Marketing on WhatsApp may not be the first idea that comes to mind when exploring ways to expand your brand, and you may be surprised to learn that it’s quickly becoming a top competitor to email and SMS marketing. That’s because WhatsApp not only expands your reach across a global audience of over 2 billion active users but marketing campaign metrics can also be tracked much like email.

But the average WhatsApp app won’t do the trick, as it’s most commonly used for personal messaging between people. Luckily, WhatsApp offers businesses options to leverage its reach with the free WhatsApp Business app and the advanced paid option WhatsApp Business API. 

So how effective is WhatsApp in terms of marketing?

Let’s find out!

The Top 5 WhatsApp Benefits in Marketing You Should Know

From showcasing catalogs to sending thousands of messages without any issues, here are the top 5 benefits of promoting your brand through WhatsApp.

Broadcast Messages in Bulk

With the right WhatsApp version, you can send thousands of messages a day legally and without getting your number banned. And no, we’re not talking about browser plugins or third-party apps. These features are provided to any business that gets approved to use WhatsApp API.

Here’s a quick rundown of the message limitations for each version of WhatsApp:

• Regular WhatsApp app forwarding limit: up to 5 contacts at a time
• WhatsApp Business app forwarding limit: up to 256 contacts at a time
• WhatsApp Business API broadcasting range: up to 1000 contacts at a time to potentially an unlimited number of contacts depending on messaging tier.

You may be thinking that sending the same message to thousands of people might not be so effective, but if you choose the right WhatsApp API Business Solutions Partner (like Zoko!), that won’t be the case. Through your API dashboard, you can not only automate promotions, but also easily personalize them to include key customer details such as their names, order numbers, and other details.

Being able to broadcast messages at scale is one of WhatsApp’s most powerful marketing features and is what helped this sports company generate 20% more traffic to its website.

WhatsApp Can Be Integrated With Ecommerce and Social Media Platforms

WhatsApp Business API can be integrated with eCommerce platforms like Shopify to make selling, tracking orders, and sending reminders a lot simpler. Since Meta is the parent company of WhatsApp, you can also integrate it with Facebook Messenger and Instagram to receive messages directly from both platforms.

You may be wondering if the normal WhatsApp app or WhatsApp Business app allows these integrations, and sadly the answer is no. You cannot fully unlock the potential of WhatsApp marketing except through the WhatsApp Business API. If you’re an established business you can easily apply through an official WhatsApp Business Solutions Partner. Once you get approved you can enjoy a host of benefits such as:

• Send messages in bulk
• Have a verified green badge next to your business name
• Your account will not get banned even if your promotions get promoted as spam
• You can integrate WhatsApp with other platforms to reach a wider audience

And many more features.

WhatsApp Has Over 2 Billion Active Users

WhatsApp is a major messaging platform with over 2 billion active monthly users, so you can imagine the kind of reach you’ll have once you are approved for marketing. However, it’s important to note that as a business there are a few conditions before you can send messages, namely:

• You must receive opt-in confirmation from your customers or prospects before you can send them a message
• You can send messages to prospects that contact you first

There are plenty of ways you can get prospects to opt-in such as by sharing your WhatsApp link on social media, through integrations with Facebook Messenger, or by including a WhatsApp chatbot on your website. Each of these methods allows prospects to get in contact with you and from there you can add them to your list.

Most WhatsApp Messages Get Opened and Read Quickly

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The beauty behind WhatsApp is that over 90% of messages get opened and read within 24 hours. It’s hard to reach those kinds of numbers even with email or SMS marketing, and as a result, you can guarantee more engagement with your offers and brands if you target the right audience.

But how do you know how many of your messages get delivered, opened, and read? Your official WhatsApp Business Partner should have analytics as a key part of their platform. Businesses can track metrics in real-time such as:

• Delivery rate
• Response rate
• Campaign ROI
• Cart recovery

And many more important analytics to keep you up-to-date on how things are going. WhatsApp marketing would be nowhere near as effective without being able to accurately track your campaign’s performance.

You Can Use Templates and Automation to Sell on WhatsApp

There are many types of messages a business will have to regularly send customers, and it would take countless hours preparing each individually for thousands or even hundreds of customers. That’s why you can use a library of templates for each specific scenario such as:

• A thank you message for when a customer places an order
• A reminder message for when a customer abandons their cart
• An order update for when a product is shipped out to a customer

And plenty of other message types that you can find readily available as templates. Customer details such as names, phone numbers, addresses, and tracking numbers can be automatically added to templates, saving you hundreds of hours of manually filling in details.

Key Takeaways

Those are the 5 top benefits of WhatsApp marketing to give you an idea of its incredible potential. To recap the advantages behind marketing on WhatsApp:

• You can send messages in bulk and your account will not be banned
• You can integrate WhatsApp with platforms like Shopify, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram to reach a wider audience
• WhatsApp has over 2 billion users that you can market to with the right preconditions
• WhatsApp messages have an over 90% open rate and you can track metrics similar to email
• You can automate many manual tasks through WhatsApp Business API

Zoko is an official WhatsApp API Business Solutions Partner that can help you get approved for a WhatsApp API account, offer support every step of the way, and provide you with all the tools to pivot your brand. Click here to learn more!

Also read: How to Do WhatsApp Marketing for eCommerce in 2023