What is WhatsApp Marketing - A Pro Marketer's Guide (2024)

published on 07 September 2022

2.4 Billion users across the globe currently use WhatsApp actively to connect with friends, family & Businesses. So, if you're missing out on WhatsApp Marketing in 2024, you literally aren't Marketing at all!

WhatsApp is one of the best platforms to market your business having:

  • 98% Message Open-rate
  • 45-60% Click-through Rate

This is 5x more than results brought in by Emails & SMS!

That's why WhatsApp Marketing should definitely be on your business' radar!

Want to get started with WhatsApp Marketing?

Let's get you familiar with it!

In this blog, we'll discuss:


What exactly is WhatsApp Marketing?


WhatsApp Marketing is promoting your products & services on the WhatsApp channel to drive sales & revenue for the brand by sending various available types of messages, building brand authenticity & provide instant customer support solutions on a platform where 2.4 Billion global users spend approximately 18.6 hours per month.

In the above video, AiSensy Founder & CEO, Gautam Rajesh Shelley breaks down what exactly is WhatsApp Marketing & how you can get started with Marketing on WhatsApp. 




Why WhatsApp Marketing is a must in 2024?

WhatsApp Marketing Vs Email Marketing - Stats Comparison
WhatsApp Marketing Vs Email Marketing - Stats Comparison

During times when Email & SMS open rates are going downhill, WhatsApp tops the chart with:

  • 2.4 Billion Global Users
  • 98% Message open rate
  • 45-60% Click-through rate
  • 38 Minutes Average Engagement per user daily

That's why over 500 million businesses globally are using WhatsApp for Marketing & customer support.

So, if you are not doing WhatsApp Marketing in 2024, you're missing out on at least 25-30% of Revenue for your business.

One of the best ways of promoting your products and services is by sharing your user-generated content in the form of images, short-form videos, experience reviews, and product feedback from current customers on WhatsApp.

Using a versatile video editor tool, you can enhance these user-generated videos to make them even more engaging and impactful. This way, you can build trust and brand image among your customers and allow them to share their feedback and ask questions, if any.

Let's explore how different brands have been using WhatsApp Marketing creatively for their businesses.


How Brands are using WhatsApp Marketing?

Many Brands have been using WhatsApp for Marketing & Customer support since its launch!

Let's check out some creative ways how brands are using WhatsApp Marketing to drive sales & provide top-notch support to customers.

Estee Lauder

Estee Lauder is among the first brand to use WhatsApp to provide personalized Skincare solutions. They created an AI WhatsApp Chatbot, Liv, which helps customers get familiar with using the Brand's products & offers personalized skincare solutions on WhatsApp.

Read: What is WhatsApp Chatbot & how to create one Code-free

WhatsApp Marketing by Estee Lauder
WhatsApp Marketing by Estee Lauder

Nissan

In Saudi Arabia, Nissan implemented a WhatsApp Chatbot to answer common customer queries without the assistance of human agents. With the Chatbot, Nissan was able to increase Leads by 390% & reduced the reliance on Call centres by 33%.

WhatsApp Marketing by Estee Lauder
WhatsApp Marketing by Estee Lauder

Mutua Madrilena

Spain's leading Insurance provider, Mutua Madrilena allows customers to submit automobile accident claims via WhatsApp, making the process 30% faster.

Skullcandy

Skullcandy, a global Headphone brand has been boosting 150x ROI on WhatsApp with Abandoned Cart Notifications, transaction notifications & promotional messages.

Read - How AiSensy helps Skullcandy boosts 150x ROI with WhatsApp Marketing

Mukuru

Africa's largest money transfer provider, Mukuru saw a jump in customer satisfaction from 65% - 80% by automating transactional notifications & providing customer support on WhatsApp.

Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka, in its earliest days, was one of the first to adopt WhatsApp Marketing. It hosted a contest campaign for 2 entry tickets to a product celebration party where it encouraged users to send a message on WhatsApp to Absolut vodka with the reason why they should get the party ticket. Absolut Vodka was able to engage 600+ people with this strategy in just 3 days.

The Financial Times

The Financial Times, a subscriber-only news publication used WhatsApp Marketing to grow its subscribers by 40% by Broadcasting 2 free content pieces with opted-in users on WhatsApp.

Read: How to send WhatsApp bulk Broadcast without getting blocked

Flipkart

Flipkart uses WhatsApp to create hype & awareness for upcoming sales, hot-product releases, share exclusive offers, discounts & more.

Flipkart using WhatsApp Marketing to send promotional messages
Flipkart using WhatsApp Marketing to send promotional messages

Also Read: Top 7 Winning WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns


6 Hard-to-miss WhatsApp Marketing Benefits for your Business

1. Improved Sales

With 5x more open rate & 10x more click-through rate than Emails & SMS, WhatsApp helps 3x your sales, skyrocket revenue & increases your brand's visibility

2. Improves relations & Connectivity

WhatsApp allows businesses to give a personal touch to their conversations with customers by sending personalized messages & answer customer queries in real time with one-to-one Live Chat.

3. Build Trust & Boost Business Authenticity

People purchase from Brands they trust! You can build trust & authenticity in users' minds about your brand by getting the Green Tick on WhatsApp. The Green Tick helps establish your Business as Trustworthy in users' eyes.

Read: How to apply for FREE WhatsApp Green Tick

4. Boost Customer Satisfaction

90% of customers consider immediate response as important! On WhatsApp, you can respond instantly to customer queries in real-time with Live one-to-one human chat.

5. Reduced Cost

WhatsApp Marketing is highly affordable! It costs close to nothing in comparison with the ROI you can achieve with this marketing channel. Businesses like Skullcandy working with AiSensy have been able to drive 150x ROI with the power of bulk WhatsApp Marketing.

6. Reduced Efforts

On WhatsApp, you can automate your sales & support process with a WhatsApp Chatbot saving your agents' valuable time & effort.


Top 5 WhatsApp Marketing Strategies to get started

1. Broadcast Promotional Messages on WhatsApp

WhatsApp Notifications have a 98% open rate. Sending bulk WhatsApp Marketing messages & offers on WhatsApp is the best way to reach a wide audience & boost your sales. 

You can send these messages only to users who've opted-in for receiving WhatsApp notifications from your business. 

Since October 2021, WhatsApp has allowed businesses to send promotional messages on WhatsApp. So, you can send non-transactional messages like discount offers, promotions on festivals, product launch messages, season-end-sale & much more to boost your business’ sales & conversions.

Read: 14 WhatsApp Marketing Messages that convert like crazy

Promotional Messages on WhatsApp
Promotional Messages on WhatsApp

2. Introduce Loyalty Programs for Customers

“Businesses conducting loyalty programs are 88% more profitable than competitors who don't!”

Loyalty programs are incentives offered by businesses to regular customers. They help attract new customers & make your current customers feel special.

You can host loyalty programs & offer incentives to users on WhatsApp to boost up to 3x re-sales & draw new consumers towards your brand.

3. Run Direct to WhatsApp Ads

By running Direct to WhatsApp Ads on Instagram & Facebook, you can drive instant lead generation & reduce cost per lead.

With 'Direct to WhatsApp Ads', users instantly redirect to your WhatsApp where you engage them in a live 1:1 conversation.

A major benefit here is that when a user lands on your WhatsApp, you'll instantly get their name & Mobile number (without having them fill out tiring forms).

You can run Click-to-WhatsApp-Ads on Instagram/ Facebook directly via AiSensy (AiSensy Exclusive feature😉) & reduce as much as 60% ad-spends.   

Direct to WhatsApp Ads
Direct to WhatsApp Ads

4. Send Personalized Messages on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the perfect place for Personalized Customer Communication.

WhatsApp allows you to send messages across multiple fun formats with rich media including Images, Videos, PDFs, GIFs & much more.

Not to forget that you can use emojis to personalize the text!

With AiSensy’s WhatsApp Engagement Suite, you can attach Clickable CTA & Quick Reply Buttons that make your messages highly actionable.

5. Automate Support & Sales with WhatsApp Chatbot

Integrating a WhatsApp Chatbot is the best way to keep your business running 24x7.

A WhatsApp Chatbot acts and responds just like a human agent, understanding & responding to queries instantly.

Reports suggest that a Chatbot can answer 80% of user queries without any hindrances.

It can show personalized recommendations, helping users find the right product & complete sales without human intervention.


How to get started with WhatsApp Marketing?

There are 2 ways to get started with WhatsApp Marketing for your Business:

  • WhatsApp Business App
  • WhatsApp Business API

Which one should you choose for your business? Well, let's discuss in detail:

WhatsApp Business App

WhatsApp Business App is a free-to-use application that allows you to take your Business online & sell your products & services. It fits the needs of individuals and small businesses with comparatively lower message volumes. 

The Business App allows you to:

  • Broadcast messages to 256 people
  • Set auto-reply for welcome or away messages
  • Use WhatsApp Business on 5 devices (1 Mobile + 4 Pcs)

Setting up your WhatsApp Business Account is extremely easy.

All you need to do is create a new WhatsApp Business Account/ shift your normal. WhatsApp account to WhatsApp Business.

Find out all steps to create WhatsApp Business Account with Business App here.

Once you create the Business account, add your product catalogues, images, auto-reply messages & more as shown in the image below.

Product Catalogue - WhatsApp Business App
Product Catalogue - WhatsApp Business App

Limitations of WhatsApp Business App

There are multiple downsides of using the WhatsApp Business App for communication with users like:

1. WhatsApp Broadcast Limit of 256 users.

2. No option to track  analytics

3. Can't track agent's performance.

4. Can't integrate WhatsApp Chatbot to automate customer support

To counter these limitations, you can use WhatsApp Business API for multiple users.

WhatsApp Marketing with WhatsApp Business API

WhatsApp Business API fits the needs of startups & medium-large businesses, with huge volumes of incoming messages on a daily basis.

WhatsApp Business API allows enterprise-level businesses to manage customer support, and boost conversions & business growth on WhatsApp.

Read: What is WhatsApp Business API : Complete Guide

WhatsApp doesn't provide a platform to use WhatsApp Business API. To use all features & benefits of WhatsApp Business API, you can connect with a WhatsApp Marketing Platform like AiSensy, built using official WhatsApp Business APIs.

AiSensy - WhatsApp Marketing Platform
AiSensy - WhatsApp Marketing Platform

With AiSensy's WhatsApp Engagement Suite, you can:

  • Get WhatsApp Business API for Free within 10 minutes

  • Send WhatsApp Broadcasts to Unlimited users in one go (opted-in users)

  • Automate payments, abandoned carts etc notifications via WhatsApp Automation.

  • Provide 24x7x365 Customer Support with an AI-powered WhatsApp Chatbot.

  • Multi-human live chat support is available

  • Integrate software & CRMs like Hubspot and Shopify with 2000+ AiSensy Integrations.

  • Send Razorpay payment links on WhatsApp to receive 3x faster payments (AiSensy exclusive) 

Get started with AiSensy for FREE


Popular Official WhatsApp Marketing software

If you're a mid-large-sized business, WhatsApp Business App won't be the right match for you!

You can easily get started with WhatsApp Marketing for a wide audience using an official WhatsApp Marketing software.

Listed below are 10 Official bulk WhatsApp senders built using WhatsApp Business API that you can choose for your business:

1 AiSensy

2. Infobip

3. Respond.io

4. Zoko

5. Interakt

6. Wati

7. Delightchat

8. Gallabox

9. Pickyassist

10. Trengo

Know in-depth about these software here - Top 10 WhatsApp Marketing Software for your Business




FAQs

WhatsApp Marketing is free if done using WhatsApp Business App. However, if you're using a WhatsApp API-based platform like AiSensy, you'll need to pay for platform charges (starting 999/ month) and also pay for WhatsApp Conversations (0.35p/ User initiated & 0.55p/ Business initiated conversation).

Yes, WhatsApp Marketing is legal, if you’re using an official WhatsApp API-based platform like AiSensy! Many top-tier businesses like Skullcandy, Flipkart, Rentomojo, Vivo & Byju use WhatsApp Marketing to drive sales & answer customer queries on WhatsApp.

You can easily drive engagement on WhatsApp by: Sharing WhatsApp Links everywhere (Social Media, product packaging) Adding WhatsApp Button to website Implementing WhatsApp pop-up on website Adding WhatsApp QR Code on the packaging, stores etc.

WhatsApp Marketing helps you drive 3x sales for your business, build brand trust & reputation, increase customer satisfaction & reduce marketing costs & efforts!

WhatsApp is one of the most used communication apps across the world with an active community of 2.2 Billion global users. Messages on WhatsApp have a 98% open rate & a 45-60% click-through rate - 5x more than emails & SMS. That's why it's important to use WhatsApp for your business marketing & support.

You can easily do bulk WhatsApp Marketing with an official WhatsApp Engagement Suite like AiSensy. AiSensy is a WhatsApp Marketing platform based on WhatsApp APIs allowing you to Broadcast messages to unlimited users, provide live chat on multiple devices & much more.

Yes, WhatsApp Marketing is extremely effective! WhatsApp notifications have a 98% message open rate & 45-60% click-through rate providing brands with the visibility they need to increase sales & revenue.

Before you Leave

Well, that sums it up!

WhatsApp Marketing is a great way to drive sales, provide quality customer support & establish a good brand value for your business.

Wish to get started with official WhatsApp Marketing for Free?

Check out AiSensy today

Checkout Useful Resources

WhatsApp Business API Complete Guide

How to get WhatsApp Green Tick for Free in 3 Simple Steps

How to drive traffic to WhatsApp for 5x ROI

Read more