Blast WhatsApp Message for Bulk Marketing Campaigns

Think about the last time you launched a special promotion, unveiled a new product, or broke other types of important news to your customers, only to find out that your message did not reach all of them. Traditionally, the only way to reach them was to call them, which can be impractical when your contact list is in the hundreds or thousands. By the time you reach them, the promotional opportunity may be lost.

More and more businesses are turning to WhatsApp marketing solutions to improve their customer engagement. The right business marketing solution enables you to broadcast different promotional offers and messages to your customers via WhatsApp and manage your customer interactions in one central location.

Keep in mind that an effective bulk messaging campaign requires the right audience, engaging content, and timing, as well as a marketing solution that is authorized by WhatsApp to conduct bulk business messaging.

In this article, we will cover how WhatsApp marketing works, the benefits of using marketing tools, features you should look for when considering a marketing tool, and how to launch an effective WhatsApp marketing campaign.

What Does It Mean to Blast WhatsApp Messages?

A WhatsApp message blast refers to a marketing campaign that allows businesses to send messages to customers using WhatsApp.

An online clothing store can notify customers about a festive discount. A coaching institute can send an announcement about admissions. A restaurant can inform customers about new additions to the menu or any special offers.

Bulk messaging options on different platforms help businesses:

• Segments customers into different groups and sends different announcements to each group.
• Includes links to product pages or embeds videos to showcase products.
• Personalize messages with customer data.
• Plan campaigns for the right time.
• Define automated workflows for customer communication.
• Check campaign delivery and see if customers engaged with the campaigns.
• Respond to customer messages through a shared team inbox.

A bulk campaign on WhatsApp can help automate marketing activities and manage customer communication. Send the right message to the right person to improve customer experience.

Businesses using an authorized WhatsApp Business Solution and following the rules for message frequency and templates can send marketing messages to their customers on WhatsApp.

What are the Benefits of WhatsApp Bulk Marketing?

WhatsApp provides a direct communication channel with a large customer base. Here’s why you should include it in your marketing strategy.

1. Being Quick and Convenient

Compared to making phone calls or sending emails, WhatsApp messages are more convenient and faster to send to a large customer base. A marketing automation tool allows companies to manage large scale campaigns.

For instance, a clothing store can use a marketing tool to quickly communicate the launch of a new collection to thousands of customers who have expressed interest, rather than having its marketing team message each customer individually.

2. Improve Customer Engagement

WhatsApp supports two-way communication, letting customers respond to your business. This can be used for your sales team to engage with customers to fill in missing details to assist with purchases (i.e. Inform customers about available sizes, delivery methods and payment methods, etc.)

This is more effective than one way communication, because it gives your business the opportunity to interact with customers and get a better understanding of what they need.

3. Promote Products and Offers

New offers and product arrivals can be easily communicated over WhatsApp.

To give your customers the detail they need, you can easily share product images, and give descriptions and calls-to-action over a single message.

A good example is sharing a new skincare product and providing a link to it.

4. Save Time with Automation

Several WhatsApp marketing platforms give you the ability to schedule messages and automate a workflow.

With these features you can:

• Schedule campaigns in advance.
• Set reminders.
• Create automations for FAQs.
• Set up automated follow-up messages.
• Rout messages to team members.

This can reduce mundane tasks, allowing employees to focus on other important tasks.

5. Analyze Campaign Effectiveness

A good marketing platform gives you a way to understand how effectively your campaigns are performing.

Some of the metrics you may find are:

• How many messages were sent?
• Were the messages delivered.
• Did the messages get read?
• How many links were clicked.
• Did customers reply to the messages?
• How many sales and leads did the campaign generate?

You can evaluate your campaigns and messages based on these performance indicators and improve your campaign and message content, structure, and timing.

Best Features to Look for in WhatsApp Bulk Marketing Tool

It is important to get the right marketing tool to serve your bulk marketing needs. Not every tool will provide the features you are looking for.

Check if the tool is authorized by WhatsApp Business Platform

When checking the features of a tool, ensure you ask if the tool is integrated with the WhatsApp Business Platform.

With official support, tools can help their customers manage their WhatsApp business campaigns within the framework of WhatsApp’s business messaging.

The tool should also help their customers in managing approved message templates, customer consents, messaging limits and other relevant requirements.

Messaging applications that provide bulk-sending services, especially the unauthorized ones, can potentially restrict or suspend your business WhatsApp number.

Contact Management and Segmentation

A reliable marketing tool should make it easy to organize contacts and create audience groups.

For example, an online store could create separate segments for:

• First-time customers.
• Repeat buyers.
• Customers interested in specific products.
• Customers who have opted into promotional updates.
• Leads who have requested product information.

Segmentation allows you to send relevant messages instead of promoting every product to every contact.

Message Personalization

Use a tool that allows users to create personalized messages based on customer details like name, order reference, appointment date, and other details.

Campaign Scheduling

You can schedule your campaigns to go out on a particular time and date.

Message Scheduling can help plan campaigns to market your products according to launches or seasonal offers, and to promote events and festivals.

Make sure you can review, edit, pause or cancel your campaigns before they go out.

Analytics and Reporting

Use reporting features to understand the factors that affect the performance of your campaign.

You can find reports related to delivery, customer engagement, link clicks, and conversion.

These reports help make decisions about campaign performance and accelerate campaign enhancement.

Shared Team Inbox

Customer responses to bulk marketing messages are to be expected. To help manage customer engagements for bulk marketing, have a team inbox.

A shared team inbox allows all employees to engage with customers via different messages.

For example, when a customer replies to a promotional message to ask about the availability of a product, your sales person can take ownership of the message and engage with the customer to guide them about the product.

How to Blast WhatsApp Messages for Bulk Marketing Campaigns

To plan a successful campaign on WhatsApp, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Define your goal

Setting a goal helps design the right message to target customers to achieve the objective.

Knowing your objective helps with campaign measurement.

For example, a children’s clothing brand objectives may include marketing discounted offers for seasonal sales of their products.

Step 2: Choose a Reliable WhatsApp Marketing Platform

Based on your business requirements and budget, compare different marketing platforms.

Below are a few important questions to ask before purchasing.

1. Does the platform help connect with official WhatsApp?
2. Does the platform help in organizing and segmenting contacts?
3. Does the platform provide approved message templates?
4. Can you schedule campaigns?
5. Does the platform have analytics and reporting?
6. Can you manage customer replies and automate messages?
7. What are the additional integrations available?
8. What is the cost per message and how much does the subscription cost?

Choose a platform that charges a reasonable subscription and messaging fee, and most importantly, has the features you need.

Step 3: Create a Permission-Based Contact List

Your contact list plays an important role in the success of your campaign.

Obtain customer consent through authorized channels such as:

• Subscription forms on your website.
• Checkout pages.
• Customer registration forms.
• Events.
• In-store.
• Direct customer requests.

Clearly explain what type of WhatsApp messages they will receive.

Avoid contact list scraping, purchasing contact lists, or messaging people who have not provided the required consent.

Also, maintain an updated suppression list to prevent unavoidable messages to customers who have unsubscribed.

Step 4: Segment Your Contact List

Based on your contacts, create interest and preference groups.

A fashion business can create interest groups for men’s clothes, women’s clothes, footwear, and accessories.

For a new collection of men’s shoes, they can contact customers interested in men’s clothes and footwear.

Step 5: Create an Engaging WhatsApp Message

Your promotional messages should be clear, concise and serve a single purpose.

An effective promotional message consists of:

• A captivating opening line.
• A clear announcement or offer.
• Important details of the product or service offered.
• A call to action.
• Any relevant terms and conditions.

Example: WhatsApp Promotional Message

“Hi (name), we’re excited to announce our new product collection! To see what’s new, and to see products personalized just for you, please visit our website: [your website link]. Do you have questions? Just reply to this message, and our team will be happy to assist you!”

When a WhatsApp approved template is required, use the correct approved template. Personalization variables should be accurate and include a mechanism to opt-out where required.

Avoid long messages or messages with misleading promotional claims.

Step 6: Review and Schedule Your Campaign

Double check your campaign for the following before you launch:

• Recipients and customer consent.
• Message content and spelling.
• Personalization variables.
• Promotional links.
• Product and service prices and discounts.
• Approved templates.
• Schedule time for campaign launch.

Consider time zones for your audience.

Avoid sending numerous messages within a short time frame.

Step 7: Monitor Campaign Results

Once your campaign has launched, review the results and performance reports.

For example, an extremely high delivery rate means your message may reach its target audience, but if there is a very low link click rate, you may want to revisit your offer or call-to-action in your message.

The goal is to find a happy medium, as having a very high link click rate does not necessarily lead to conversions. If you are seeing a high link click rate, but low purchase rate, look at the post click activity, e.g., the landing page, the product offering and the customer journey.

The objective of a marketing campaign is to gain the most value for the least amount of spend. If there are defects found in the customer journey, these need to be addressed immediately and improvements integrated in future campaigns.

Some of the Bulk Messaging Example Scenarios are as follows:

Ecommerce Example

A fashion retailer wants to inform its existing customers of a new active wear collection.

The ecommerce marketing team creates a WhatsApp broadcast list of those customers interested in promotional offers. It sends an announcement with images of the promotional products and provides a clickable link for customers to visit the website.

The marketing team can offer an incentive to customers to increase engagement, e.g., “first 10 customers will receive a 15% discount”

Benefit: Promotes new collection and strengthens relationships with existing customers.

Educational Institute Example

A coaching center announces its new batch date for admissions.

The educational marketing team creates a WhatsApp broadcast list of the parents and students who have opted in for promotional messages. It sends an announcement with all the important information and a clickable link to the admission form.

Benefit: Sends timely notifications to many customers without having to make numerous manual calls.

Restaurant Example

A high end restaurant launches a new weekend brunch.

It sends an announcement of the new brunch menu to its loyal customers and provides a clickable link to book a table.

Benefit: Informs customers of new offerings and encourages bookings.

Benefit: The restaurant can notify its audience of new menu items and take online reservations.

Examples: These examples demonstrate possible applications. Campaign success relies on the quality of the audience, the nature of the offer, campaign timing and the end-to-end implementation.

Tips to Increase the Success of Your WhatsApp Bulk Campaign

Sending messages is just a small part of an end-to-end marketing campaign. To ensure the best customer experience and the success of your marketing campaign, consider the following.

Send Meaningful Messages

Know what the customer is interested in, and determine what product the customer would be interested in before launching a campaign.

Strike an Appropriate Promotional Balance

Too many promotional messages would irritate the customer. Determine a reasonable communication frequency, and ensure the campaign value justifies the communication.

Use Concise CTAs

Tell your customer exactly what you want them to do, for example, to purchase a product, make a reservation, or book an appointment.

WhatsApp has specific policies on business communication. Follow these policies to remain compliant.

Experiment with Different Message Types

Try using various offers, or different CTAs. Communicate in a way that resonates with your audience to optimize your marketing return.

Protect Customer Data

Limiting the data you collect to the bare minimum is a good practice. Know what your service provider has in place to protect customer data.

FAQs

1. How can I blast WhatsApp messages to customers?

You will need to use a marketing platform that is integrated with the official WhatsApp Business Platform. Add the contacts that have opted in, create a message template, define your audience, and then launch your campaign. Make sure to comply with WhatsApp’s messaging policies.

2. What is the best WhatsApp bulk marketing tool?

That would depend on what your business needs are. Look at things like official integrations, contact management, audience segmentation, scheduling, messaging automation, analytics and a shared team inbox. Compare features, pricing and support before making a decision.

3. Is WhatsApp bulk messaging free?

Not really, there are costs associated with using a marketing platform to send the messages and then there are potential charges for messages sent over WhatsApp (if WhatsApp allows it). Pricing varies by the provider, message category, recipient country and use case.  Make sure to check the latest pricing before you buy.

4. Can I schedule bulk WhatsApp marketing messages?

Yes, many marketing platforms allow you to schedule messages. Create the messages in advance, and then schedule them to be sent out at an appropriate time. Again, make sure to comply with WhatsApp’s policies regarding the messages and templates used.

5. Is WhatsApp bulk marketing safe for business accounts?

It can be safe, as long as you are using an approved business messaging solution, and messaging within WhatsApp’s policies. Ignoring customer opt outs, blasting marketing messages and using auto-reply and other automation can be risky for your business account.

Conclusion: Use the Right Tool for Bulk WhatsApp Marketing

WhatsApp is a great tool for bulk marketing because it allows you to communicate with a large audience, promotes products and services, disseminates important messages and creates more chances for sales. WhatsApp marketing is more than sending random messages to a huge contact list.

In addition to a suitable marketing platform, you need to have your audience’s permission, have interesting content, time your messages properly and analyze your campaign.

Compare a marketing platform’s official WhatsApp integration, contact segmentation, automation, reporting, shared inbox and pricing before making a purchase. Go for a tool that is able to serve your needs and allow your business to grow.

Ready to increase your sales using WhatsApp? 

Make use of a WhatsApp marketing platform such as Wbotz and see if it has the features that will make your campaign a success. Be sure to put in place automation, bulk messaging and team inbox so you can effectively manage customer communication and strengthen your business relationship.