Customers connect more with brands that address them with a sense of privacy and intimacy. This is achieved through instant messages sent directly from the brand to the user, which is what WhatsApp marketing achieves with ease.
WhatsApp became the largest messaging app in 2022, with the number of WhatsApp users exceeding 2.44 billion in April 2022. Statistics show that most of its users are between the ages of 18 and 45.
Marketing studies have also shown that most customers respond to WhatsApp messages within seconds of receiving marketing messages, which increases the likelihood of closing a business deal.
Based on all of the above, WhatsApp has gained significant marketing importance, especially after the release of the WhatsApp Business app, which is specifically designed for communicating with customers. It comes equipped with the necessary add-ons to showcase your business and communicate with customers in a direct and effective manner.
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Hence the need for this article, which explains how to leverage this technological wealth to achieve your marketing goals. By the end of reading this article, you'll be able to double your profits using WhatsApp.
In this article, we provide a detailed explanation of the most important WhatsApp marketing tools and how to use them, as well as the most important practices that increase the effectiveness of WhatsApp marketing. We'll also explain how to create a WhatsApp Business account, and provide a wealth of information, resources, and ideas, as we've always done in Al-Rabihun.
WhatsApp Marketing Advantages
WhatsApp marketing strategies have proven highly successful in recent years, even pulling the rug out from under email marketing.
Marketing studies have shown that customers are more interested in the marketing messages they receive via WhatsApp than in emails.
Most large and medium-sized companies have recently resorted to using WhatsApp marketing, and marketing experts recommend including this marketing channel in your business's e-marketing plan due to its many advantages.
These can be summarized as follows:
1. Increases customer engagement with the business
Communicating with customers via WhatsApp creates a sense of privacy and intimacy with the brand. Marketing studies have shown that more than 55% of people feel a greater sense of belonging toward brands that communicate with them via messaging apps.
Therefore, using WhatsApp for marketing purposes helps retain customers, thereby generating more sales and profits through them.
You can also deepen customer relationships by sending personalized welcome messages, birthday greetings, or using their name in marketing messages. Marketing studies show that more than 70% of customers engage with personalized promotional messages (those that speak specifically to the customer).
2. Increases conversion rates
Marketing studies show that customers respond to more than 40% of marketing messages via WhatsApp. Some studies also show that messaging a customer after the initial contact increases customer conversion rates by 112.6%.
This is because customers often feel annoyed by phone calls, especially when they're not available to answer the phone. Therefore, messaging via WhatsApp is the ideal choice.
3. It generates higher sales
According to marketing experts, adding a WhatsApp contact number to your business's website is a magic wand for increasing sales, as customers trust businesses that operate via messaging apps more than others.
Some marketers believe that customers feel more optimistic when purchasing from brands via messaging apps, especially WhatsApp.
According to these marketers, you can rely on WhatsApp marketing alone to increase your sales, based on the significant increase in the number of customers who prefer to purchase via messaging apps, primarily WhatsApp.
4. Low cost of WhatsApp marketing campaigns
One of the most important advantages of this marketing channel is the low cost of WhatsApp marketing. WhatsApp Business is completely free, making it a very attractive marketing channel for small businesses.
The cost of the auxiliary tools we'll mention later is low, and suitable for the budgets of medium-sized companies, as well as large companies. This cost is also low compared to the percentage of marketing messages reaching customers and the percentage of sales generated from them.
WhatsApp Marketing Tools
The first WhatsApp marketing tool is WhatsApp Business. This application was created specifically for WhatsApp marketing purposes. It offers many features not offered by the regular WhatsApp application, and some may require additional services and tools.
To take advantage of these additional marketing tools, you must first create a professional account on WhatsApp Business. We will discuss how to create this professional account later.
WhatsApp Business allows users to create a kind of online store, where they can add a catalog of the company's products or services.
You can also add a link to the company's website, and it also allows you to add the company's location on a map, in addition to many other useful features for small and medium-sized businesses.
One of the most important features of this application is the ability to add an automated and rapid response service to customers. Marketing studies have shown that customers tend to buy from businesses that respond to their inquiries more quickly.
Therefore, this service is one of the most important services that increase conversion rates and the number of actual customers for the business. As for the supporting marketing tools, we will discuss them below:
1. Sendinblue
One of the most popular and important global marketing tools, it is a comprehensive marketing platform. Sendinblue helps integrate your various marketing channels.
The Sendinblue platform supports email marketing tools, in addition to SMS marketing services, and supports all WhatsApp marketing tools in a single screen.
The platform provides 24-hour customer support and offers a free trial before subscribing to paid plans.
Some may find this free plan sufficient for beginners or small businesses. The free plan offers 300 emails per day with the ability to customize the email template for ease of use, in addition to WhatsApp marketing campaigns.
The platform's paid plans are as follows:
1. Starter Plan: This plan costs $25 per month and allows for 20,000 emails per month. It also supports unlimited daily message sending, basic reporting, and analytics for marketing campaigns.
2. Business Plan: This plan costs $65 per month and allows for more than 20,000 emails per month.
It also offers advanced reporting and statistics, the ability to add multiple users to the tool, and the ability to schedule sending times with phone support.
3. Enrerprice Plan: This plan costs $1,000 per month and is designed for large companies. It offers advanced security features, advanced integration services, specialized support with flexible contracts, and other features.
2. Respond.io:
One of the most popular comprehensive marketing platforms, used by more than 1,000 global companies, including McDonald's, Honda, and other major companies.
The platform allows for a comprehensive integration of all customer information on a single screen. This screen displays emails, SMS, WhatsApp messages, and all the tools you may need.
The platform also offers a range of plans, all of which offer registration and a 14-day free trial.
These paid plans are detailed below:
1. Team Plan: This plan costs $79 per month and is designed for small businesses. It offers all the features of the platform's support, marketing, and sales tools.
In addition, it allows up to 10 users to control the platform and access to 1,000 active contacts per month.
2. Business Plan: This plan costs $249 and is designed for medium-sized businesses.
This plan offers all marketing and sales tools, along with the ability to generate the necessary reports and analyses. It includes the ability to add up to 25 users, access to 3,000 active contacts, and many other features.
3. Entry Price Plan: The platform has not announced the subscription fee for this plan on its website. You should contact the sales team to learn more. This plan is intended for large companies that want customized support and follow-up procedures.
3. Wati
One of the most popular global tools that helps increase sales and improve revenue from WhatsApp marketing, this platform has gained the trust of more than 3,500 companies around the world, including TikTok, Oppo, and other global companies.
The platform allows you to view a demo before subscribing, and also allows you to start your subscription with a free trial.
The paid plans are as follows:
1. Standard Plan: This plan costs $49 per month and offers a chatbot service. This price plan also allows 1,000 free conversations per month, in addition to the ability to add up to 5 users. It also supports broadcasting and scheduling WhatsApp messages.
2. Professional Plan: This plan costs $98 per month and offers a dynamic chatbot builder with integration with Google Sheets, in addition to all the features offered by the previous price plan.
Steps to Create a WhatsApp Business Account
Marketing experts recommend creating a professional WhatsApp Business account that details all the business details to maximize the benefits of WhatsApp marketing campaigns.
The steps for creating a professional WhatsApp Business account are similar whether or not you use the auxiliary programs we mentioned. Creating a professional business account is one of the most important foundations of WhatsApp marketing.
You can create a professional WhatsApp Business account for your business by following these steps:
- Download WhatsApp Business from the app store on your smartphone.
- Click the "Agree to Terms and Conditions" icon.
- Add the business phone number, provided that this number is not already in use on WhatsApp on another phone.
- Add the business name, noting that it cannot be edited once added.
- Add an image that represents the business. Marketing experts recommend adding the business logo or an image bearing its name.
- Fill in all the required information for a more professional appearance.
- Set the payment method, if the business receives funds via WhatsApp itself.
Settings are done through the following steps:
- Click the three dots on the program interface.
- Then click Settings.
- Then click Payment Options.
- Then click Add Payment Method.
- Then click Agree to the WhatsApp Payment Terms.
- Then click Continue.
- Then enter the payment details, such as the bank name and registration number.
- Then enter the code that will be sent via phone.
- Then choose the secret code.
It is preferable to send a welcome message to existing customers to remind them of their phone number, inform them of the business's presence on WhatsApp, and request future correspondence via WhatsApp.
WhatsApp Marketing Best Practices
The best practices for WhatsApp marketing lie in utilizing all the features offered by this application, which ensures the best possible results for marketing campaigns launched by the business. These smart practices aim to retain existing customers rather than attracting new ones.
Here are the best and most important smart practices for WhatsApp marketing:
1. Use automated messages
Automated messages provide a quick response to customers, and templates can be customized to answer common customer inquiries.
For example, setting a template to send a message with price details and offers when a customer inquires about a price. It's also preferable to set templates for welcome messages, user data collection messages, and other things, which saves time for both the customer and the business.
2. Use WhatsApp Statuses
Most WhatsApp users love viewing the statuses of their contacts, so if your business uses this feature on WhatsApp, it will ensure it reaches a large number of its customers.
This feature can be used to showcase the latest offers, include links to the company's website, add its social media pages, or offer extended discounts for the status period (which lasts for 24 hours).
3. Set up a WhatsApp Business Profile
It's best to fill out all the information in your WhatsApp profile. Such as business hours and business location, which gives the account a professional appearance.
In addition, you can use the business logo as your profile picture and replace your personal name with your brand name. You can also change the display image to include promotional messages, current offers, congratulations on a celebration, and other customer-related content.
4. Use Multimedia
Audiences interact more with video content, so it's very useful to include short videos that showcase new offers or show off images of products or the team in your marketing plan.
This can be done by sending them to customers or posting them as statuses on your WhatsApp Business account. It's also preferable to use memes to showcase the latest offers, as this attracts customers' attention, increases their engagement, and increases the likelihood that they'll remember the offer details.
5. Use Audio or Video Broadcasts
Appearing in a live video or even audio broadcast is one of the most popular and successful marketing strategies, as it allows for direct interaction with customers, which increases their engagement with the business.
This broadcast can detail the latest offers or new services, answer customer inquiries, engage with them directly, or include an announcement of new discounts offered by the business to live broadcast followers.
This concludes our article, which covered everything related to WhatsApp marketing. In the end, we always emphasize the importance of incorporating this unique marketing channel into the marketing strategy of businesses of all sizes, in addition to utilizing the practices we outlined at the end of the article.
Finally, we hope you enjoyed the article and that it provided practical and real information to help you achieve your marketing goals. We look forward to your comments and opinions in the comments box below.