[FAQ]

Hey,

I’m a bit confused by the new Telegram Business features.

I’ve been running a regular channel for my online shop for a while now, just posting product updates and news. It works fine. Now I’m seeing all this talk about ‘Telegram Business’.

Is this a completely different thing from a channel? Does it replace it? I’m trying to figure out what features it actually gives me that my channel doesn’t already have. I’ve seen things about ‘opening hours’ and ‘quick replies,’ which sound more like a customer service tool.

Can someone break down the actual, practical differences? I don’t want to pay for ‘Business’ if my free channel already does 90% of what I need. Thanks.

[Jeff Bullas]

This is a key distinction to understand, as they are designed for entirely different jobs.

Short Answer: A regular channel is a one-way broadcast tool for publishing your content, whereas a Business account is a set of features for managing your one-on-one customer service conversations.

Let’s look at how each one uses content formats for its specific purpose.

Firstly, a channel is a tool for mass communication; it is built to broadcast your text-based posts, image galleries, video files, and audio files to an unlimited audience. Its content formats are designed for one-to-many publishing, much like a blog. Secondly, a Telegram Business account is not a channel at all. It is a feature set you add to your personal account to better handle incoming messages. Its features are built around interactive and automated text-based content for customer service. For example, you can set up automated text greetings or away messages. You can also create ‘Quick Replies’, which are saved templates of text, images, or even document files (like a price list) that you can send instantly to a customer in a chat. They are not mutually exclusive; you use your channel to broadcast your video and image content to your audience, and you use your Business account to efficiently manage the private text-based sales enquiries that come from it.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Author]

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