WhatsApp goes beyond being just a messaging app, offering rich media sharing features, widespread global usage, and robust security. Businesses can leverage the popular chat application to connect with customers, boost engagement, and simultaneously reduce advertising and service expenses.
Read on to discover why incorporating WhatsApp into your marketing endeavours is essential and learn how to construct a successful WhatsApp marketing strategy that yields tangible results.
Why use WhatsApp as part of your marketing strategy
- Global Reach: WhatsApp is the world’s most popular chat app – it is used by more than 2.8 billion people in over 180 countries and supports 70 languages.
- It is Ubiquitous: WhatsApp is embraced across all age groups, providing brands with a single-channel solution to connect with consumers across diverse demographics, streamlining marketing endeavours.
- High Engagement: The average user spends 17 hours a month on the chat app and checks it 12 times a day.
- It is Trustworthy: WhatsApp has stringent regulations, requiring brands to secure opt-in consent from customers. This fosters greater likelihood of users opening and engaging with messages, confident in their legitimacy and relevance. WhatsApp reinforces trust by encrypting messages, maintaining data confidentiality, and not sharing information with third parties. Additionally, the absence of distracting ads ensures that users can focus on your marketing messages without interruption.
- High Open Rate: WhatsApp messages have a massive 98% open rate, significantly higher than channels like SMS and email.
- Seamless API Integrations: WhatsApp provides a programmable API, meaning effortless integration into a business’s marketing stack and enabling the scaling of WhatsApp messaging capabilities.
- Marketing-Friendly Features: It boasts several marketer-friendly functionalities – such as sending messages with images, videos, and links. WhatsApp also offers intriguing features for imaginative marketers. These include creating product lists, broadcast capabilities, conduct surveys and polls, ads that direct users to WhatsApp, and support QR codes.
- Streamlined Automation: Leveraging the use of chatbots on WhatsApp, its the perfect platform to venture into marketing automation. From straightforward quick replies to advanced digital assistants that lead customers through their queries, the possibilities are vast.
- Conversational Marketing: Whether employing human agents or marketing chatbots, this channel is optimal for embracing a more conversational marketing approach.
Develop your WhatsApp marketing strategy
Here is a checklist of the key steps that you will need to cover, so you will know how to best fulfil the needs of your business, your audience, and how to approach your WhatsApp marketing campaign.
1. Define your WhatsApp opt-in strategy
Meta enforces stringent guidelines regarding how brands can utilize WhatsApp to engage with users. Crucially, brands are required to obtain explicit opt-in consent from users who want to receive communications from them. You can review the full guidelines here – but we have summarized the key points:
Prior to messaging a customer on WhatsApp, opt-ins must be obtained. It is the responsibility of the business to retain opt-ins, indicating the customer’s consent to receive messages from the brand.
When gathering opt-ins, it is imperative to:
- Explicitly communicate that an individual is opting in to receive messages from your business via WhatsApp.
- Clearly specify the business name for which an individual is opting in to receive messages.
- Adhere to both Meta’s regulations, and any local regulations.
You can optimize opt-ins through the following methods:
- Incorporate an opt-in link on your website and social media pages.
- Explore advertising on Facebook and Instagram, featuring ads that redirect users to WhatsApp. Provide individuals with the chance to initiate a conversation and opt in for receiving pertinent messages.
- Integrate opt-in requests into your business workflows. For instance, on your website – offer opting in for delivery notifications, product registration assistance, or exclusive offers on related products.
- Utilize QR codes on outdoor advertisements and product packaging. When scanned, these QR codes initiate a WhatsApp chat with your brand.
2. Identify use cases and message formats
Evaluate your existing marketing strategy and sales funnel to pinpoint areas where WhatsApp can enhance engagement. Whether you are grappling with lead generation challenges or experiencing a low conversion rate, identify opportunities for leveraging WhatsApp effectively.
This assessment will help define the categories of messages you intend to employ. For instance:
- Consider using list messages for appointment bookings or showcasing past orders.
- Implement call-to-action (CTA) buttons for convenient responses.
- Incorporate maps for location services, and
- Incorporate other rich media elements to enhance the value of your interactions.
3. Identify your target audience and create personas
Your target audience may have shared characteristics, but they vary widely in expectations and requirements. Take the necessary time to identify your target audience, understand their needs, and explore how WhatsApp can assist in fulfilling those needs.
4. Set goals that are measurable
Define measurable KPIs that will enable you to monitor your progress when integrating WhatsApp. These KPIs might encompass conversion rates, cost per conversion, or campaign click rates. The establishment of clear marketing goals is crucial in gaining insights into the impact of WhatsApp on the attainment of your business objectives.
5. Establish your brand’s identity for WhatsApp messaging
WhatsApp serves as a platform for personal connections and intimate conversations with friends and family. So when engaging with a brand on the app, users anticipate a similar level of familiarity. Ensure that your brand persona and communication style are conveyed within the chat app environment.
This presents a chance to showcase the playful and human aspects of your brand, fostering more captivating marketing interactions. WhatsApp is not conducive to dull and automated conversations; instead, it offers an ideal space to exhibit the dynamic and personable nature of your brand.
6. Create workflows
Create workflows that leverage WhatsApp to deliver timely and targeted messages. Design your messaging strategy to capitalize on the distinctive features and characteristics of WhatsApp.
Some common use case examples include:
- Event-triggered notifications: Set up event or behaviour-triggered messages to engage your customers at precisely the right moments. For instance, if a customer’s preferred item is unavailable, send them enticing offers for comparable products, prompting a potential sale.
- Combat cart abandonment: Capitalize on the immediacy of WhatsApp messages to target and convert cart abandoners, enhancing your overall sales strategy.
- Seamless transfer to agents: WhatsApp serves not only as a potent marketing tool but also as an invaluable platform for customer service and sales. Facilitate a smooth transition for customers with in-depth queries, allowing them to seamlessly switch from chatbot to a human agent.
- Failover messaging in omnichannel strategy: Integrate WhatsApp as a failover channel within your omnichannel approach. In instances where a message cannot be delivered through the primary channel, WhatsApp steps in to ensure continuity.
- Optimize appointment booking: Streamline operations and alleviate staff workload by offering appointment scheduling options via WhatsApp, providing a convenient and efficient solution for both your business and your customers.
- Strategic timed messages: Harness the power of WhatsApp to send promotional messages when they will be most effective, such as at the start of a sale or leading up to the expiration date of a contract.
- Personalized upsell and cross-sell: Enhance customer engagement by sending tailored product recommendations based on previous purchases or items they have demonstrated interest in, fostering opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.
7. Establish a catalogue of products
With this functionality in the WhatsApp Business app, you can effortlessly incorporate up to 500 products, complete with photos and comprehensive descriptions, allowing users to conveniently explore them directly within the WhatsApp chat. This feature can be seamlessly integrated through the API as well.
8. Introduce a WhatsApp chatbot
Leverage an automated WhatsApp chatbot to engage with customers. Ensure that your chatbot mirrors your brand’s personality through its messaging style and imagery. This is an effective approach to execute marketing campaigns and maintain ongoing conversations with customers.
Our team can assist you in crafting the ideal chatbot for your business. We will collaborate with you to make any necessary fine-tuning, ensuring the optimal conversational experience for your customers.
Related Reading
- 6 Best Ways to Collect WhatsApp Business Opt-Ins
- Mastering the Power of Communication: Top Trends Transforming Business Communication
- WhatsApp Marketing: Boosting Engagement, Conversions, and Leads