How to Create Click-to-WhatsApp Ads to Grow Your Business
Advertising is crucial for any brand. Businesses always try to develop innovative ways to find, reach, and convert a wider audience at the lowest cost. Messaging apps like WhatsApp prove to be more effective marketing tools than traditional marketing channels.
WhatsApp has higher open and read rates than email marketing, has way more possibilities to convert and retain customers, and offers highly-effective marketing tools. Users become more confident using the app to communicate with their favorite brands over the messaging app. It’s convenient and easy to use. The ROI of WhatsApp marketing is beyond any comparison to other marketing channels.
For businesses, it’s crucial to establish a connection with their customers over WhatsApp. They can do it without spending a dime by generating WhatsApp chat links and QR codes or integrating a WhatsApp widget on their website. Customers who want to connect easily with a business can click or scan these elements to open a WhatsApp chat screen.
However, these features are consumer-dependent, and the growth that comes from them is slow. You need to think about all the leads and potential customers who don’t have an urgent need to connect with a business. Should they be disregarded? Of course not!
WhatsApp has great potential to convert prospects into customers. Businesses rely on WhatsApp to build and nurture relationships with their audience through promotions, updates, and announcements about their brand, products, and services. So, what’s the best way to reach them?
That’s where click-to-WhatsApp ads come in!
What are click-to-WhatsApp ads?
Have you ever seen a Facebook or Instagram ad with a “send message” button? These ads allow businesses to choose a preferred channel they want to open once a user click’s the button. They can select the ad to take the consumer to the messaging section of the social media platform or open a conversation in WhatsApp. It goes without saying, but you should choose the latter if your ad aims to build an audience on WhatsApp.
Click-to-WhatsApp ads can be displayed in:
- Facebook news feed
- Facebook Marketplace
- Instagram feed
- Instagram explore
- Facebook stories
- Instagram stories
What are the benefits of using click-to-WhatsApp ads?
There are over 2 billion WhatsApp users worldwide. Even if you don’t sell your products or services internationally, chances are your existing and potential customers are active WhatsApp users. Taking advantage of click-to-WhatsApp ads can be an effective way to connect with them.
For any business that wants to reap the benefits of WhatsApp, it’s crucial to build a bigger audience. Click-to-WhatsApp ads are a great way to reach more potential customers and collect opt-ins.
Creating high-converting landing pages and generating traffic that converts into leads, prospects, and, eventually, customers can be a hassle. With click-to-WhatsApp advertising, you can shorten the funnel and remove landing pages from the user journey. Instead, you can offer users a persuasive conversational experience on an app they use daily.
Requirements for setting up click-to-WhatsApp ads
To start your click-to-WhatsApp ad campaign, first, you need to create a WhatsApp business account. You’ll need to download the WhatsApp Business app or subscribe to one of the official Business Solution Providers to use WhatsApp Business API. Then link your WhatsApp account to your Facebook page. ‘
Note: You need to be an administrator of your Facebook page.
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Go to Facebook business page
- Click settings
- From the left-hand side menu, click on WhatsApp
- Choose your country code
- Enter your WhatsApp number and click send code
- Input your OTP to confirm the number
If you wish to run ad campaigns on your Instagram account, you should also link your Instagram account with your Facebook Page.
Once this is done, you can start setting up your first click-to-WhatsApp campaign.
How to create click-to-WhatsApp ads?
First, you’d need to define your business goal and objectives. You can build your ads under Ads Creation in the Ads Manager tool on Facebook. The first thing you’ll need to do is choose an objective for your WhatsApp adverts campaign.
You’d want to select the option Messages. This objective allows people to engage with your ad campaign and start conversations with your brand via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and/or Instagram.
Next, set your campaign budget. Here you can decide on a daily or lifetime budget for your campaign. Based on your campaign’s objective, you can also choose from the available campaign bid strategies - Highest volume or Bid cap.
You can check out the Facebook Ads Documentation to better understand bid strategies.
Click Next. Continue the process with the following steps:
- Under Ad Type, select Click to Message.
- Select WhatsApp in the Messaging Apps section.
- Set the parameters around your Audience, Placements, Budget, and Schedule.
- Click Next.
- Select your ad format and complete your ad setup.
- Click + Create to create your flow.
- Click Save and Finish when you’ve completed.
- Click Publish to publish your ad.
Best Practice for click-to-WhatsApp Ads
Here’s a checklist to optimize your ad for the best results:
- Edit specific ad placements on Facebook and Instagram for image size or video duration. You can also turn a set of images into a video slideshow.
- Add primary text and headlines for your click-to-WhatsApp ad. You can add as many as five primary text options and headlines.
- Do not use descriptions like “ask the chatbot.” Actionable headlines like “Chat with us now!” or “Talk to us now!” will increase response rates.
- Preview the ad in placements in Advanced Preview to see how each media placement will look on Facebook and Instagram feeds.
Conclusion
Adding WhatsApp as a communication channel with your customers will help you dramatically improve the user experience and boost engagement, retention, and conversion rates. Click-to-WhatsApp ads are a practical and effective way to ramp up the number of customer conversations and build an audience for your brand on WhatsApp.
It’s a hassle-free migration. Customers just need to click on the button embedded in the ad and don’t have to type in your number on their phone to start a conversation with you.
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 go through your use case, answer any questions you have 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 to you:
For Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
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.
