Best Practices for WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns

Using WhatsApp is fine, but using it sparingly and respectfully is better.

WhatsApp is an excellent communication channel for speaking with your customers, but you must follow best practices for your marketing campaigns.

Here are some tips you shouldn't neglect to satisfy your current and potential future clients.

1. Let the User Initiate Contact

On WhatsApp, it's the customer who starts the conversation. Your brand isn't supposed to know the user needs you. You must let them come to you to avoid appearing intrusive. Wait until the user encounters a problem before launching your marketing strategy. Otherwise, the user may become suspicious and could lead to a poor user experience or blocking your brand's messages.

2. Respect User Experience

Don't overload promotional campaigns or spam users. Messages shouldn't be too frequent or overly promotional, risking damage to your quality relationship with the customer. WhatsApp is primarily a personal messaging app, and consumers don't appreciate receiving promotional messages from brands. You must carefully gauge the number of messages without becoming too intrusive.

Remember that even though it's your WhatsApp Business account, the user keeps their regular WhatsApp. They communicate with friends and family and shouldn't receive promotional offers all day long. If you want to send mass messages, favor email marketing or social media advertising instead.

3. Follow WhatsApp Templates

Meta sets guidelines regarding WhatsApp campaigns and messages to send and distribute. These define formatting, product display, language, and how to create links to websites. Template guidelines aim to optimize user experience and ensure customers receive messages properly. If respected well and aligned with your brand image, they deliver the desired results. However, Meta doesn't require brands to follow them but strongly recommends them.

4. Deliver Added Value to Consumers

WhatsApp marketing campaigns allow you to offer real added value to your customers. This communication channel complements other marketing channels (social media, sponsorship campaigns, email, etc.) and isn't meant to replace existing ones that work. Think of WhatsApp marketing as a new approach to deliver additional value to clients. Its accessibility and ease of use allow it to offer different experiences such as event reminders, billing notifications, delivery updates, order confirmations, etc. Focus on your target's needs to make their lives easier by offering features they don't have on other channels, or at least more accessible and effective ones—without overdoing it!

5. Respect the 24-Hour Rule

This rule applies only to the WhatsApp Business API. When a customer starts a conversation, your company has 24 hours after their last message to continue support or conversation. Beyond 24 hours, you must initiate contact with the user using a pre-approved WhatsApp message template.

All these rules follow netiquette, e-reputation, and online etiquette standards. Whether via email, traditional marketing campaigns, landing pages, websites, or now WhatsApp, you must respect these rules of conduct, avoid spamming users, and risk getting blacklisted. We'll write an article soon to review them—it won't be unnecessary.

These rules we use daily aren't something to neglect just because you have particular proximity with the customer via WhatsApp. Quite the opposite. While it's easy to reach the user through this channel, they can block you just as easily.