WhatsApp Marketing: A necessity for 2022

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging platform. Its monthly active user base has surpassed 2 billion. It is no longer just a chat software for catching up with friends, It has now become a popular promotional tool for businesses all over the world.

WhatsApp marketing allows you to stay in touch with your customers – more than half of WhatsApp users check the app at least once per day. Even better, text messages have a 98% open rate, so you can be certain they will receive your offers.

And they adore this mode of communication. They have more trust in brands that use chat apps – 53% of people say they would buy from companies they can reach through chat.

Why Include WhatsApp in your marketing strategy?

• Better customer relationships 
• Increased conversion rate
• Increased sales
• Reduced marketing expenses

WhatsApp use cases:

• Send reminders for due dates and payments.  
• Update customers about their order status. 
• Personalise occasional wishes like birthdays, and inform customers of discounts.
• Recommend possible actions to customers such as new products, travel packages, hotel stays, etc.
• Remind customers of abandoned carts and persuade them to check out.

WhatsApp marketing ideas and examples

Klook: transactional messages

Klook, an online travel platform, decided to use WhatsApp to improve customer satisfaction and retention. As a result, the company’s marketing strategy revolved around booking updates and notifications.

Klook had the best interests of its customers in mind and needed to find the most convenient communication channel. Because the company has a large audience in the Asia-Pacific region, WhatsApp was chosen – the app is widely used in this region.

Visitors to the website and app were invited to sign up for WhatsApp notifications, which included order updates and reminders. As a result, WhatsApp’s opt-in rate was 63% higher than the Klook app’s push notifications. The customer retention rate increased by 40%.

Netflix: personal recommendations

Netflix knows a thing or two about keeping its users interested in the service. In its mobile application, the service provides personalised recommendations. The company decided to expand this practice to WhatsApp in 2017.

Netflix launched this campaign in India, WhatsApp’s largest market, in January 2017. Users who had both Netflix and WhatsApp installed on their smartphones saw the offer to communicate via WhatsApp messenger. If a user clicked “I’m in,” they began receiving messages about their account as well as TV show and film recommendations.

The key here was to continue interacting with customers even after they had cancelled their Netflix subscription. Reminders and announcements of new shows prompted recipients to resubscribe to the streaming platform.

Saffola: real-time assistance

If you’ve ever tried a diet, you’ve probably experienced cravings for a slice of pizza or a cookie. Saffola, an Indian healthcare brand, decided to build its campaign around combating this desire for unhealthy food.

Saffola created a WhatsApp chatbot to assist people in combating their unhealthy eating habits. When a user has a craving for some comfort food, they can send a message to this bot. In turn, the chatbot attempted to divert a person’s attention by playing pre-recorded positive reinforcements, puzzles, and even a rap song. Saffola’s new active slimming drink was promoted in the latter.

Adidas: real-time support to footballers

Adidas used WhatsApp to promote its new shoe campaign. The brand decided to target a specific audience, amateur football players; and assist them in dealing with their specific issue.

Football teams frequently have problems with various aspects of their game. Some players may withdraw from a match at the last minute, and there may be no replacement. Adidas offered to find a replacement via WhatsApp. All you have to do is send a message to a WhatsApp hotline and share important match information. Adidas will send a top-tier football player to your game in exchange.

Despite the fact that the campaign was only six days long and targeted a specific audience, the results were impressive. Adidas, in particular, received a lot of attention in football media, retail websites, blogs, and so on.

KLM

KLM uses WhatsApp to provide flight alerts and other useful information to its customers. Customers who book a flight via WhatsApp can receive booking confirmations, check-in notifications, boarding passes, and flight status updates.

Customers can access the company’s official website, enter their booking information, and choose to receive flight notifications via WhatsApp. You can also contact the company directly via WhatsApp to get real-time updates on your reservations. Behind the message is always a customer service representative who will ask you for your information and update you accordingly.