. In the B2B segment, WhatsApp is actively used for fast and efficient communication, where companies often discuss terms and conditions, agree on specifications, exchange files or clarify delivery details.
Yes, important documents are still sent through official channels, but general work issues are often resolved in the messenger. It’s faster and more convenient for everyone. In international practice, this format has already become the norm, especially in regions where WhatsApp is the primary means of business communication.
Conclusion
As you can see, the digital market continues to change, but the basic principles remain the same as sales are built on accessibility, response speed and trust. WhatsApp still covers all them.
Despite talk of competition from new platforms, real-world business practices around the world show that the messenger remains an effective channel for getting, communication and sales. As long as customers continue to open it every day, companies will use this channel for commerce, despite the loud statements of some other colleagues.
Remember that GREEN-API provides a flexible API for mailings and process automation in WhatsApp. Our technical support and sales department will be happy to share the necessary information with you and offer the best solution for your problem.