For businesses looking to open a WeChat account, there are three types to choose from:
- WeChat Subscription Account
- WeChat Service Account
- WeChat enterprise Account
Which one is the right choice for your business? Let’s take a more detailed look below.
WeChat Subscription Account
A subscription account allows content creators to publish information and distribute to their subscribers, similar to how traditional newspapers or magazines do in the offline world.
You are allowed to push one post per day to your followers, but the post is hidden in a special folder and not immediately visible in a subscriber’s home feed; they must click through a few folders in order to access your content.
WeChat Service Account
Despite what the name might suggest, a WeChat Service Account is not limited to customer service functionalities, it is an excellent communication channel for marketing and sales activities between brands and their followers. Your marketing messages appear in your follower’s home feed, providing excellent visibilities. However, you are limited to four broadcasting messages per month, which is sufficient for most brands.
WeChat Enterprise Account
An Enterprise account is primarily used for internal communications among company employees. Followers of this kind of account must be pre-approved.
Verified Account vs. Unverified Account
While some domestic small businesses might use an unverified WeChat account to conduct business, a foreign company must use a verified WeChat business account to serve the public in China.
For businesses who would like to accept WeChat Pay and open a WeChat Store, they must have a verified Service Account, which requires a Chinese business license.
For Chinese companies with a verified service account, they will also get 9 extra API connections and the ability to accept WeChat Pay.
Things to Consider When Registering a WeChat Official Account
- For content creators, a Subscription Account might be their best fit.
- For foreign companies interested in raising brand awareness or generating sales leads, they should open a Verified WeChat Service Account instead.
- For Chinese companies that wish to use WeChat to facilitate internal communications within the company and to manage teams and projects, they can register for a WeChat Enterprise Account, this option is not available to foreign companies currently.
Examples of WeChat Official Accounts
WeChat Official Account Feature Comparison
Posts displaying in main feed
Posts displaying in the %22Subscriptions%22 folder
One Post / Day
4 Posts / Month
Basic auto responder
Self-defined menu system
9 advanced APIs
WeChat Pay Capability” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” col_tcell_text_font_size=”14px” col_rhead_text_font=”||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][/dvmd_table_maker_item][dvmd_table_maker_item col_label=”Subscription Account” col_content=”Subscription Account
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How to apply for a WeChat Official Account?
Some prerequisites for applying for a verified WeChat Official Account are:
- A legal Chinese entity
- A Chinese National ID
- A Chinese mobile phone number
- A Chinese bank account
- Reachable by phone during business hours (Beijing time)
The requirements are constantly changing and there are additional requirements for foreign companies, if you would like to know more, please contact us.
As you can see, unless you are a Chinese citizen living in China, it is very difficult, in not impossible, to successfully open a WeChat Official Account; and this is where Fei Digital comes in.
As a trusted partner for all your Chinese marketing efforts, we can help you overcome these obstacles. If you plan on opening a WeChat Official Account, let us know by filling out the form below and we will get the process started for you immediately.