WhatsApp marketing 101: your 2024 guide [+WhatsApp campaign examples]

WhatsApp marketing can help brands drive additional revenue. Here's how to get set up for long-term success (+ real WhatsApp campaign examples).

You may have heard of WhatsApp marketing. You may be wondering how it works, what are the benefits, who's doing it and how to get started.

Who is this article for?

This is for marketing managers, CRM managers, digital/online professionals, CMOs, CEOs and even customer service managers at medium to large enterprise brands:

• Already do WhatsApp marketing? Find top tips to generate more value from your WhatsApp campaigns plus real-life campaign examples.
• Don't do WhatsApp marketing yet? Get up to speed on how to make the most of WhatsApp marketing, learn real case studies and find out how to get started efficiently.

What you'll learn:

• What is WhatsApp marketing?
• 7 reasons why WhatsApp works for marketing
• The WhatsApp marketing opportunity for European brands
• How to use WhatsApp Business for marketing
• How to get started with WhatsApp marketing
• Benefits and challenges of WhatsApp marketing
• WhatsApp marketing campaign examples
• Email vs WhatsApp marketing
• WhatsApp marketing costs
• WhatsApp marketing best practices
• 4 reasons WhatsApp marketing is growing in 2024
• How to get started with WhatsApp marketing with charles

What is WhatsApp marketing?

Other terms you might hear surrounding WhatsApp marketing, include: WhatsApp newsletters, WhatsApp campaigns, WhatsApp promotion, WhatsApp advertising, conversational marketing, conversational commerce, chat marketing and social marketing.

Our customers are enjoying amazing success with WhatsApp marketing. Here's a snippet from last year's Black Friday WhatsApp campaigns

7 reasons WhatsApp works for marketing

1. Widely used by consumers: WhatsApp is the number 1 messaging app in the world, with nearly 3 billion monthly users.
2. Excellent on privacy: WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption to significantly boost security of message content.
3. Highly visible: WhatsApp lies next to your customers' messages with family and friends, with many people getting instant notifications. 
4. Impressive results: open rates can be of 85% and even higher. Revenue per recipient (RPR) currently averages at €1.88*.
5. Proven success in some countries and now in Europe: In countries like India, Brazil and Indonesia, WhatsApp marketing is highly successful. These countries even have extra functionality like making payments directly in WhatsApp. WhatsApp is now making it's mark in Europe with some of our customers seeing great results. See customer success stories here.
6. Continuous investment from Meta: Meta is investing heavily in WhatsApp Business as a way of monetizing WhatsApp. This means it's creating a high quality product, improving functionality all the time and has ambitious plans for the future. See our report from the recent Meta Conversations conference.
7. Personal touch: thanks to segmentation capabilities (and learning about customers through interactive WhatsApp flows and storing tags), brands can send highly targeted campaigns that address customer needs and wants (for higher performance). 

See more reasons to do WhatsApp marketing in 2024 here.

The WhatsApp marketing opportunity for European brands 

With nearly 3 billion users, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging in the world. Since WhatsApp Business arrived in 2018, brands have also had the chance to explore WhatsApp as a marketing and sales channel.

WhatsApp Business app downloads are rising steadily (source: Statista)

Connecting with businesses on WhatsApp is now a way of life for consumers in Brazil, India and Indonesia.

Seeing this success, in the last few years, we've seen more brands beginning to use WhatsApp marketing in Europe and even larger Enterprises incorporating it within their omnichannel marketing strategy - with WhatsApp success stories becoming more visible, like these from our customers, Jack Wolfskin and dermalogica.

And with Meta continuing to invest in its WhatsApp business arm as key to its monetization, we believe it's set to grow bigger every year. 

Read more about the WhatsApp opportunity, with key stats, in our free, comprehensive, 60-page WhatsApp Enterprise Blueprint.

How to use WhatsApp for marketing

You can use WhatsApp for marketing use cases you carry out on other channels like email, Instagram and Facebook.

Just remember, WhatsApp messages are likelier to be read more often and usually more quickly. That's why we recommend using WhatsApp for marketing campaigns, conversations, acquisition and post-purchase flows as part of a holistic omnichannel strategy.

10 uses of WhatsApp for marketing

1. Discounts

2. Competitions

3. Quizzes

4. Product launches

5. Loyalty programs

6. Surveys/feedback requests/product suggestions

7. Seasonal creative campaigns (Black Friday, Valentine's Day, the Holidays)

8. Brand building

9. Delivery updates

10. Order confirmations

WhatsApp marketing campaigns are generally sent to highly segmented audiences, we typically recommend not more than than 2-3 times per month.

The frequency is often less than other channels, but the performance can be higher, thanks to the immediacy and high levels of personalization.

After sendout, businesses carry out analytics, track user behavior and optimize for future campaigns. If necessary, marketing teams should be ready to answer customer replies through their WhatsApp marketing platform – or integrate with service software so customer service agents can reply. Customers should be able to ask to unsubscribe at any time – most of our customers let their customers use the word "STOP" to unsubscribe automatically.

WhatsApp marketing messages can be highly interactive. You can add up to 3 buttons or a list of up to 12 items that people can choose from. Answers can be stored automatically as tags. This allows for 2-way conversations that can generate customer information and are automated. 

Plus you can automate entire WhatsApp flows (using software features like charles Journeys) product finders, creative campaigns, surveys and even games.

How to get started with WhatsApp marketing

Here's how to start with WhatsApp marketing as a medium to large consumer brand (small businesses can just download the WhatsApp Business app):

1. Choose a WhatsApp Solution Partner

Unless you develop software yourself, you'll first need a WhatsApp software partner to use the WhatsApp Business API. Your partner will be either a Tech Provider, Tech Partner or a Solution Partner. (See comparison from Meta.)

charles is a WhatsApp Business Solution Partner – providing a WhatsApp marketing platform to consumer brands along with in-depth support and advice, as an official Meta Partner. Your WhatsApp partner will set you up in the WhatsApp Business Platform. 

2. Integrate with your CRM, service and other software platforms

Integrations with your software platforms can help you get more from WhatsApp.

This way, you can synchronise data, send the right message in the right place at the right time and ease your processes. For example, with service integrations with platforms like Zendesk and Gorgias, service agents can answer WhatsApp messages directly in the service desk.

And with CRM integrations like Emarsys and Klaviyo, brands can trigger WhatsApp flows with email actions and transfer data from one platform to another for the best customer experience.

See charles integrations.

3. Build your WhatsApp audience

It's important to build your subscriber base to make your WhatsApp marketing activities worthwhile.

Brands tend to do this in several ways: website popups (usually with discount for subscribing to WhatsApp marketing/newsletter), exit intent popups, click-to-chat ads, thank you page boxes, social media posts (like instagram stories), and QR codes on in-store posters, flyers and outdoor ads.

4. Get permission to send WhatsApp marketing 

Part of being GDPR compliant in WhatsApp is getting people's permission to send them marketing communications, just as you would with email. See how to set up a WhatsApp opt-in here (plus how to get more from your welcome flow).

1. Send WhatsApp marketing messages: use your WhatsApp marketing software platform (like charles) to send campaigns, set up automated flows, answer WhatsApps from customers and much more. See costs of WhatsApp conversations here. 
2. Continue optimizing: with analytics, you can quickly see what does and doesn't work with your campaigns and activities. Work with your WhatsApp Solution Partner to continue improving your campaigns and find ways to drive revenue using WhatsApp – while building close relationships with customers.

Benefits and challenges of Whatsapp marketing

Here we share both pros and cons of WhatsApp marketing so you can make an informed decision:

Benefits of WhatsApp marketing

WhatsApp is a direct, personal channel and consumers can respond well to marketing campaigns sent as simple WhatsApp messages – especially when campaigns are highly relevant to their preferences and behavior:

1. High open rates: WhatsApp messages are short, sweet and within an app people already use. This leads to most of your messages being seen as compared to other traditional channels like email: open rates in WhatsApp can be as high as 85%.
2. Low effort: WhatsApp is an app people know well and enjoy using. Businesses can fit right in without having to create their own app. Setting up marketing campaigns is generally quick and easy.
3. Strong customer loyalty: WhatsApp can be a great retention channel. Customers appreciate getting personalized messages, discounts and product news in a short format, in an app they already have. It's very easy for businesses to reconnect with customers.
4. Segmentation: through WhatsApp conversations and questions during opt-in, you can learn about people's preferences and behavior. This enables you to send targeted campaigns to customers you know will be interested in your message.

For more, see Top 5 reasons ecommerce brands should start with WhatsApp marketing from onlinemarketing.de (in German here, 29 August 2022).

Challenges of WhatsApp marketing

The disadvantages of WhatsApp marketing:

1. Higher costs compared to email: emails are mostly free to send, WhatsApp marketing campaigns come with a cost per conversation from WhatsApp (plus software fees). 
2. Limited data to date: at the moment (in Europe at least), WhatsApp marketing is a fairly new market. This means businesses only have 2-3 years of results to draw from to make a good business case for WhatsApp marketing and measure success.
3. Risk of being blocked: WhatsApp is a personal channel. Break trust and your customer may block you. 
   
4. Message limits: depending on your quality status, you can be limited in the number of messages you send, and even suspended for a time. Read messaging limit numbers here.

WhatsApp marketing campaign examples

To give you an idea of what WhatsApp marketing campaigns look like, here are some examples from customers:

1. dermalogica: Personal WhatsApp consultations

Customers can just send a WhatsApp voice note or photo

2. Leevje: Winter clothing sale (seasonal)

Leevje shut down its website, then gave a password to access the presale via WhatsApp only. See the full case study here.

3. ABOUT YOU: Clever use of segmentation and influencers

German influencer Guido Maria Kretschmer teases his new collection on Instagram, leading to WhatsApp

Every Guido fan that subscribed to WhatsApp gets a "Guido" tag.

Then customers with the "Guido" tag were sent a WhatsApp message from Guido

4. BRAINEFFECT: Black Friday turns into Black Month on WhatsApp (seasonal)

BRAINEFFECT extended Black Friday to a whole month of actions, using WhatsApp and other channels. See full BRAINEFFECT case study here

5. Oatsome: Let customers be your promoters with WhatsApp pre-access and early reviews

Oatsome invited customers to try out the new ChocoCrush flavor before other customers through WhatsApp only – then asked them for feedback in WhatsApp 

Oatsome received over 50 reviews they could then use to strengthen the public product launch. See the Oatsome case study here.

6. Every. Foods: Using Veganuary to build a healthy vegan lifestyle community (seasonal)

Every. Foods did Veganuary in WhatsApp

Every. gained nearly 1k new WhatsApp subscribers in its educational campaign

7. WWF: WhatsApp game raising awareness about endangered wildlife

The WWF and charles teamed up to create the world's first WhatsApp roleplaying game. In "Tree of Hope" players can start an adventure as an EcoNinja and help save the planet by solving puzzles

WhatsApp vs email marketing

Brands tend to still use both email and WhatsApp for different purposes. Here's a short comparison:

See our article: WhatsApp vs email marketing, which is best?

How much does WhatsApp marketing cost?

WhatsApp marketing costs vary depending on how you use WhatsApp Business, the type of conversation and whether or not you use a software platform. Here's an idea of how much:

WhatsApp Business costs

As a user of the WhatsApp Business Platform (API), you will incur:

• Meta conversation fees: in Germany, these are €0.0456-€0.1131 (September 2024), depending on the conversation type 
• Platform fees: to your WhatsApp Business Solution Partner, Tech Partner or Tech Provider (unless you build the software yourself)

Check the WhatsApp Business page for the latest prices.

WhatsApp software platform costs

The cost of your software platform will often be made up of two elements:

• A monthly subscription fee for the software: often including advice and consultation on how best to plan and execute your WhatsApp marketing campaigns
• Additional fee per conversation

See more here: WhatsApp Business Platform Pricing Explainer

10 WhatsApp marketing best practices

Here are some best practice tips for your WhatsApp marketing campaigns from Blessing Osadolor, charles Client Success Manager:

1. Add an offer

This will depend on your brand. For low average order (AOV) products, discounts like 20% off work well. For high value products, you might want to add an extra reward, or offer deals like 4 for 3.

2. Be creative

A competition, an event, a fun name, a visual. Get creative and stay true to your brand. Decide if you need to hire a WhatsApp marketing agency or have the resource to do your own (steal our ideas here). Interactivity in WhatsApp is second to none, so use your imagination to catch attention!

3. Get the timing right

Start your campaign before a major shopping event when things are a bit quieter. Offer early access via WhatsApp. See if there's an interesting time for the campaign. For example, a sportswear client brand boosted engagement by sending a WhatsApp deal to soccer fans during half time of a big game.

4. Segmentation, segmentation, segmentation

We always say, "high relevance, low frequency." You need a relevant audience and few messages. This way customers will stay engaged and not feel like you're spamming them. You can segment very finely in our platform.

5. Save time and get more interactive with automation

Increase relevance and ease your work. For example, your campaign asks a question, your customer replies yes/no, blue/red, then a relevant offer gets sent automatically (and a tag added to the customer profile).

You can even automate your thank you message. 

6. Add tracking links

Use tracking links so you can accurately measure the success of your campaign and make learnings. (In the charles platform we add these automatically once you've integrated with Google Analytics.)

7. Boost WhatsApp sales with links to prefilled carts

You can send links to a prefilled cart that helps customers complete a purchase in as little as one tap (if logged in to your store). 

8. Make thank yous go further

Use your thank you messages to encourage further actions: like an extra discount, a question, a review request, a marketing opt-in.

9. Attend to replies

Are you there for real-time conversations? Do you have enough people? Are they trained? It's really important you answer within a minute or so. (Use WhatsApp service integrations.)

10. Promote your WhatsApp campaign

Work hard to get more people to engage with your WhatsApp marketing activities and opt in to your WhatsApp channel: website banners, flyers, emails, Instagram stories, even guerilla actions.

See more in 6 dos and 1 don't of WhatsApp marketing and 5 secrets of WhatsApp success for Black Friday.

4 reasons WhatsApp marketing is growing 

1. The need for WhatsApp is growing

• Businesses are looking for more personal ways to communicate with their customers and build long-term relationships. Email can be impersonal, offering only a one-way means of communication. And social media can be a crowded landscape full of noise and algorithms that can be hard to crack. 
• Consumers want quicker answers and more personal communications. They increasingly want to use messaging apps to communicate with businesses.

2. WhatsApp results are becoming more understood

To run a marketing channel, marketers and CRM leaders need to understand analytics and have KPIs to measure against. There are more numbers available surrounding WhatsApp KPIs, like €1.88* average revenue per recipient (RPR) and 16.6X ROAS.* 

3. WhatsApp functionality is maturing

With more functionality and investment coming from Meta, WhatsApp software solutions are improving. 

4. Many businesses aren't there yet

Now is a good time for early adopting businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors by being there for their customers on WhatsApp.

Get started with WhatsApp marketing 

As us for a free 30-minute demo of the charles platform, tailored to your business.

*Revenue per conversation (RPR) of €1.88 is median customer RPR from Dec 23 to May 24 across all charles' customers, across different verticals and with different AOVs, with enabled revenue tracking.

*Return on ad spend (ROAS) = RPR/marketing conversation fee, Meta Germany = €1.88/€0.1131 = 16.6X (excludes charles platform costs).

This is purely indicative information – legal disclaimer: This analysis only provides an initial and purely indicative information based on historical platform data from our customers and using standard valuation methodologies. A reliable or definitive sales or revenue forecast cannot be derived from the result, either currently or in the future. Further, neither has charles independently verified the data and assumptions used in these analyses, nor made an undertaking to update the underlying data or assumptions meaning that such information may become outdated which will clearly impact the forecast result.