Whatsapp is rarely a marketer’s first choice when it comes to digital marketing. However, at 1.5 billion monthly active users, Whatsapp is a platform that has unparalleled reach.
It’s also a platform that most users prefer for daily interactions, which can offer great potential for brands who want to increase their reach and customer satisfaction, albeit in a non-intrusive way. In this article, we talk about what WhatsApp marketing is all about and how brands can leverage it smartly.
What is WhatsApp Marketing?
WhatsApp Marketing is a form of mobile marketing that uses WhatsApp messenger to target potential customers with promotional messages.
It can be used to target customers with special offers, coupons, or discounts, and can also be used to keep them updated on new products or services.
It is a powerful tool that can help businesses reach a larger audience and build customer loyalty.
Reach and Power of WhatsApp
Whatsapp has 1.5 billion monthly active users, which is larger than any traditional social media platform, except parent company Facebook.
Even more importantly, as the world’s largest messaging platform, Whatsapp has a level of intimacy and engagement that is missing in most social platforms.
That’s mostly because it has stayed away from involving brands in the platform until very recently. Plus, apart from China, where WeChat is the predominant messaging app, Whatsapp has loyal users all over the world. There are three main ways of using Whatsapp’s messaging service:
One-on-one chats
This is the most common way in which Whatsapp is used. Individuals who have each other’s phone numbers can use Whatsapp to text each other without incurring traditional SMS charges. You can also call each other, share images and videos, and even send recorded voice messages.
Broadcasting
With a broadcast list, you can send a message to 256 people at once. They will receive the message as long as your number is saved in their phone book. Much like a BCC email, the message comes to them in the form of a one-on-one message.
Whatsapp Groups
Whatsapp groups have become a ubiquitous feature of Whatsapp. From school friends to family members, Whatsapp groups allow people to stay connected as a group. A Whatsapp group can accommodate up to 256 people and allows sharing of text messages, videos, photos, and audio messages.
Why has WhatsApp Marketing emerged as a viable marketing channel lately
Whatsapp launched its Whatsapp for a business feature around two years ago. This has given brands an inroad into Whatsapp like never before.
If you don’t have a Whatsapp for Business account, chances are you’re one of the few marketers not leveraging the power of the messaging platform. Here are some reasons why Whatsapp for Business should be a part of any comprehensive Digital Marketing plan-
Most of your customers are already on Whatsapp
60 billion messages are sent through Whatsapp every day. In India alone, there are more than 200 million users. So chances are your customers are already on Whatsapp, which will make it that much easier to reach out to them.
Customers are actually engaged on Whatsapp
Unlike other types of social media, Whatsapp actually shows phenomenal engagement rates. In fact, 98% of messages on WhatsApp are opened and read, while 90% of them actually get opened within just 3 seconds of being received.
When you compare that to engagement rates of other marketing channels like email, Facebook, or even SMS, Whatsapp is far ahead. Having an inroad into a channel which people are hooked to can be a huge plus for any business.
A lot of content gets shared through “dark social”
Dark social refers to private messaging channels like Whatsapp and email. Close to 84% of sharing now takes place on private messaging channels like Whatsapp instead of public social networks.
So even if you don’t use WhatsApp for marketing, customers are probably sharing content related to you anyway. Whatsapp marketing gives you some measure of control over the narrative.
Customers are ready for chat-based services
In a recent survey, 67% of the respondents said they expect to use chat for communicating with businesses they use. In fact, 53% said they are actually more likely to shop with a business that they are able to connect with directly on a messaging platform.
How to do WhatsApp marketing for Free
A successful WhatsApp Marketing Strategy and some of the best practices for WhatsApp marketing revolve around the following steps-
1. Defining your goals and KPIs:
The first step in any is to define your goals and KPIs. What do you want to achieve with WhatsApp marketing? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or build customer loyalty? Once you know your goals, you can start planning your campaign accordingly.
2. Finding your target audience:
Once you know your goals, it’s time to find your target audience. Who are the people you want to reach with your campaign? Where do they live? What age group do they belong to? What are their interests? By understanding your target audience, you can better craft your WhatsApp marketing messages to appeal to them.
3. Getting the business application:
If you’re going to use WhatsApp for business, you’ll need to download the WhatsApp Business. This app is free to download and comes with a number of features designed specifically for businesses, such as the ability to create a profile with your business name, address, and website. With their WhatsApp business API, you need to make a WhatsApp business account to optimize your marketing strategies on WhatsApp.
4. Creating an effective brand persona:
Your campaign should be built around a strong brand persona. This means creating a consistent message and looking for messages that reflect your brand’s values and personality. Your brand persona should be reflected in both the content of your messages and the way they’re designed.
5. Building a contact list:
Before you can start sending messages, you’ll need to build a contact list. There are a few ways to do this, such as importing your existing customer list or using WhatsApp’s built-in opt-in feature. Once you have a contact list, you can start sending WhatsApp messages to them.
6. Designing your communication:
Your marketing messages should be designed to appeal to your target audience and reflect your brand persona. The content of your messages should be engaging and informative, and the design should be eye-catching and professional.
7. Delivering great customer service:
Finally, it’s important to remember that WhatsApp is a two-way communication platform. This means that you should always be prepared to respond to customers who reply to your WhatsApp messages. By delivering great customer service, you can build trust and loyalty with your customers. It is a powerful tool that can help businesses reach a larger audience and build customer loyalty. Follow these steps to create a successful campaign.
Whatsapp Marketing Strategies
It’s important to remember that Whatsapp is very different from any other marketing channel, including other messaging platforms like WeChat and Facebook Messenger.
It doesn’t have any advertising space and doesn’t lend itself to easy automation. In fact, even with a Whatsapp account for Business, you can only broadcast a message to 256 people at one time.
However, what that does is it gives you is a major advantage in terms of personalization, engagement, and efficacy. This is what you need to leverage in your Whatsapp marketing strategy to make the most of the channel.
So while Whatsapp viral marketing is not always possible, effective Whatsapp marketing campaigns can definitely be designed. Here are some tips you must keep in mind when it comes to Whatsapp marketing:
Personalize
Remember that any message you broadcast is received by your prospective customer as a one-on-one message. This kind of message will almost certainly be opened and read which automatically puts you at an advantage over most other marketing channels.
Plus, Whatsapp is a personal and intimate messaging platform so it makes sense for your messaging to be highly personalized as well.
If you’re sending a message to just 256 people at a time, you can truly segment your prospective customers by their tastes, spending patterns, and likes and dislikes.
This makes customers far more likely to respond. So although not as scalable as other marketing channels, Whatsapp marketing more than makes up for it with a much higher response and conversion rate.
Incentives
While Whatsapp marketing is highly effective, it can only work if prospective customers are willing to share their numbers with you. Using techniques like freebies, giveaways, and contests can help you attract interested customers and get their personal details.
This also ensures that you only end up marketing to people who have some degree of interest in your product. Given that Whatsapp marketing is time-consuming, having a list of qualified leads makes a lot of sense.
Customer service via Whatsapp
Although strictly speaking this isn’t a Whatsapp SMS marketing technique, it can really help your company’s brand image. Whatsapp is a channel most customers are hooked to, so if you can use your Whatsapp for a Business account to actually provide customers with exemplary customer service, they will be delighted.
This level of customer delight can go a long way in cementing your company’s reputation as a brand that cares. In fact, if you’re a larger company, you should actually explore setting up a customer service team that handles queries on Whatsapp.
Here’s a video that talks about how small businesses can make the most of Whatsapp marketing.
Successful Whatsapp Marketing Case Studies
Over the years, many brands have used the power of Whatsapp viral marketing to take customer engagement to the next level. If you think Whatsapp SMS marketing is restricted to smaller companies that don’t operate at scale, you will be surprised by some of these case studies.
Absolut Vodka in Argentina
Absolut was launching their Limited Edition Absolut Unique Bottle collection in Argentina. Given the nature of the product, they wanted their marketing campaign to be aspirational and exclusive.
They zeroed in on Whatsapp to drive their marketing because firstly, it is the most personalized marketing platform and secondly, 84% of Argentina’s mobile phone users had Whatsapp at that time.
They hosted a very exclusive launch party for the product and decided to make just two invitations open to the public. They also created an imaginary bouncer named Sven and anyone who wanted to attend the party had to contact Sven on Whatsapp and persuade him to invite them.
This resulted in a Whatsapp viral marketing campaign. The campaign generated just the buzz Absolut was looking for. More than 1000 unique images, videos, and audio messages were actually created by users looking to attend the launch
Agent Provocateur
Agent Provocateur is an exclusive luxury brand. It has a service for special customers wherein it uses Whatsapp to update them on new arrivals and events at its stores. Since Whatsapp is a more private channel, it also allows for two-way communication on more sensitive subjects.
In fact, the brand launched a Whatsapp campaign called Menage a Trois on Christmas. Whatsapp users could choose to include a personal shopper from Agent Provocateur on a Whatsapp group with their partner to discuss potential Christmas presents. While there were just 112 conversations in all, the conversion rates were phenomenal. 31% of the customers visited the store and 61% went to the website.
Growth of WhatsApp Marketing India
WhatsApp Marketing in India is still at a nascent stage with only a few companies using it for their marketing needs.
However, it has the potential to grow exponentially in India.
This is because WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the country with over 200 million users. Moreover, WhatsApp is used extensively by people of all age groups and demographics.
Given the popularity of WhatsApp in India, it is not surprising that WhatsApp marketing has the potential to grow exponentially in the country. All it takes is for more businesses to start using WhatsApp for their marketing needs.
Whatsapp Marketing Examples
It can be very effective if used correctly. Here are some examples to help you get started.
1. Use WhatsApp to send personalized messages:
One of the most effective ways to use WhatsApp for marketing is to send personalized messages to your customers. This could include a special offer or discount, a birthday message, or just a simple thank you message. By sending personalized messages, you can show your customers that you care about them and appreciate their business.
2. Use WhatsApp to send updates and announcements:
Another great way to use WhatsApp for marketing is to send updates and announcements to your customer base. This could include new product launch information, special sales or discounts, or any other important news that you think your customers would be interested in. By sending updates and announcements through WhatsApp, you can ensure that your customers are always up-to-date on what’s happening with your business.
3. Use WhatsApp to run promotional campaigns:
You can also use WhatsApp to run promotional campaigns for your business. This could include a contest or a giveaway. By running promotional campaigns through WhatsApp, you can increase customer engagement and loyalty.
4. Use WhatsApp to provide customer support:
Finally, you can use WhatsApp to provide customer support to your customers. This could include answering questions, resolving problems, or just providing general information. By using WhatsApp for customer support, you can show your customers that you’re always available to help them.
Tips to optimize WhatsApp Marketing
1. Setting up your business profile correctly:
The first and foremost WhatsApp marketing tip is to set up your business profile correctly. This includes adding a profile picture, a cover photo, and a bio.
Your profile picture should be your company logo, and your cover photo should be something that represents your brand well.
Your bio should be short and to the point, and it should include your company name, website, and contact information.
2. Using effective messaging tools:
The next tip is to use effective messaging tools. This could include using WhatsApp Web or WhatsApp Business app.
WhatsApp Web is a great way to send messages to customers from your computer, and the WhatsApp Business app is a great way to keep track of customer conversations and create automated messages.
3. Labeling your chats for optimizing tracking:
You should also label your chats for optimizing tracking. This means that you should create labels for different customer segments, such as VIP customers, prospective customers, or past customers.
This will help you keep track of customer conversations and ensure that you’re sending the right message to the right people.
4. Using stories for talking about your business:
It is also important to use stories for talking about your business. WhatsApp Stories is a great way to share updates about your company, product launches, or promotions.
You can also use WhatsApp Stories to answer frequently asked questions or provide customer support. You can also use the WhatsApp status feature, add a product catalog, and send WhatsApp messages by using customer relationships features.
5. Using different groups:
The next tip is to use different groups. WhatsApp Groups is a great way to segment your customer base and send targeted messages.
You can create groups for VIP customers, prospective customers, or past customers. This will help you keep track of customer conversations and ensure that you’re sending the right message to the right people.
6. Broadcasting greetings and key information:
Finally, you should broadcast greetings and key information to your WhatsApp contacts. This could include a welcome message, an announcement about a new product launch, or a promotion.
By broadcasting messages to your WhatsApp contacts, you can ensure that everyone is up-to-date on your latest offerings and that they know how to get in touch with you if they have any questions.
SMS and WhatsApp marketing Differences
SMS marketing is a way to reach out to your customers through text messages. WhatsApp marketing, on the other hand, is a way to reach out to your customers through WhatsApp.
The main difference between SMS marketing and WhatsApp marketing is that WhatsApp marketing allows you to add multimedia content to your messages, such as images, videos, and links. WhatsApp marketing also allows you to create groups and broadcast messages.
Another difference between SMS marketing and WhatsApp marketing is that WhatsApp marketing is more personal because it allows you to have one-on-one conversations with your customers. WhatsApp marketing is also more convenient because it can be accessed on both mobile phones and computers.
Finally, WhatsApp marketing is more affordable than SMS marketing because WhatsApp uses the internet to send messages, while SMS uses the cellular network. WhatsApp marketing is also more effective because it has a higher open rate and click-through rate.
WhatsApp Marketing Benefits
WhatsApp marketing has a number of advantages over other marketing channels, such as SMS marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing.
First, WhatsApp business API is more personal because it allows you to have one-on-one conversations with your customers. WhatsApp marketing is also more convenient because it can be accessed on both mobile phones and computers.
Second, the WhatsApp marketing campaign is more affordable than other marketing channels because WhatsApp uses the internet to send messages, while SMS and email use the cellular network. WhatsApp marketing is also more effective because it has a higher open rate and click-through rate.
Finally, WhatsApp marketing is more scalable than other marketing channels because WhatsApp allows you to create groups and broadcast messages to a large number of people at once. WhatsApp marketing is also more flexible because you can send messages to people in different time zones
Whatsapp Marketing Automation- Software and Tools
The Whatsapp marketing tools allow certain features including the ability to sort, automate, and respond quickly to messages.
Since Whatsapp doesn’t offer any business tools or Whatsapp marketing software, the only option is to go for the kind of small-scale campaigns outlined above.
While certain third-party Whatsapp marketing software is available, it is not legally sanctioned by Whatsapp. Using these kinds of Whatsapp SMS marketing tools can result in damage to your business reputation. In fact, you may end up being banned from Whatsapp altogether.
Conclusion
Whatsapp marketing is a completely different ball game. It isn’t just different from PPC and social media campaigns, but also from other messaging platforms.
However, its strength actually lies in its emphasis on privacy. While Whatsapp marketing may not be the most scalable strategy, it can undoubtedly be one of the most effective. If you’re looking to understand the nuances of Whatsapp marketing as part of an overall marketing strategy, doing a complete Digital Marketing Certification Course is probably the best way forward as a WhatsApp Marketing Course.
WhatsApp Marketing FAQs
Question: How you can do bulk WhatsApp Marketing?
Answer: Bulk WhatsApp marketing can be done using WhatsApp marketing software, such as WhatsApp Bulk Sender, WhatsApp Blaster, WhatsApp Marketing Pro, and WhatsApp Sender Pro.
Question: What is the average open rate for WhatsApp marketing?
Answer: The average open rate for WhatsApp marketing is about 80%.
Question: What is the average click-through rate for WhatsApp marketing?
Answer: The average click-through rate for WhatsApp marketing is about 10%.
Question: Is WhatsApp marketing effective?
Answer: Yes, it is an effective marketing tool because it has a high open rate and click-through rate. It is also more personal and convenient than other marketing channels, such as SMS marketing and email marketing.
