WhatsApp marketing Q&A: your questions answered

By Maxine Hess

Writer | WhatsApp marketer | Creative

Events

WhatsApp Marketing

In our latest webinar, you had some great questions about WhatsApp marketing: how it works with email, how often to send messages and more. Here are the answers.

In just 1 year, awareness of WhatsApp marketing and its potential for marketing and CRM teams has grown hugely.

This was made even clearer to us after our latest webinar – "5 Summer Secrets: how to keep your customers switched on while you switch off." Attendees had many detailed, knowledgeable questions for our team.

We're happy to share answers with you:

How often should I send WhatsApp messages?

WhatsApp is a more personal channel than others. Our rule of thumb is to send out no more than 2x campaigns a month to the same subscriber.

But our tip is to ask how often a user wants to receive communications during the welcome flow. If they don't mind more than 2, then go ahead. It's about setting expectations and delivering on that. Then you can't let anyone down.

That's how most of our clients do it to keep the balance right and keep build customer relationships in the long-term.

Can we combine email with WhatsApp when collecting opt-ins?

Yes. You can set up "multistep popups" – a combined popup and opt-in flow that asks for both an email address and gets a WhatsApp opt-in.

We recommend our clients set up popups via Klaviyo (our partner) or any other tool they’re already using. We have our own popup tool, but it can be easier to coordinate the display settings of existing tools.

If it's set up in Klaviyo or other tool, we can proactively trigger an opt-in request from charles.

Should I send the discount code before asking for customer details?

No. From what we’ve learned from clients, the customer is much more likely to reply to the question if you give them the reward afterwards – otherwise you remove their incentive to give you their details.

What about GDPR compliance and WhatsApp?

Our product is built to help customers stay GDPR compliant. Our automated WhatsApp opt-ins (through Journeys) are built with features such as opt-in and opt-out timestamps, "GDPR delete," prompts to ensure GDPR compliance during opt-ins and the functionality to set an opt-out keyword that will automatically opt users out when they message you (usually "stop).

What are the costs of WhatsApp Business?

If you're a small business using the WhatsApp Business app, it's free.

If you're a larger business (broadcasting WhatsApp messages to more than 256 contacts), you'll use the WhatsApp API through a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) like charles.

In this case, WhatsApp charges a small price per conversation you have with a customer (within 24 hours) – in Germany this is around 11c, depending on what kind of conversation (marketing, utility, authentication or service).

You also pay a subscription fee for your WhatsApp platform and an extra fee per conversation (which is good as it incentivizes the BSP to build your WhatsApp channel).

See our guide to WhatsApp Business costs here.

Which shop systems can be connected to charles?

At the moment, we integrate with Shopify, Shopware (5 and 6) and WooCommerce.

See more on our Shopify integration here.

See all our WhatsApp integrations here (including Emarsys, Klaviyo, Zendesk, Freshdesk and Gorgias).

How can I segment customers with Conditions (using Shopify for example)?

The main 3 categories of our "Conditions" node are:

Previous interactions like clicked or received a campaign
Shopping history (using your Shopify integration), for example last purchase, a specific product purchased, purchase date, no. purchases, total spend
Customer preferences based on tags added when they've answered questions, like they've said they want to find out about discounts or new releases

How do you match new WhatsApp subscribers with existing profiles in your CRM system?

The easiest way to do this is to ask for an email address during your WhatsApp opt-in flow. This will automatically be synced with Klaviyo, for example.

Once you have both WhatsApp and email details for a contact, we see a customer lifetime value (CLV) uplift of up to 25%.

See more on our key CRM integrations: Emarsys and Klaviyo.

How can we combine email and WhatsApp marketing without overdoing it?

Once you've matched WhatsApp and email contacts for a customer, you should adapt communications for each channel. We don't recommend repeating the same message in both channels.

For example, people look forward receiving their order. So send them order tracking via WhatsApp, not email – so they're sure to see notifications and they're easy to find.

Email is a good channel for longer form content or showcasing products.

Again, we recommend sending no more than 2 WhatsApp marketing campaigns per month to the same customer.

See more in: Email vs WhatsApp marketing, which one wins?

Do VIP strategies work on charles and WhatsApp?

Yes, VIP programs work well on the charles platform and on WhatsApp. We find that loyal customers are very receptive to receiving exclusive communications on such a personal channel.

They also want info and rewards – like exclusive discounts, events or product launches – right away, where it won't be hidden amongst other messages, like it might in an email inbox.

We recommend you stitch email and WhatsApp contacts. This way you make sure you message your loyal customers on the right platform and show that you know who they are.

In short: WhatsApp is the best place for your super fans 🤩

How I can use WhatsApp marketing without an eCommerce solution?

The best scenario is to have a CRM or eCommerce solution that integrates with your WhatsApp platform. That way you stitch together contacts and gather a full picture of a customer.

However, if you don't have one, you could at least ask for a customer's email address and create WhatsApp flows where customers state preferences extensively. Ask questions and store responses to automatically add tags in the charles platform. Then use these tags to send highly relevant campaigns to customers.