Meta’s Conversations 2025 conference in Miami was a landmark event for the future of business messaging. The spotlight was firmly on WhatsApp, with a wave of new features and strategic changes designed to transform the platform into a powerhouse for business communication, marketing, and customer engagement. Here’s a deep dive into the most important WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Ads announcements from the live stream, what they mean for brands, and why they matter for the future of conversational commerce.
Meta unveiled a unified advertising platform that brings WhatsApp into the same campaign management flow as Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Now, businesses can:
Create and manage campaigns for all Meta platforms from a single dashboard in Ads Manager.
Use the same creative assets, setup flows, and budgets across platforms to streamline the marketing process for teams.
Upload subscriber lists and either manually select WhatsApp as a placement or let Meta’s Advantage+ AI optimise delivery and budget allocation for maximum performance [1, 2].
This integration means businesses can reach customers on WhatsApp with the same ease and sophistication as they do on other Meta platforms, making omnichannel marketing more accessible than ever.
For the first time, businesses can now create WhatsApp Status ads directly from Ads Manager. These ads appear in the WhatsApp Status feed, a feature used by over 1.5 billion people daily, allowing brands to:
Promote products and services in a native, non-intrusive way.
Drive conversations by enabling users to tap on ads and start a chat with the business.
Leverage AI optimisation to ensure ads reach the most relevant audiences23.
This marks a significant shift, as WhatsApp moves beyond its origins as a platform with “no ads” to become a key channel for business discovery and engagement.
Meta is doubling down on AI-driven business assistants for WhatsApp. The new Business AI features include:
AI chatbots that handle customer service, answer questions, and provide personalised product recommendations.
The ability for AI to guide customers through the entire shopping journey—from browsing to checkout—without ever leaving the WhatsApp chat.
Automated follow-ups for order confirmations, delivery updates, and post-purchase support [4, 1, 5, 2].
These tools are designed to help businesses scale customer support and sales while delivering a seamless, conversational experience that feels personal and immediate.
A major leap forward for customer support, WhatsApp Business is rolling out:
Voice and video calling for larger businesses via the WhatsApp Business Platform API.
The ability for customers to initiate calls to businesses, and for businesses to call back customers who have requested contact.
Voice messaging support for more flexible, asynchronous communication—ideal for industries like telehealth, finance, and education [4, 1, 5, 6].
These features not only make support more human and responsive, but also lay the groundwork for future AI-enabled voice support.
Meta is overhauling WhatsApp Business pricing:
Moving from a conversation-based model to a per-message pricing structure.
Introducing volume-based pricing tiers—the more messages a business sends, the lower the per-message cost.
User-initiated conversations remain free for a 24-hour window, allowing unlimited responses at no charge [6].
This change provides businesses with more flexibility and predictability in managing messaging costs, particularly for high-volume campaigns.
Meta is expanding the ways businesses can use WhatsApp for marketing:
Personalised marketing messages can now be sent to subscribers who have opted in, helping brands nurture relationships and drive repeat business.
Outcome optimization for Click-to-Message ads, including purchase, lead, and value optimization, to maximize return on ad spend.
Automatic-destination messaging ads that open in the user’s preferred app—such as WhatsApp, Instagram Direct, or Messenger—ensuring higher engagement.
Businesses can now add a WhatsApp button to their Google Business Profile, making it easier for customers to:
Contact businesses directly via WhatsApp from Google Search and Maps.
Open links from businesses in WhatsApp’s in-app browser, streamlining the customer journey and keeping interactions within the secure WhatsApp environment [6].
With over 3 billion monthly users on WhatsApp and a rapidly growing business user base, Meta’s latest updates position WhatsApp as the central hub for conversational commerce. The integration of advanced AI, unified ad management, and richer communication tools means:
Faster, more personal customer service at scale.
Seamless marketing and sales journeys that start and finish in chat.
New revenue opportunities for brands ready to embrace messaging-first strategies.
Meta’s vision is clear: in the near future, every business will have an AI-powered WhatsApp agent, and messaging will be as essential as having a website or email address.
| Feature | What’s New | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Unified Ads Manager | WhatsApp joins Facebook, IG, Messenger in one dashboard | Omnichannel marketing, easier setup |
| WhatsApp Status Ads | Native ads in Status feed, AI-optimised delivery | Reach 1.5B+ daily users, drive chats |
| Business AI Assistants | AI chatbots, product recommendations, and end-to-end shopping | Scalable, personalised support |
| Voice & Video Calling | API for calls, voice notes, and video support | Richer, more human interactions |
| Per-Message Pricing | New billing model, volume discounts | Cost control, flexibility |
| Enhanced Marketing Messages | Personalised, optimised campaigns, auto-destination ads | Higher engagement, better ROI |
| Google Business Integration | WhatsApp button on Google Search/Maps, in-app browser | More entry points, seamless journeys |
The 2025 Conversations conference marks a turning point for WhatsApp Business. With these updates, Meta is not just keeping pace with the demands of modern commerce; it’s setting the standard. For brands, the message is clear: the future of business is conversational, AI-powered, and happening on WhatsApp [7,4,1,5,2,6,3].