Marketing on WhatsApp: find out why to grow your Business!

In this article we analyze Marketing Strategy on WhatsApp: what it is and why to use it.

If you are reading this article you have probably typed one of these keywords into Google:

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As of June 2022, 33 million Italians use Whatsapp daily on their phones. Worldwide, there are over 1.5 billion active users. An enormity!

Needless to say, such a platform is a marketing darling.

Companies are already using it successfully, especially in customer care.

The world’s most popular messaging app has a power that social networks do not: it definitely cuts the distance between the company and the individual user, allowing for personalized, one-to-one dialogue.

This means that all the people interested in your brand can send you messages. Marketing on WhatsApp can give you results you don’t expect.

Why to do marketing on WhatsApp

The first, obvious (and already sufficient) reason to start your WhatsApp Marketing strategy is the app’s popularity.

Through WhatsApp, you could potentially get into the pockets of more than 1 in 2 Italians, write direct and personalized messages, send pictures and voice.

The second reason is precisely the fact that through WhatsApp you can completely eliminate the gap between your brand and people.

Instant chat enables a level of engagement (the active involvement and participation, including emotional participation, of your community) that even on social networks is not possible.

Users can exchange opinions, make their voices heard, get immediate answers. What could be better to feel part of a reality and a community?

Marketing on WhatsApp smacks of branding much more than promotion or advertising.

In fact, it is better suited for building trusting relationships with customers and leads than for directly promoting or selling your products and services.

But we will see this better later, because there are rules that the platform imposes on its users that push precisely in this direction.

The features of WhatsApp Business

If you want to start WhatsApp Marketing, the first thing we suggest is to use a WhatsApp Business account. You only need a business phone number.

Why? Because it has many more features than a private profile. Here is a list of them:

Public profile page with all the salient info about your company and link to the website;
Customizable automatic messages, greetings, and quick replies;
Labels, to divide and keep customer chats in order;
Account Usage Data Insights.

WhatsApp Business: the costs?

We have another great news if you want to use WhatsApp Business, it’s about cost.

The app is also free for businesses. As WhatsApp’s official F.A.Q. explains, in fact:

“WhatsApp Business is a free Android and iPhone application designed for small business owners. WhatsApp Business simplifies interaction with customers with tools to automate, organize, and respond quickly to messages. It is also designed so that in appearance and operation it can offer the same user experience as WhatsApp Messenger. You can use WhatsApp Business for all the tasks you usually engage in, such as texting or sending photos.”

Marketing via WhatsApp: the rules to follow

There are rules.

WhatsApp’s terms of use clearly tell us that you cannot use the platform for purely promotional or sales purposes.
In addition, both groups and broadcast lists have a limit of users, set at 256. If you have a large target list, you will need to use more groups or more broadcasts.

The truth is that WhatsApp Marketing can be an endless field of business opportunities to those who dare to creatively experiment with new solutions. This means that you have so many possibilities to attract new potential customers, retain existing ones, or increase your E-commerce sales.

Why use WhatsApp in your fi Marketing Strategies

And now let’s look at the success of Marketing on WhatsApp in terms of numbers and percentages.

What are the open and engagement rates for marketing messages on WhatsApp?

Open and engagement rates on WhatsApp are significantly higher than on other marketing channels:

The basic open rate for WhatsApp messages is 58 percent.
With message optimization, personalization and timely delivery, the open rate can reach 70%.
The click-through rate for marketing messages on WhatsApp is about 15 percent.
72% of consumers say they are more likely to interact with marketing messages on WhatsApp that are personalized

What are the benefits of using WhatsApp for customer service?

39% of users prefer to use WhatsApp as a customer service channel.
54 percent of users prefer to receive order updates and marketing communications via WhatsApp.
85 percent of consumers are interested in receiving timely and proactive communications from brands via WhatsApp.

These data suggest that WhatsApp can be an effective channel for providing quick and personalized customer service.

How can companies use WhatsApp chatbots for marketing?

WhatsApp chatbots are becoming an increasingly popular tool for marketing:

The use of WhatsApp chatbots can lead to an increase in lead generation of more than 500%.
WhatsApp chatbots have a lower cost per lead than other social media channels.
The use of WhatsApp chatbots for marketing can contribute to a 28 percent lead-to-customer conversion rate.

Source cooby.com statistics

These data indicate that chatbots can be an effective tool for automating and optimizing marketing activities on WhatsApp.

What are typical conversion rates for marketing campaigns on WhatsApp?

Conversion rates for marketing campaigns on WhatsApp tend to be higher than on other channels:

In general, companies can expect a 5 percent conversion rate through marketing on WhatsApp.
For companies selling exclusively through WhatsApp, the rate of repeat customers is 68 percent.
Using WhatsApp chatbots for marketing can result in a lead-to-customer conversion rate of 45-60%.

These high conversion rates highlight the potential of WhatsApp as an effective marketing tool for businesses.

Some creative and effective ideas for WhatsApp Marketing

How many ways could WA be used for marketing? Let us tell you: very many. What is even more interesting is that a tool that is also perfectly adapted to the needs of small businesses and freelancers.

We have collected some ideas that may be useful to you if you decide to go down this path.

The super-exclusive broadcast

Your leads and customers would probably like to be part of an exclusive broadcast.

The platform allows you to create a list of numbers that receive your messages at the same time, with one sending.

Unlike groups, no user will read the data of other users registered in the broadcast. However, he/she will be able to respond to you directly in chat, privately.

You can create a broadcast where only those who are part of it get certain content, information or benefits.

A decidedly closed-numbered list (256) that appeals to exclusivity and feeling part of something.

Increase your customers' trust by responding to them via WhatsApp

The group to get to know your people and make community

Or perhaps, they will want to participate in decisions about their favorite products-how about giving them a voice on a group?

You could use WhatsApp groups as discussion and feedback-gathering groups to improve your offering and better understand what the people you target want.

At the same time, groups can become an inexpensive way to catalyze your users’ desire to feel part of a community.

WhatsApp integration with your corporate CRM.

Factory Communication Native integration between HubSpot and WhatsApp arrives.

And if you want to go big, integrate WhatsApp with the company’s CRM to get a single view of the company’s relationship with each customer-including instant messages!

We have already talked about the big news at HubSpot, which has finally implemented native integration with WhatsApp Business for Professional and Enterprise licenses.

If you use another CRM or a different HubSpot license, try moving between apps and extensions to still integrate the two platforms.

It wouldn’t hurt at all to combine WhatsApp Marketing with direct and immediate Customer Care, would it?

The final council

Every company and every brand should have its own marketing and communication strategy, which includes the platforms that are really useful for that specific context.

Marketing with WhatsApp is very suitable for professionals and SMBs, but also for larger companies. The point is: differentiate yourself.

Differentiate the offering, differentiate the marketing strategy. This is the secret to moving effectively among all the platforms, apps, social networks, choosing only those that allow you to speak to your niche of customers and leads.

This is one of the strengths of Factory Communication, which studies differentiated, goal-oriented marketing and communication strategies for each reality. Yours, too.

Learn about Factory Communication’s strategies

Do you want to implement your WhatsApp marketing strategy?

Read these articles:

Marketing on WhatsApp: what it is and why to use it