WhatsApp Marketing - The Complete Guide

Marketing messages directed at consumers in the form of newsletters are sent by the vast majority of companies via e-mail. The fact that email newsletters are not exactly the most successful when it comes to converting new customers has not been a secret for a long time. With around 330 billion emails (source: Statista) sent and received every day, it's no surprise that it's enormously difficult to penetrate consumers' inboxes with newsletters and convert them to customers. In order to still achieve real marketing success with newsletters, they need to be sent through those platforms where consumers spend time anyway. And for most consumers, that platform is WhatsApp. On WhatsApp, potential customers give your company their undivided attention and engage with the newsletter. Various field reports from companies that have already ushered in the new marketing age and send newsletters via WhatsApp prove the immense potential based on open and conversion rates. This article explains what exactly the WhatsApp newsletter is and how it can revolutionize marketing for companies.

‍

WhatsApp marketing at a glance

WhatsApp newsletters are paid mass messages via WhatsApp to share relevant and valuable information with customers. WhatsApp itself calls these messages "Promotional Messages". For example, you can inform your customers about new products, point out discount promotions or remind existing customers about service intervals. The WhatsApp newsletter can thus be used as part of so-called "conversational commerce", where users can purchase products and services by chatting with the company.

To prevent spam and excessive advertising on WhatsApp, the parent company Meta has set some rules for sending newsletters. Among other things, there are caps on the number of messages sent and the content is also checked. Each message template for newsletters must be approved by Meta in advance. From a legal perspective, the GDPR must also be observed, which requires the user's consent (opt-in) to receive the newsletter. Promotional messages can only be sent via the WhatsApp API and are GDPR-compliant. These requirements may sound complex, but they are easy to implement with Mateo. With a look at the advantages compared to conventional email marketing, it becomes clear that the benefits of WhatsApp newsletters are usually much greater than the small additional effort.

Would you like to learn more about Mateo's WhatsApp Newsletter Service? Or are you interested in an inbox where customer requests from different communication channels can be bundled centrally and processed efficiently? Simply arrange a free consultation appointment.

‍

What does WhatsApp marketing cost?

WhatsApp newsletters are always sent via the WhatsApp API. We have described the exact costs involved in our article on the costs of the WhatsApp Business API. Here is a brief overview:

The WhatsApp owner Meta charges between 6.3 and 11.3 cents per conversation in Germany after the free quota of 1,000 customer-initiated conversations has been used up. Since June 1, 2023, chats have been divided into four categories:

Service: Entertainment started by a customer. Cost in Germany: 6.79 cents

Utility: conversation initiated by the company and containing information important to the customer. For example, info about orders, transactions, and customer accounts. Cost in Germany: 7.07 cents

Authentication: conversation initiated by the company containing verification codes for accessing the customer account. Cost in Germany: 6.36 cents

Marketing: Entertainment initiated by the company and containing promotional messages such as product announcements or discount promotions. Cost in Germany: 11.31 cents

Accordingly, WhatsApp newsletter marketing costs 11.31 cents per message. These costs are charged by Meta. Furthermore, the WhatsApp API provider charges additional costs for the use of the API interface. The prices of WhatsApp messages and the number of messages included vary depending on the WhatsApp API provider. Make sure you find out what WhatsApp newsletters cost with the API provider of your choice. Since the API providers provide, manage and optimize a user interface, the prices are usually slightly higher than the costs estimated by Meta. A direct connection to Meta's WhatsApp API is only possible for a small group of selected companies. For all other companies, access is only possible via an API provider such as Mateo. The prices for cost-effective WhatsApp marketing with Mateo can be viewed transparently on our website.

‍

Observe GDPR: No WhatsApp newsletter marketing without opt-in

Just as with email newsletters, newsletters sent via WhatsApp also require an opt-in from the recipient in advance. Sending advertising or storing personal data without consent or by opting out has not been permitted in the EU for some time. In contrast to opt-out, where the data subject must actively object to the storage of data or the receipt of advertising, with opt-in the data subject must actively consent. The conditions for consent are regulated in Art. 7 GDPR .

There are many ways to collect the opt-in: either pop-up on the website, via a form to fill out, as a link on social media or as an invitation in the order confirmation sent by email. With a little creativity and attractive incentives, such as a discount on the first purchase after subscribing to the newsletter, you can quickly build up a large number of loyal newsletter recipients. Mateo will be happy to support you.

After you have collected the customer's opt-in on the website or by other means, all they have to do is agree to receive the newsletter in WhatsApp.

‍

The advantages of WhatsApp newsletters are particularly evident in comparison to classic e-mail newsletters

WhatsApp is the world's most popular messenger service, with over 2 billion users. In Germany alone, over 60 million people use WhatsApp regularly. And user numbers have been rising rapidly for years, as can be seen in the following diagram.

*WhatsApp user numbers have been experiencing strong, continuous growth for years (source:* *Statista*).

In contrast to e-mail, the user atmosphere of WhatsApp is very informal, as most users communicate with friends and family via WhatsApp. When companies are reachable via WhatsApp and send newsletters to customers, this creates a closeness to the customer that is simply not possible with e-mail newsletters. Emails are too distant and too impersonal and therefore not the right way to go as a marketing channel that is intended to influence consumers' primarily emotional buying behavior.

Another advantage is that WhatsApp newsletters are guaranteed to reach the recipients and are not sorted into the spam folder by the mail provider like many email newsletters. Your newsletter will get the attention it deserves between personal messages from friends and family members.

Reading tip: We have described how to optimize the conversion rate and prevent recipients from unsubscribing from the newsletter in our article on WhatsApp marketing.

Traditional marketing channels such as email are increasingly saturated. Many consumers receive dozens of email newsletters every week and delete most of them without reading them. In technical jargon, this phenomenon is called channel fatigue. As a marketer, there are only two options in such a case: Either emails can be further optimized in the hope that open rates will increase by 1 or 2 %. Or you can switch to a channel such as WhatsApp, where there is still little competition. Statistics on the open rates of newsletters suggest that the latter option is probably associated with greater success. While email newsletters are only opened in 22% of cases for the reasons mentioned, the figure for WhatsApp is 98% (source: Gartner).
‍

The excellent open rate, combined with customer proximity on WhatsApp and the resulting significantly higher conversion rate, leads to significantly increased sales revenues. Various experience reports show that switching from email to WhatsApp newsletters can contribute significantly to a company's success. How exactly your company can also set up and use WhatsApp newsletters, we have described in our article"How to WhatsApp Newsletter". By the way: Mateo provides you with reliable evaluations and statistics on the behavior of newsletter recipients, which can be used to evaluate the success of your WhatsApp campaign.

Reading tip: We have summarized even more reasons for marketing via WhatsApp in our article"Why WhatsApp newsletter? 7 reasons for switching to the marketing channel".

‍

Application examples of WhatsApp marketing

There are a variety of uses for WhatsApp newsletters. For example, alert customers that products they regularly buy are available again.

You can also carry out up-selling and cross-selling strategies particularly successfully. If a customer has already purchased something from your product or service portfolio, a short WhatsApp message is often enough to sell further matching items. If you run a hotel, for example, you can draw your guests' attention to the specialties of your in-house restaurant.

In many industries, certain products and services are in focus at certain times due to seasonal factors. Simply remind your customers via WhatsApp of upcoming service intervals such as tire changes, inspections or renewal of the TÜV sticker.

Which customer is not happy about a personal discount voucher for their birthday or warm Christmas greetings? With the WhatsApp newsletter you raise customer relations to a higher level.

Of course, new products can also be advertised in the classic way. As described in our article on WhatsApp marketing, newsletters should not be sent too frequently. However, for products where there is likely to be great customer interest, a short WhatsApp message is worthwhile.

Mateo can of course also be used to send automated messages about orders. Messages like these are not advertising messages, but important customer information and therefore do not require opt-in.

Reading tip: You can find helpful templates for automatic replies in our article on out-of-office notes in WhatsApp .

‍

WhatsApp newsletter marketing with Mateo

Mateo offers a comprehensive service in WhatsApp marketing. The service portfolio ranges from setting up the WhatsApp API, individual tips and hints for collecting opt-ins, maintaining customer data and creating newsletters to in-depth analyses on the success of your marketing campaign. A service that is customized to your company.

With Mateo you can run highly professional WhatsApp newsletter marketing. Hundreds of companies use Mateo to successfully tap into new sales potential with WhatsApp newsletters. Our customers particularly appreciate the following advantages:

100% GDPR compliance: Mateo guarantees that WhatsApp newsletters are sent in compliance with data protection regulations.
‍
Comprehensive analyses: Mateo offers detailed evaluations and statistics on newsletter campaigns in order to continuously optimize them.
‍
First-class customer service: Mateo's customer service is available for all inquiries to ensure optimal use of the software.
‍
Cross-industry experience: ‍Tensof thousands of marketing messages from companies in various industries have already been sent via Mateo's WhatsApp newsletter tool. You can benefit from this expertise.
‍
Affordable prices: Mateo offers affordable packages to enable cost-effective marketing for businesses of all sizes.
‍
Automated sending: Mateo's automation functions save time and increase efficiency when sending WhatsApp newsletters.
‍
Integrations: With Mateo, you can integrate WhatsApp into over 6,000 software programs and send fully automated newsletters based on customer data from your CRM system.
‍
Target group-specific dispatch: The segmentation functions enable a high degree of personalization and relevance of the messages.
‍
Various additional functions: In addition to the WhatsApp marketing tool, there are numerous additional functions that make Mateo a comprehensive omnichannel CX software. These include, for example, the central inbox, web chat, intelligent Google review management and our mobile app.

Simply schedule a free consultation to learn all the details. With Mateo and the WhatsApp newsletter, your company can start into a new marketing era.

WhatsApp Marketing - The Complete Guide [November 2023]