Source: Chatarmin, Q2 2023 WhatsApp newsletters are only GDPR-compliant when used via the “WhatsApp Business Platform” []. Here is an overview of Chatarmin’s tech infrastructure that ensures GDPR compliance:
Is WhatsApp GDPR-compliant? At Chatarmin, the answer is: YES
Send us a message via WhatsApp with “GDPR” to receive an up-to-date statement on the GDPR compliance of the WhatsApp Business Platform.
We’ve written extensively about the differences between the various WhatsApp Business options. Feel free to read up if you’re not familiar with them yet. In this article, you’ll find a brief tabular overview and summary:
| Feature | WhatsApp Business App | WhatsApp Business Premium | WhatsApp Business Platform |
|---|
| Monthly cost | Free | Free | €99.00 + META fees |
| Free conversations | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| GDPR compliance | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Automations and journeys | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Support agents and ticketing | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| WhatsApp mobile app | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Dashboards and analytics | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Custom logins and 2FA | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Documentation and segments | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| API integrations | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| WhatsApp desktop users | 4 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Multi-messenger | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Klaviyo WhatsApp integration | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Shopify WhatsApp Integration | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Shopware WhatsApp Integration | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
So if you can comfortably do without
- Automations
- System integrations
- Personalization
- Segmentation
- Documentation
- GDPR compliance
and if you have no more than 1,000 or 2,000 WhatsApp leads in your database, we recommend using the standard WhatsApp Business App, whose main advantage is that it’s free. If you need one or more of the features above, feel free to book your consulting call with #teamarmin:
Unique Features & Advantages of the WhatsApp Newsletter
What makes the WhatsApp newsletter so unique and desirable? In a world full of 300 billion emails per day, competitive media buying budgets on social media, and a society increasingly indifferent to advertising, it’s becoming harder to convince end consumers of your company’s vision and mission. Reaching them at all is already difficult. WhatsApp offers the following advantages that other marketing channels simply can’t match:
- Everyone uses WhatsApp, across all ages
- WhatsApp is used 10+ times daily
- You are present in your customer’s natural environment
- You can build hyper-personalized and system-integrated automations
- Low CPLs and CPOs
- Capability for both customer acquisition and retention marketing
So you see: the use cases along the entire customer journey are diverse and unique. Here are a few real-world examples of what our customers use WhatsApp Ads for:
For customer acquisition
- Offline lead gen via QR code scan / promo case
- Online lead gen via ads and organics
- Giveaways
- Influencer collaborations
- Mobile & desktop popup lead gen
- Organic signup links
- Organic campaigns with chat start link
- Abandoned checkout recovery automation
As a retention marketing channel
- Abandoned checkout recovery
- Order paid / post-purchase flows
- Order shipped / shipping info
- Support & sales
- Campaigns & newsletters
- Early access
- Secret drops
- Exclusive access
Depending on where your lead, deal, or end customer is in the customer journey, you can address, retarget, and serve them via WhatsApp—either automated or manual—based on
The perfect retention marketing mix consists of:
- Email marketing
- WhatsApp Marketing Guide
- Direct mailings
- (App)
- (SMS/Messenger)
...and this order is based on the cost structure of each communication channel.
Let’s now look at a comparison with the marketing channel most similar to WhatsApp newsletters: email marketing.
In comparison: WhatsApp & Email – Pros and Cons
Let’s take another look at the typical WhatsApp KPIs compared to email:
| KPI | WA Outperformance |
|---|
| Opening rate | +400% |
| Click rate | +2,000% |
| Conversion rate | +1,000% |
| RPR (Revenue per recipient) | +97% |
Despite these figures, both channels complement each other and do not compete—especially thanks to our unique WhatsApp Klaviyo integration. Let’s look at the use cases of both channels:
| Use Case | Email | WhatsApp |
|---|
| Lead gen | ✅ | ✅ |
| Lead conversion | ✅ | ✅ |
| Retargeting automations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Campaigns & newsletters | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile-first | ❌ | ✅ |
| Early access & secret drops | ❌ | ✅ |
| Quick messaging | ❌ | ✅ |
You should now have a solid understanding of the “CRM Power Duo” of email & WhatsApp. If you still have questions, feel free to consult with our team:
Now you’re well informed and know your next steps on the way to your WhatsApp newsletter.
Let’s now look at a comparison with the marketing channel that most closely resembles the WhatsApp newsletter: email marketing.
In comparison: WhatsApp & Email – Pros and Cons
Let’s take another look at the typical WhatsApp KPIs compared to email:
| KPI | WA Outperformance |
|---|
| Opening Rate | +400% |
| Click Rate | +2,000% |
| Conversion Rate | +1,000% |
| RPR | +97% |
Despite these figures, both channels complement each other and are not in competition—especially thanks to our unique WhatsApp Klaviyo integration. Let’s look at the use cases for both channels:
| Use Case | Email | WhatsApp |
|---|
| Lead generation | ✅ | ✅ |
| Lead conversion | ✅ | ✅ |
| Retargeting automations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Campaigns & newsletters | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile-first | ❌ | ✅ |
| Early access & secret drops | ❌ | ✅ |
| Fast messaging | ❌ | ✅ |
By now, you should have a solid understanding of the "CRM Power Duo" of email & WhatsApp. If you still have questions, feel free to consult with our team:
Now you’re well informed and know your next steps on the way to your WhatsApp newsletter.
Creating a WhatsApp Newsletter: Here's how!
All you need to create your WhatsApp newsletter is a phone number. Next, you’ll need to decide whether you want to work with one of the different WhatsApp Business options. If you opt for the WhatsApp Business App, you only need:
- A smartphone
- The WhatsApp Business App
And you can switch from "Private App" to "Business App" and be "ready to go"!
The differences between WhatsApp Business App and WhatsApp Business Platform lie in system integration, personalization, segmentation, scalability, and GDPR compliance.
If you decide to work with Chatarmin and the WhatsApp Business Platform, you’ll need:
- A phone number that you no longer use on WhatsApp Business or Private (can also be a landline!)
- A trade register excerpt or business registration
- A payment method for Chatarmin and the paid WhatsApp Business Platform
- Access and admin rights to your Facebook Business Account
- 30 minutes of your time for technical onboarding with us
Once you’ve made the decision in favor of the WhatsApp Business Platform and Chatarmin, you can book your onboarding here or continue reading this article.
Step-by-step guide to your WhatsApp newsletter
Here are your five steps to a WhatsApp newsletter for your company:
- Create your Chatarmin account with us
- Apply for verification of your Chatarmin account
- Import your existing customer leads with phone numbers
- Set up your passive lead generation setup with our help
- Start sending your first WhatsApp newsletters
In just a few minutes, and with our help, you’ll have a fully functional "WABA" (WhatsApp Business Account), the world’s most powerful WhatsApp marketing tool, plus personal customer support through our Solutions Managers via a shared Slack Connect channel.
Chatarmin Dashboard Analytics & Overview – what your Chatarmin account looks like as it scales
You're welcome! We look forward to scaling your WhatsApp newsletter together.
WhatsApp Newsletter Best Practices including Table and Link
We’ve written an extensive blog post on WhatsApp marketing examples. So let’s summarize the key points to ensure your WhatsApp newsletter is a success.
Here is an overview of WhatsApp Newsletter Best Practices:
Short, concise, infrequent, and highly relevant messaging is the key to success for WhatsApp newsletters.
To get an even better practical feel for WhatsApp newsletters, check out some examples from our clients. Feel free to contact us to explore more examples, case studies, and use cases.
An excerpt from Chatarmin’s customer reviews with successful WhatsApp newsletters_0923
At Chatarmin, we don’t just recommend highly relevant, short, and concise messaging. No, even small details like emojis, buttons, CTAs, or assets are A/B tested by our clients via Chatarmin’s ChatGPT feedback integration.
This also includes choosing the right photo asset:
| Format | Advantage | Disadvantage |
|---|
| Square | Safe option, ideal preview | Takes up a lot of space in the message |
| Portrait | Centered focus, asset gets priority | Takes up a lot of space in the message |
| Landscape | Fully displayed in preview, leaves room for message | Small image preview |
So, as you can see, WhatsApp marketing and your WhatsApp newsletter can involve a lot of work and capacity. But it doesn’t have to. E-commerce is already leading the way. Other industries like hospitality and retail are taking a more relaxed approach. Use cases here include “last minute offers” and the “digital flyer,” which correspond to the more generic WhatsApp newsletter use cases, often sent to the entire WhatsApp customer list.
How do my customers sign up for a WhatsApp newsletter? WhatsApp lead generation in practice
As described in our “WhatsApp for customer acquisition” blog post, there are various ways to collect WhatsApp leads and scale your WhatsApp list. Let’s analyze the most important and common lead gen use cases via WhatsApp:
- Organic lead gen: Place the chat start link as a QR code or link wherever you’ve created a welcome journey to guide your leads.
- Organic lead enrichment: The “WhatsApp-first lead gen case” guarantees 100% mobile number accuracy, ensuring high-quality leads from the start. This is especially valuable for high-value leads, since you can engage them in phone calls and reliably reach them sooner or later. At Chatarmin, we’ve integrated APIs so even welcome flow queries like the customer’s email address provide perfect data quality.
- WhatsApp chat start ads: So-called “Click-to-WhatsApp ads” ensure low CPLs on Facebook and Instagram. META gives you the first 72h of conversation with your fresh leads for free.
- Influencer lead gen: From now on, handle your giveaways not just via social media but directly via WhatsApp.
With all these use cases, the user journey is always the same: the customer clicks the chat start link, which takes them into an automated welcome journey that you’ve already built using Chatarmin’s user-friendly flow builder.
QR code lead gen via WhatsApp, BAUHAUS Austria
The example of “BAUHAUS Austria” above shows what a chat start link as a QR code might look like. Here’s the associated chat start link if you’re reading this blog post on a phone or tablet.
Bonus: Initial activation of existing customers
At Chatarmin, we always recommend our clients to conduct a “quick validation” of WhatsApp as a communication channel with their target audience. This helps dispel concerns and objections like “Do my customers even want this?” or “I don’t want to annoy my customers” quickly with data and facts. Here’s how it works:
- Filter your existing customer database — in your shop system or email marketing CRM — for contacts with phone numbers.
- Send us the export, and we’ll filter it for mobile numbers.
- Import this export into Chatarmin.
- We extract the historical data of your leads from your shop and CRM infrastructure.
- Segment your leads by CLTV, recency, frequency, and other criteria for an individual segmentation of your critical customer cohorts.
- Send your first WhatsApp newsletter via Chatarmin!
It’s that easy! Our clients are happy. Feel free to listen to a few of their testimonials:
“Why should I pay €1,500.00 a month elsewhere for exactly the same features?” – Michael K., CRM Lead Omos-Media
“We thoroughly reviewed the WhatsApp newsletter tools market. Chatarmin offers all the critical features, a Klaviyo and Shopify integration, and an attractive price-performance ratio.” – Leoni H., CRM Lead 7-figure Beverage Brand
“Better than Mailchimp and Klaviyo.” – Francesca S., Head of Marketing 7-figure Toothbrush Brand
Not sure how to proceed? Feel free to book your free WhatsApp consultancy with our team, which also manages our key accounts, including 9-figure Shopify & Klaviyo D2C brands:
WhatsApp Newsletter Use Cases: What to Watch Out For
When it comes to “WhatsApp newsletters,” always make sure not to get too generic. If you’re unsure whether your campaign is important enough for a WhatsApp campaign, then it probably isn’t. Additionally, the WhatsApp Business Platform is not free and it’s essential that both your email and WhatsApp marketing are handled operationally from a single source.
Make sure not to spam your customers. Only send segmented or personalized WhatsApp newsletters, and do so irregularly — only when it’s really important. That’s how your WhatsApp newsletter is guaranteed to succeed.
The Five Best WhatsApp Newsletters: The Best Current Practical Examples for WhatsApp Newsletters
You can find a detailed analysis of the best WhatsApp newsletters in the DACH region here: The 5 Best WhatsApp Newsletters. We’ll give you just a brief overview here of what they have in common:
As already listed in detail in the article, here are some extensive blog posts about WhatsApp marketing best practices. These include:
- Low frequency
- High relevance
- Opt-out option
- Less is more
- Always A/B test
- Ask: “Is it really important enough?”
The following criteria are also met by all five of the best WhatsApp newsletters in the DACH region:
- Frequency: A WhatsApp newsletter must be sent at least several times a year.
- Relevance: The WhatsApp marketing channel must represent a relevant marketing or sales channel for the respective company.
- Best Practices: There are certain ###TOKEN_EXISTING_9### in WhatsApp marketing that are essential for the successful and profitable scaling of your WhatsApp marketing activities. All five listed WhatsApp newsletters meet these standards.
- Companies from the DACH region: We have a solid understanding of the WhatsApp marketing market. However, this only applies to our home market, the DACH region. We do not claim to have an overview of global WhatsApp marketing activities. Therefore, our selection of the five best WhatsApp marketing newsletters is limited to the DACH region: Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
At Chatarmin, we crown waterdrop® as the company with the best WhatsApp newsletter in the DACH region.
Let’s now turn to the costs of the WhatsApp Business Platform and Chatarmin.
WhatsApp Newsletter Costs at a Glance
Here’s an overview of the “conversation costs” that regulate the global usage of the “WhatsApp API” and thereby also automatically define the use cases:
| User Country Code | USER-INITIATED CONVERSATION (SERVICE CHAT) | BUSINESS-INITIATED CONVERSATION (TRANSACTION - AUTHENTICATION - MARKETING) |
|---|
| Germany | €0.0679 | €0.0707 - €0.0572 - €0.1131 |
| Austria | €0.0329 | €0.0348 - €0.0313 - €0.0490 |
| Switzerland | €0.0329 | €0.0348 - €0.0313 - €0.0490 |
WhatsApp is therefore comparable to SMS pricing, which from the outset excludes double messaging of customers with identical content via both email and WhatsApp. All the more important is an integration with your email marketing tool like Klaviyo, so Chatarmin knows what happens in email — and vice versa. This way, you can stick to our best practices in the retention marketing mix:
- Email
- WhatsApp
- Direct Mailings
Which also aligns with the cost structure of these channels. Therefore, your focus should be on having a clean and well-structured email marketing setup in place before starting with WhatsApp marketing. We’d be happy to introduce you to the best retention marketing agencies in the DACH region so you’re in good hands.
Overview of Chatarmin’s pricing, billed separately from WhatsApp conversation costs
So now you have a full overview of all costs for your WhatsApp newsletter and can make your decision based on 100% transparent cost insights. If you’d like us to calculate your case together, feel free to contact us. We’re happy to prepare an annual financial plan for your WhatsApp newsletter case.
Here you’ll find an overview and analysis in the full WhatsApp Marketing Software Comparison, including their strengths, weaknesses, and — where available — their pricing. So in this final chapter, we’ll stick to the most important side-by-side overview:
| Price/Month | Extra per Conversation | API | Support Case | Marketing Case | Multi-Messenger |
|---|
| chatarmin.com | €99.00+ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| lupiter | ? | ? | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| whatsmojo | ? | ? | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Botsify | €49.00+ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Chatwerk | €69.00+ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Wati | €49.00+ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Verloop | ? | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Gupshup | ? | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sinch Engage | €199.00+ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| hello-charles | €349.00+ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| trengo | ? | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
Chatarmin is bootstrapped, based in Austria, lean, agile, and — according to our customers — offers the most user-friendly WhatsApp newsletter tool with an unbeatable price-performance ratio. If you value honest support via a shared Slack Connect channel, transparent and fair pricing, and unique and reliable CRM and shop integrations, you’re in the best hands with us.
Launch Your WhatsApp Newsletter: NOW!
NOW is the perfect macro-perspective moment to launch your WhatsApp newsletter. Currently, you’re an “early adopter” or even a “first mover” in your market.
Right now, you're earlier and faster with your WhatsApp newsletter than your competition! The market is still young.
Take advantage of this big opportunity and be present where your competitors aren’t yet. Reach your customers where it really matters — in their WhatsApp inbox, among their friends and family.
We at Chatarmin look forward to launching and scaling your WhatsApp newsletter together with you!
Thanks for reading! Feel free to book your 25-minute consultation slot for a WhatsApp sparring session directly with me, Johannes Mansbart, founder of Chatarmin:
