Engaged customers are the true value drivers for any business. Effective customer engagement can lead to increased loyalty and higher spending, as customers who feel connected to a brand are more likely to support it. However, the real challenge for businesses lies in fostering genuine engagement. Today, marketers have more channels than ever available for communicating with their customers, including the often-underutilized power of WhatsApp messaging.
WhatsApp has the potential to be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. Its reach and market penetration make it the leader in digital messaging. More than 2.9 billion people actively use the app every month, with a total install base approaching 3 billion. Its popularity continues to grow in the United States, and it is an established part of daily life in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. With this reach, companies have fresh opportunities to connect with customers more organically and personally.
This blog examines how WhatsApp works as a marketing tool and explores its benefits and best practices for maximizing customer engagement.
Table of Contents
- The power and potential of WhatsApp for marketing
- The benefits of personalization with WhatsApp
- Real-time support and customer care
- The reach of WhatsApp alerts and notifications
- KPIs to guide your WhatsApp marketing strategy
- Expand omnichannel strategies with WhatsApp
- Build better lines of communication on WhatsApp with Telesign
The power and potential of WhatsApp for marketing
What makes WhatsApp so suitable for marketing campaigns? The answer lies in the app’s features and extensive global reach. Some of the most valuable features are:
- Application-to-person (A2P) message capabilities: Send messages directly from a centralized application to a customer’s mobile or desktop device.
- Mobile storefront options: Include product catalogs and an in-message cart feature to enhance shopping experiences.
- Customizable and automated greetings: Create tailored greetings for customers interacting with your WhatsApp profile.
- Quick reply shortcuts: Streamline responses to end users’ frequently asked questions with predefined shortcuts through WhatsApp’s quick replies feature.
- Broadcast message functionality: Send offers, announcements, and more to targeted customer groups.
These features make WhatsApp an essential tool for businesses, but so does its reach. Users in over 180 countries engage with WhatsApp daily. Billions of impressions take place on the app every day. Compare that to Facebook Messenger, which has about half as many active users—around 970 million.
The messaging application’s popularity is global, too. In India alone, more than half a billion people use WhatsApp actively. In Brazil, over 90% of the population has an active presence on WhatsApp. Even in the U.S., tens of millions of people use it daily. These features, combined with a vast audience, make WhatsApp an ideal part of an engagement strategy.
The benefits of personalization with WhatsApp
A key advantage of WhatsApp marketing is the opportunity for personalization. Interacting through direct messages is inherently more personal, providing a valued customer experience. It creates opportunities for what feels like one-on-one interactions. When a business can deliver marketing communications personalized by name, location, and preferences, it can enhance engagement. This, in turn, keeps customers coming back.
Success stories of personalization projects flourish in today’s marketplace, and WhatsApp features many of these case studies on its website. For example, one luxury goods retailer used the platform to send personalized marketing messages. This approach delivered an ROI 10 times greater than email, SMS, and in-app notifications. Additionally, customers who interacted with WhatsApp messages were 1.7 times more likely to make a purchase.
Real-time support and customer care
You can do more than just use WhatsApp for customer engagement. Many businesses today leverage its functionality to provide more responsive customer support and care. Others use it to solicit feedback and gather data to analyze trends. This real-time communication solution offers benefits for both businesses and customers, including:
- Faster resolutions for common questions and concerns
- Increased trust and reliability through prompt customer care
- Reduced costs for customer service without sacrificing quality
With WhatsApp’s two-way messaging, your business can invite customers to participate in a survey with an initial message. You might also choose to offer a discount or other perks as an incentive for participating. Once a user agrees, you can automate the delivery and collection of questions and answers. These features make WhatsApp a comprehensive and versatile communication channel.
The reach of WhatsApp alerts and notifications
Two-way communication is valuable, but other types of messages can also be necessary for your customers. Today’s users expect quick responses and transparency in business interactions. The more information you can provide quickly, the better. Customers respond positively to interactions that give them the information they need promptly.
The high open rate for WhatsApp messages and notifications makes them ideal for these purposes. You can leverage real-time alerts for:
- Shipment and delivery notifications providing updates on order status
- Reservation or appointment confirmations
- Upcoming appointment reminders
- New marketing offers alerts
- Account-related information
With a versatile platform for delivering customized and personalized alerts, businesses can further enhance how they engage with their customers.
KPIs to guide your WhatsApp marketing strategy
When you invest in WhatsApp marketing, achieving a measurable return is essential. Without the right data points, you won’t be able to evaluate the ROI or your campaigns. Knowing which KPIs to monitor provides you with the most valuable insights. Some of the most important metrics to track include:
- Opt-in rates: How many people have chosen to engage with your WhatsApp messaging?
- Open rates: How often do people open and read your messages?
- Engagement and click-through rates: Once opened, how many users take action?
- Conversions: After someone takes action, do you make a sale or achieve the desired outcome?
Of these KPIs, open and read rates are among the most important. These indicators help you identify which messages have gained the most traction. If read rates are low, you may need to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly. Conversely, a high read rate indicates content and engagement that resonates with your audience. Having the right tools to track your metrics is imperative.
Expand omnichannel strategies with WhatsApp
Success doesn’t come from focusing solely on one channel. You need to be where your customers are, whether that’s on WhatsApp, SMS, email or other social media platform. Integrating different channels is essential. Whether you message consistently across platforms or tailor your message to each delivery method, omnichannel marketing is crucial in today’s digital landscape.
Connect to your audiences with Telesign solutions designed to support WhatsApp marketing. Our Messaging API enables omnichannel messaging with automatic fallbacks, allowing you to reach customers via one API that delivers across SMS, MMS, email, and WhatsApp. Simplify engagement by connecting with customers through their preferred channels.
You can also send one-time passcodes (OTPs) via WhatsApp through our Verify API. With these APIs, you can seamlessly integrate WhatsApp strategies with your other channels.
Build better lines of communication on WhatsApp with Telesign
Engaging with customers today is imperative. Greater engagement translates into a measurable impact on sales and revenue. Building up your brand persona is simpler when you can connect directly with consumers. With so many engagement channels available today, companies should deploy a multi-channel strategy that goes where the customers are. Increasingly, WhatsApp is one of those locations.
Telesign customers have an innovative new solution offered in conjunction with Route Mobile. The WhatsApp Business Platform delivers template-based messaging in an intuitive user environment. Manage campaigns, access reports on performance, and spot trends to guide your next steps. You can even build conversational experiences using AI to give your customers more personalized and friendly engagement.
With billions of users and data showing that those users prefer WhatsApp for connecting with brands, this is one channel businesses must prioritize. Discover what’s possible with Telesign solutions as you forge ahead with fresh marketing and engagement strategies—talk to our experts today.
