5 case studies of effective WhatsApp marketing in 2022
No other marketing channel can compare to WhatsApp’s effectiveness and ROI. On average, users respond to 40% of messages they receive from brands on WhatsApp (with an open rate of 98% and a CTR of 45-60%). Businesses prioritizing WhatsApp as a business messaging channel can increase their conversion rates by 100-200%.
So, what exactly is the secret of WhatsApp’s success as a marketing tool?
The advantages of WhatsApp
WhatsApp is currently the most popular messaging app, and has the highest number of active monthly users - more than two billion people worldwide!
More than 50 million businesses across the world use the business version of WhatsApp for marketing, sales, and customer support.
Meaningful relationships with customers
According to studies, more than 55% of people surveyed feel more connected to a brand if they use messaging apps for communication. Through this conversational communication style, brands can build and nurture long-lasting relationships, convert prospects into customers, and increase retention.
WhatsApp Business provides advanced features that enable you to personalize your communication. Over 70% of consumers say they only engage with personalized marketing messages, such as welcome messages, special offers, birthday congratulations, etc.
Source: Facebook
Increased conversion rates
Email marketing and phone calls are slowly becoming a thing of the past. More than 61% of people say messaging is the easiest, most convenient way to contact a company. Over 50% of customers believe they will get faster responses, better advice, and more truthful replies on WhatsApp.
Does all this translate into higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction? You can bet on it!
More sales
Many businesses rely on WhatsApp as a primary channel for sales. You can have high-quality conversations with prospects and customers, improve customer satisfaction through personalized communication, speed up processes with automation, and more. All this can enhance customer experience, lead to more loyal customers, and increase sales.
What is WhatsApp marketing?
WhatsApp marketing includes any promotional activities that take place on WhatsApp. Businesses use either the business version of the app, called WhatsApp Business app, and WhatsApp Business Platform/API, which is for businesses that outgrow the mobile app and want to have a scalable solution tailored to their needs.
Let’s have a look at how these brands are smashing it on WhatsApp.
Examples of successful WhatsApp marketing campaigns
The marketing world is driven by creativity and outside-the-box thinking. However, sometimes the most straightforward approach that provides value and high-quality customer experience can be a winning model. Let’s begin with this example by Omay Foods:
Omay Foods
A snack manufacturer from India, Omay Foods wanted an easy and human way to guide customers through ordering. The company also needed a convenient and quick method to communicate with retailers and wholesalers outside of email.
The company integrated a WhatsApp button into its website, Facebook Page, and Instagram profile making it easy for potential customers to ask questions and start conversations in just a few clicks. Additionally, Omay Foods integrated a product catalog into its Business profile to drive sales directly through the app. They used features like automated welcome messages and quick replies to boost engagement rates.
WhatsApp also became an important communication channel for driving repeat sales, as many of Omay Foods’ customers prefer to message the business directly in WhatsApp when they want to place a new order.
The company incentivized prospective customers to make their first purchase with discount coupons. This proved to be a winning approach to increasing conversions and customer loyalty.
From when the company launched WhatsApp, in March 2020, to April 2021, it saw:
- 5X increase in customer inquiries via WhatsApp compared to the previous email contact channel
- 3X increase in repeat customers via WhatsApp in April 2021 compared to March 2020
- 5X increase in sales for retail channels in April 2021 compared to March 2020
Tata CLiQ
Tata CLiQ, the flagship digital commerce initiative of the India-based Tata Group, wanted to reach all customers who had opted to receive follow-up communications through its website. The company needed a dynamic and reliable communications channel to target more customers with personalized, relevant notifications.
To create custom messages and offerings for each shopper, Tata CLiQ teams looked at how the company interacted with consumers. While customers could opt-in to receive emails, SMS, and in-app push messages through the Tata CLiQ website, these conventional methods didn’t achieve the desired reach.
As a result, Tata CLiQ launched its WhatsApp channel in stages. The first stage involved sending push notifications through WhatsApp to let customers know when their order had shipped and provided them with transaction numbers. The speed and ease of delivering messages via WhatsApp inspired Tata CLiQ teams to ramp up the second stage, which involved more sophisticated customer targeting and customization for high-volume sales days, such as Diwali and Black Friday.
Tata CLiQ teams created marketing campaigns that used data science insights to target a percentage of shoppers with custom messages based on their behavior on the Tata CLiQ website. These personalized messages for opted-in customers featured product recommendations based on a one-month browsing history, abandoned cart follow-up, price drop alerts for wish-listed products and welcome coupons for new users.
After launching customized notification campaigns across its communications channels, Tata CLiQ saw significant increases in customer engagement and purchases and tenfold ROI in two one-month campaigns through WhatsApp in October 2021.
- 10x greater ROI than email, in-app push notifications, and SMS messages
- $500,000 USD in sales in one month attributed to WhatsApp
- 57% clickthrough rate with WhatsApp
- 1.7x more likely that customers will purchase when using WhatsApp
Purple Panchi
This artisanal fashion boutique wanted to provide customers with secure, reliable, and scalable personalized communication and service while reducing customer support costs. At the same time, it wanted to add a second storefront on WhatsApp for an integrated customer experience that makes browsing and ordering even easier.
The company used the WhatsApp Business API to provide customers with a seamless shopping and service experience. Integrating the API with their Shopify platform allowed customers to browse and purchase products, ask questions, and receive notifications, all within the WhatsApp platform. This integration likely made it easier for customers to shop and interact with the company and allowed the company to automate many of its customer interactions.
Purple Panchi has achieved a 20 percent higher average order value for orders placed via WhatsApp than other channels. The customer support team also increased efficiency by 75 percent and reduced customer support costs by 80 percent.
Club Atlético Peñarol
Club Atlético Peñarol, one of the most popular sports clubs in Uruguay, needed to automate engagement to serve the large number of fans who reach out daily in personalized ways that align with the fast, responsive services the club’s passionate fans expect. When the COVID-19 pandemic impacted communities worldwide, the club looked to continue engaging fans and carrying out essential everyday activities such as holding board elections.
Club Atlético Peñarol sought a platform to automate conversations at a massive scale without sacrificing the personal connection that fans expect. Using the WhatsApp Business Platform/API, the club deployed a custom “Hey Now chatbot” that provides 24/7 responses to everyday questions and allows fans to connect to a service agent if necessary.
The transition to WhatsApp also enables Club Atlético Peñarol to engage fans even when they can’t attend games in person. Using WhatsApp helped the club sustain a remote workforce during the pandemic and drove an advance membership sales campaign when the stadiums were closed. The campaign generated $50,000 in sales through fan engagements on WhatsApp.
By adopting a customer service channel through the WhatsApp Business API, Club Atlético Peñarol has nurtured lifelong relationships with fans while decreasing call center volumes and associated service costs.
- 61% reduction in call center volumes by directing fans to WhatsApp
- 78% decrease in response times compared to traditional fan service outlets
- 96% of WhatsApp interactions don’t need live agent support
- $50,000 USD earned through one advanced membership sales campaign conducted via WhatsApp
KiKUU
KiKUU – an online shopping mall based in China and operating in 16 African countries – wanted to find an innovative way to engage customers and increase sales. With the prominence of WhatsApp usage in Africa and the variability of WhatsApp messaging features, it became an effective tool for them to boost sales and conversions.
KiKUU built a customized workflow and experience on the WhatsApp Business Platform/API. The brand created powerful campaigns to announce product sales for customers who had opted in to hear from KiKUU. By embedding a click-to-product-website button into the experience, customers could seamlessly click to the website and purchase.
With a high throughput of messages per second, KiKUU ran the first test campaign by sending WhatsApp push notifications to randomly selected opted-in customers. To compare performance with established channels, they sent the same messages to everyone else. The results were more than promising. Over one week, they saw that customers opened WhatsApp push notifications 70% more often than messages on other channels, leading to a 60% increase in sales.
Additionally, the KiKUU team observed a 45.4 percent increase in gross merchandise value and a 53.7 percent increase in daily active users.
Marketing tips for your campaign
Now that you see how other brands are taking advantage of the limitless marketing possibilities of WhatsApp, you know that integrating the world’s most popular app into your marketing strategy is the right thing to do. Here are some tips for crafting effective WhatsApp promotional messages for your first campaign:
- Keep your messages short and to the point. WhatsApp users typically look for quick and concise information, so avoid using long-winded sentences or excessive jargon.
- Personalize your messages. Use the customer’s name and include information relevant to them, such as their past purchases or location.
- Offer value. In your promotional messages, give your customers something of value, such as a discount on a specific car model or a free test drive.
- Use images and videos. Visual content can be very effective in promoting your automobiles, so include high-quality images and videos of your cars in your messages.
- Include a call-to-action. Encourage your customers to take action, such as visiting your showroom or scheduling a test drive.
Overall, the key to crafting effective WhatsApp promotional messages is to provide value to your customers and to make the message relevant to their interests and needs.
Conclusion
WhatsApp marketing is a highly effective tool for businesses in 2022. With over two billion active monthly users, WhatsApp provides a unique opportunity for businesses to build and nurture meaningful relationships with their customers, leading to increased conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
To unlock the full potential of WhatsApp, my best advice is to use WhatsApp Business Platform/API by subscribing to one of the official Business Solution Providers or use WhatsApp Cloud API available through Meta. You’ll need to connect it to a customer communication platform like Rasayel, where you can create promotional campaigns, use complex automation, create chatbots, collaborate with an unlimited number of sales agents, and more.
If you want to learn more about the WhatsApp Business Platform, read “The Ultimate Guide to WhatsApp Business Platform/API Pricing”
With advanced features for personalization and automation, businesses can use WhatsApp to improve the customer experience and drive sales. Many of our successful clients have experienced the potential of WhatsApp as a marketing tool, making it a valuable addition to their business’s marketing strategy.
Learn more
If you’d like to learn more about how WhatsApp can help you grow your business, please reach out to us on WhatsApp at +13024070488.
We also offer a free consultation session where we review your use case, answer any questions about WhatsApp, and help you build a strategy to make the best out of the platform. Book a call with us here. We’d love to speak with you:
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Miodrag brings over 15 years of hands-on experience in content writing and marketing, with a talent for making even the trickiest topics clear and interesting. His passion lies in guiding businesses to effectively utilize WhatsApp to build stronger customer relationships and drive results. With an eye for detail and a heart for storytelling, he’s here to show how effective WhatsApp communication can boost sales and enhance customer engagement.
