The WhatsApp messenger service is the most-installed and most popular app in the world. Young and old use WhatsApp in almost all latitudes in their daily lives. It is only natural that more and more companies are interested in handling sales, support and marketing in a scalable and GDPR-compliant way via WhatsApp.
What is WhatsApp marketing?
“WhatsApp Marketing” describes the direct 1:1 chat with your stakeholders or end customers via WhatsApp. The goal is scalable and GDPR-compliant communication with key stakeholders for business growth, via WhatsApp. These are customers, business partners, or even sponsors. WhatsApp marketing is used in B2B and B2C and is directly related to ‘WhatsApp Sales’ and ‘WhatsApp Support’.
With WhatsApp marketing, you can use a WhatsApp marketing tool based on the “WhatsApp Business Platform” (WhatsApp API) to send campaigns, newsletters and automations to your end customers, encouraging them to buy your products and services.
Advantages of WhatsApp marketing
WhatsApp Marketing allows you to communicate directly and personally with your customers. This offers you numerous advantages, such as improved customer loyalty and increased sales. The most important advantages are explained in more detail below:
Reach: WhatsApp is used by almost everyone, making it an ideal platform for reaching a broad target group. With marketing measures via WhatsApp, you can efficiently send your message to a large number of people.
Direct customer contact: WhatsApp is a very private medium that allows you to build a personal connection with your customers. This promotes trust and strengthens customer loyalty.
Easy communication and management: Communicating via WhatsApp is straightforward and fast, for both you and your customers. In addition, you can easily set up and manage WhatsApp newsletters to stay in regular contact with your target group.
High marketing KPIs: WhatsApp marketing is characterized by high open and click-through rates, as well as strong engagement and high purchase rates. These KPIs demonstrate the effectiveness and success of your marketing efforts on this platform.
High ROI: Due to the strong purchase rate, WhatsApp marketing achieves a high return on investment (ROI). You can achieve a high return with little effort, making it a cost-efficient marketing strategy in the company.
Disadvantages of WhatsApp marketing
Privacy & skepticism from decision-makers and customers: Privacy concerns and skepticism from both decision-makers and customers can be an obstacle. Many users are cautious about sharing their personal information via WhatsApp, which can affect trust.
Similar difficulty in acquiring new customers as with email marketing: Acquiring new customers via WhatsApp can be just as difficult as with email marketing. Since WhatsApp is particularly personal, not every user wants to receive direct advertising.
No viral campaigns/advertising possible on WhatsApp: WhatsApp does not offer the option of running viral campaigns or large-scale advertising measures. The platform is limited to direct, individual communication, which can restrict the reach of advertising messages.
House on third-party land: You are dependent on META, which means that changes or restrictions by the platform operator can influence your marketing strategy. This dependency can affect the stability and predictability of your marketing activities.
How can you use WhatsApp Marketing in your company (requirements)?
Generally speaking, there are two ways to use WhatsApp Marketing in your business. Each variant has its advantages and disadvantages and is not suitable for every size of business. They differ not only in the functions, but also in the costs for WhatsApp Marketing.
1. WhatsApp Business App
For small businesses or individual self-employed people, you can use the WhatsApp Business App for Messenger Marketing (download from the Play Store or Apple Store). You can do the following with the WhatsApp Business App:
- Create and manage customer profiles\ You can create and manage detailed customer profiles, which helps you send personalized messages and optimize communication.
Set up automatic messages and quick replies Set up automatic welcome messages, out-of-office messages and quick replies to respond promptly to customer inquiries and create a professional impression.
Create and share a catalog Create a catalog of products or services directly in the app that you can easily share with your customers. This makes it easier for customers to browse your offerings and make requests.
- Use statistics and analysis\ Use the integrated statistics to track the performance of your messages and interactions. This data helps you optimize your marketing strategies and measure success.
The disadvantage of this variant is the lack of data protection. Furthermore, the WhatsApp Business app is not suitable as a messaging app for scaling marketing. It is more suitable for gathering initial experiences and for “testing”.
2. WhatsApp Business Platform
The WhatsApp Business Platform is suitable for large companies or companies that want to professionally integrate WhatsApp marketing into their marketing mix. The WhatsApp Business Platform is not a program or software in its own right, but an interface that can be connected to a WhatsApp marketing software, like our Chatarmin. You can do the following with the WhatsApp Business Platform:
Automated messages and chatbots Implement automated messages and chatbots to answer customer queries around the clock. This improves customer care and significantly reduces response time.
Integration with CRM systems Integrate the platform with your existing CRM systems to seamlessly synchronize customer data. This enables personalized communication and better management of customer relationships.
Advanced analytics and reporting\ Use detailed analytics and reporting to gain insights into customer behavior and campaign performance. This data helps you make informed decisions and optimize your marketing strategies.
Send multimedia messages\ Send not only text messages, but also images, videos, PDFs and other multimedia content. This enables varied and appealing customer communication.
There are actually no real disadvantages to using the WhatsApp Business Platform. It is the way to go for companies that want to do WhatsApp marketing professionally.
Use cases: How you can use WhatsApp marketing in your business
Below are 3 examples of how you can use the WhatsApp marketing channel in your business:
Send WhatsApp newsletters\ With WhatsApp newsletters, you can regularly send important information, offers and news directly to your customers. This enables continuous and personal communication that strengthens customer loyalty and increases awareness of your brand.
Collect leads from offline events or flyers\ Use WhatsApp to collect leads from offline events or flyers. You can place a QR code or a WhatsApp number on your event material that interested parties can use to easily get in touch or sign up for more information.
Quiz / CRM Direct Lead via Ads\ Use WhatsApp Ads to collect leads directly via interactive content such as quizzes or guide downloads. Interested parties can go directly to WhatsApp via the ad and leave their contact details or download the desired content, which is an effective method of lead generation.
WhatsApp Marketing based on the customer's journey
When identifying WhatsApp marketing, we have to consciously differentiate based on the user journey, as well as the integration of WhatsApp in conjunction with other marketing channels.
We distinguish between:
Push marketing: You, as a company, effectively “force” your product or service on your target group, thereby generating demand (push communication) that your customers were previously unaware of
Pull marketing: The customer is looking for a solution and, in the process, remembers your brand or product, or finds you through word of mouth, recommendations or search engine results
So, for example, depending on whether you play your WhatsApp chat start link (click-to-WhatsApp) via Facebook or Instagram Ads, you can create individual and customized WhatsApp automations in Chatarmins Flowbuilder that differ from chat start links on mobile website popups, or SEO blog posts.
It is also important to distinguish where you use WhatsApp along the “user journey” of your customers. This is because the areas of application for WhatsApp marketing for
new customer acquisition
existing customer engagement
are very diverse. As you can see in the following graphic, it is possible to use WhatsApp along the entire user journey from:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action.
Initially through training and educational content, later with user-generated content and testimonials, and along the customer's journey also with great offers and psychological levers such as urgency, social proof, and co.
WhatsApp marketing along the entire user journey, using the example of eCommerce
The 3 most important points to consider in data protection with regard to WhatsApp marketing (GDPR)
Data protection in a company is an ongoing task and must be observed if you want to send marketing messages via WhatsApp in order to be able to work in compliance with the GDPR. There is a long list of points to consider when it comes to data protection for WhatsApp marketing. Here we would like to address three important points that you should definitely bear in mind:
Double opt-in: An opt-in should be familiar to every employee who deals with data protection. Opt-in means that the customer must agree to communicate with your company. And the whole thing even twice. In WhatsApp marketing, this is solved as follows: by scanning the QR code, for example, the user declares their willingness to communicate with your company. The first thing that happens is that a message is sent asking whether the user really wants to receive messages. The user answers this with “Yes” or “No”.
Opt Out: As with email marketing, WhatsApp marketing must also provide a way for users to unsubscribe from marketing messages. The best way to do this is to insert a link at the end of each of your WhatsApp messages where the user can unsubscribe
Conclude data processing agreements: As soon as you use a WhatsApp marketing software like Chatarmin, you have to conclude a data processing agreement with that company. With us, this happens at the beginning of our collaboration.
These are just a few points to keep in mind and are not meant to provide legal advice. If in doubt, always consult a data protection expert.
GDPR for WhatsApp Business App, WhatsApp Private, WhatsApp Business Platform
We would like to give you a brief overview of the GDPR compliance of the three versions of WhatsApp. Take a look at the following table and understand what each marketing platform does in terms of data protection.
| WhatsApp Private | WhatsApp Business App | WhatsApp Business Platform | |
|---|---|---|---|
| User | Private | Business | Business |
| Features | Personal messaging | Business messaging | API & scalable automation |
| Target group | Individuals<>small groups | Companies<>customers | Companies <> companies/customers |
| SOI/DOI/TOI | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Profiling Art. 4 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Consent Art. 6 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Consent conditions Art. 7 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Information obligation Art. 13 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Right of access Art. 15 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Right to rectification 16 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Right to erasure Art. 17 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Right to data portability Art. 20 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Right to object Art. 21 GDPR | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
This overview shows you the essential criteria of the GDPR in connection with (the three versions of) WhatsApp in a compact way.
Scan this QR code to get an extensive statement from our CEO Johannes Mansbart about Chatarmin's GDPR compliance.
What does WhatsApp marketing cost?
Since the WhatsApp Business app is completely free to use, the following section will briefly discuss the costs of the WhatsApp Business platform. We will also provide you with information about the costs of WhatsApp marketing software such as Chatarmin and shed light on the costs of working with a WhatsApp marketing agency. You can find a detailed article about the costs of WhatsApp Business here: WhatsApp Business costs.
The main factor influencing the cost of WhatsApp marketing is the number of conversations. We distinguish between:
User-initiated conversations: e.g. the customer actively contacts the company with a support request.
Business-initiated conversations: e.g. marketing messages triggered by the company.
Each conversation is associated with different fees, with marketing messages being the most expensive. Special feature: Each WhatsApp Business account gets 1,000 conversations for free, which means you only have to pay if you exceed this limit. You also have the option to reply to the message free of charge within a 24-hour window.
Here you will find a current price table for conversations for the countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland. You can view the entire list here at Meta.
| Country | Marketing | Utility | Authentication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 0.1131 € | 0.0456 € | 0.0636 € |
| Austria | 0.0490 € | 0.0249 € | 0.0313 € |
| Switzerland | 0.0490 € | 0.0249 € | 0.0313 € |
Cost of WhatsApp software like Chatarmin
If you want to set up messenger marketing via the WhatsApp Business Platform, you need a link to a WhatsApp software, because the WhatsApp Business Platform is just an API interface. Here is an overview of the average package prices and costs of popular WhatsApp business software providers:
| Provider | Average Package Price | Surcharge/Conversation |
|---|---|---|
| SinchEngage | €399.00+ | €0.07 |
| hello-charles | €? | €? |
| Chatarmin | €299.00+ | €0.00 |
Cost of working with a WhatsApp agency
Similar to the way agencies exist for the social media platform, you can also hire an agency for your WhatsApp marketing. These agencies understand their craft and are usually marketing professionals. The costs for working with a WhatsApp agency vary, as the individual use case must always be considered.
WhatsApp marketing use cases from the real world
We will now show you some examples of how it can be used in different cases (new customer acquisition, existing customer care, reducing shopping cart abandonment, and sending notifications for e-commerce companies).
#1: Acquiring new customers via WhatsApp marketing company Froots
It sounds so simple, but it is still completely uncharted territory for 99.99% of marketing teams. While most lead-gen campaigns link to poorly converting landing pages and sales funnels, you might as well embed the WhatsApp chat start link (Click to WhatsApp Ads) into ads and CTAs. The advantage? You get much higher conversion rates, faster lead generation, and seamless “WhatsApp inflow lead conversion”.
So you can immediately save the cell phone number of your target group automatically, automatically win the WhatsApp username of the customer, and you can sell your product in the welcome flow, make appointments to discuss your service, or connect “lead enrichment flows”.
#2 Existing customer marketing from Wholey
Every packaging, every merch, and generally every “exposure” to your community, can be adorned with a “CTA” (Call-To-Action). And this both offline and online. Various use cases have already been discussed, so here is the next one from “Wholey”:
#3 Reduce shopping cart abandonment rate with retargeting
Here is the theory behind “Abandoned Checkout Recovery”: You can assume that 80-90% of your customers who reach the shopping cart will abandon it for a variety of reasons.
Shopify statistics on abandoned shopping carts
Here are the results of the “Abandoned Checkout Recovery” via WhatsApp:
Chatarmin customers rave about 5%-15% Abandoned Checkout Recovery via WhatsApp
When you go live with WhatsApp Abandoned Checkout Automations, it's important to
distinguishing whether your customer is already a “warm WhatsApp lead” (if/else logic in the flow on property or opt-in “WhatsApp opt-in-true”) optionally not triggering the abandoned checkout recovery every time your customer abandons a shopping cart (If/Else logic in the flow on “last received”) optionally pair WhatsApp Abandoned Checkout Recovery with email (If/Else logic in the flow on Klaviyo property)
Now you know the strategic and practical considerations for Abandoned Checkout Recovery via WhatsApp.
How to start marketing with your business on WhatsApp (step-by-step guide)
If you want to get started with WhatsApp marketing, we recommend that you start with the WhatsApp Business app. To do this, you need to take the following steps:
Download the Messenger app “WhatsApp Business App” from the Google Play store or Apple store on your smartphone.
Enter your mobile number (your business number).
Fill in your profile (picture, opening hours, etc.)
Would you rather use the many possibilities of the WhatsApp Business platform? Great, then book a call with Johannes where he will explain the exact possibilities again.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Is there a way to do WhatsApp marketing for free?
Yes, there is. You can start with the WhatsApp Business App for your WhatsApp messages for free.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C WhatsApp marketing?
B2B marketing focuses on business content and professional communication, while B2C marketing focuses more on personal and emotional customer engagement.
Why WhatsApp marketing?
WhatsApp marketing offers direct, personal communication, high open rates and strong customer engagement, which leads to better results.
How does WhatsApp marketing work?
You send messages directly to customers, use automated replies and chatbots, and can share multimedia content. It is important to comply with the GDPR guidelines.
Is WhatsApp marketing better than SMS marketing?
Yes, WhatsApp offers more features, such as multimedia messages and automated responses, and generally has higher open and click-through rates than SMS. Want to know more about this topic? Then check out this blog post: SMS or WhatsApp.
Can I integrate WhatsApp marketing with other tools?
Yes, you can integrate the WhatsApp Business platform with CRM systems, e-commerce platforms and other marketing tools to synchronize data and create personalized campaigns.
How do I measure the success of my WhatsApp marketing campaigns?
Use the built-in statistics and reports on the WhatsApp Business platform to track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and customer engagement to analyze the success of your campaigns.
How do I deal with data protection in WhatsApp marketing?
Obtain explicit consent from users, inform them about how you use their data, and ensure that you respect their rights by enabling them to view, correct, or delete their data.
What types of messages can I send via WhatsApp Business?
You can send text messages, images, videos, documents, audio recordings, and location information. This variety allows you to create engaging and informative content that better reaches your customers.
