WhatsApp marketing strategy: starter guide

What's a WhatsApp marketing strategy and how can you set one up? Here's how to use create a strategy that gives your team direction and improves the performance of your WhatsApp channel.

You may be watching the rise of WhatsApp Business.

It's no surprise. With its vast user base and direct messaging capabilities, WhatsApp is a powerful channel for businesses from small to enterprise level.

If you're facing rising customer aquisition costs and searching for better ways to reach and retain your customers, WhatsApp Business can become your commerce superpower.

To help you get started with WhatsApp smoothly, we look at the starting points of setting up your initial WhatsApp marketing strategy.

What you'll learn:

• The basics of WhatsApp marketing
• Crafting a winning WhatsApp strategy
• Best practices for engagement
• Analyzing and optimizing WhatsApp revenue per recipient (RPR)
• Real-world success stories

The basics of WhatsApp marketing

WhatsApp marketing involves using the WhatsApp platform for marketing automation, marketing campaigns and guided sales.

With almost 3 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp offers a direct and personal way to communicate with your audience. Expect higher open, engagement and conversion rates than you've seen in your traditional channels.

Key aspects include:

• High reach: WhatsApp continuously shows open rates up to 85%, becoming more and more relevant in times of declining reach of emails.
• Campaigns and automation: Using platforms like charles allow marketing automation flows and scaled bulk campaigns.
• Analytics: Monitoring performance metrics like subscriber growth, engagement rates and revenue attributed to WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Business app downloads worldwide have risen steadily, tripling in the last few years

(Source: Statista) 

Crafting a winning WhatsApp strategy

A successful WhatsApp marketing strategy aligns with your business goals. 3 key steps to get started and lay the right foundation are:

1. Grow subscribers: Similar to email subscribers you want to maximize the amount of prospects and customers you can reach via WhatsApp.
2. Ensure GDPR compliance: These subscribers should be collected in a GDPR-compliant way, including double-opt-in and easy opt-out. Get set up to collect and store data, and make accessible to users. (More on WhatsApp and GDPR.)
3. Set up ongoing automation flows: The best way to collect subscribers, with reduced effort, are ongoing flows that start from your website or online store. In the charles platform, this is done with the open-canvas feature Journeys.

Segment audiences for more relevant campaigns –
which can lead to higher engagement and sales

Best practices for WhatsApp marketing engagement

WhatsApp offers a dynamic platform to foster deeper connections and drive meaningful interactions. Engagement tends to be high thanks to its rich interactive features and immediate nature.

Here are some best practices we recommend for maximizing WhatsApp marketing engagement with the WhatsApp Business API:

1. Personalize at scale: Use automation tools like Journeys to send personalized messages based on user behavior, preferences, and purchase history. Crafting messages that resonate with individual users can significantly enhance engagement rates. For instance, using the recipient's name and referencing their previous interactions can make the conversation feel more personal and less automated.
2. Optimize timing and frequency: Understanding your audience's preferences regarding when they are most likely to engage with messages is crucial. Schedule your campaigns to coincide with these peak times, and be mindful of not overwhelming your subscribers with too many messages. A balanced approach can help maintain interest and prevent opt-outs. You can schedule messages in the charles platform, or add time delays to automated WhatsApp flows, from seconds to days to months.
3. Add interactive and rich media content: WhatsApp enables the sharing of rich media content such as images, videos, voice notes, and documents. Using these features can make your messages more engaging and informative. For example, sending a short video demonstrating a product or a beautifully designed image of a new collection can capture attention more effectively than text alone. But test this. Some customers find that a quick message without an image gets a better response as it appears more natural.
4. Exclusive offers and early access: Give your WhatsApp subscribers a sense of exclusivity by offering special discounts, early access to new products, or behind-the-scenes content. This not only rewards them for their loyalty but also encourages further engagement and shares among their networks.
5. Use the WhatsApp API's interactive features: Through the charles WhatsApp marketing platform, you can add buttons, lists and more to WhatsApp messages – all with automation. This allows customers to respond to messages in a simple, fun way. They can answer questions you ask, and then you can store their answers to collect rich information about your customers – for more personalized and higher performing campaigns.
6. Change your WhatsApp status regularly: Status updates are an often overlooked feature that can help keep your brand top of mind. Share updates about your brand, tease new product launches, or share promotional offers. Since statuses disappear after 24 hours, they create a sense of urgency among your audience to check them out.
7. Get feedback and offer customer support: Encourage feedback through WhatsApp to understand your customers' needs better and show that you value their opinions. Offering prompt and efficient customer support through WhatsApp can also enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. This can be automated to reduce the effort required.
8. Comply with GDPR and respect privacy: Always ensure compliance with WhatsApp's policies and GDPR, and respect user privacy. Gaining explicit consent before sending marketing messages and providing an easy opt-out option are fundamental practices to maintain trust and a positive relationship with your subscribers. And in to comply with EU law.
9. Continually optimize: Monitor the performance of your WhatsApp marketing campaigns closely. Analyze metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to understand what works best for your audience. Use these insights to continually refine your strategy and improve engagement over time.

Sticking to these best practices can help you give customers the best experience in WhatsApp. As a result you'll enjoy higher engagement and stronger relationships - leading to higher retention and loyalty.





The interactive features of the WhatsApp API are powerful for boosting customer engagement. A roleplaying game we made for WWF engaged 10,000s of people for 15-20 mins.

See more on how to retain customers in WhatsApp.

Analyzing and optimizing revenue per recipient (RPR) of WhatsApp

To help your WhatsApp marketing efforts bring you value, focus on key metrics like open rates and revenue per recipient. charles offers in-depth analytics to track and improve these metrics. According to Forbes, businesses using WhatsApp marketing see a higher engagement rate compared to traditional email marketing.

Revenue per recipient (RPR) of charles' customers from Dec 23 - May 24 with enabled revenue tracking

Real-world WhatsApp marketing success stories

A rising number of European consumer brands are finding success with WhatsApp marketing.

For example, ABOUT YOU, a charles customer, leveraged WhatsApp to drive significant sales and customer engagement during Black Friday. 

Global eCommerce brand ABOUT YOU has had great success with WhatsApp and the charles platform

See more customer stories here.

To sum up: don't wait to grab the WhatsApp marketing opportunity

WhatsApp marketing offers a unique opportunity to connect with customers on a platform they use daily.

Brands who get there first should have a huge advantage over their competitors. (See more reasons why you shouldn't wait to start with WhatsApp marketing).

By personalizing your approach, leveraging automation features like charles' Journeys, and focusing on measurable results, you can transform your business communication and drive revenue.

Remember, it's not just about sending messages – it's about building relationships.

Interested in exploring WhatsApp marketing for your business? Schedule a 30-minute demo with one of our experts to see how charles can help you maximize your WhatsApp marketing strategy.