Who doesn’t have WhatsApp? 98.5% of smartphones in Spain have installed it and regularly use it for fast and effective communications. Other statistics show that 96% of people prefer chatting to talking on the phone. The key is to make it easy for our customers and bet on the communication system they prefer. Its uses can be various, from receiving orders, reservations or various inquiries about our products or going the other way, that is, informing our customers of news or products exclusively for them. The trick is to segment needs, work on the communication style and get valuable information to the customer.
Neither as spam, nor as e-mail
But beware, WhatsApp establishes in its terms that it can block a user’s account if they use the service as spam. You must have the user’s authorization to receive our promotions, try to get them to add us to their contact list, use the distribution lists to generate multiple messages to types of people with similar needs and forget about groups, as long as they are not for co-workers are the precautions to follow.
Always with the consent of the clients
It is not recommended to use Whatsapp as a mass messaging tool for advertising. Of course, you should never use it with anyone who has not connected with us, who has not left us their data, who has not signed a data protection policy with us, outside the law… We also do not recommend it to send advertising to our clients and, suddenly, change the communication by sms or e-mail to this medium, because it can be poorly received.
We must consult customers or contacts about their interest in using WhatsApp as an alternative means of communication, and this may be of interest to them if we offer them added value. If we are going to offer them the same thing by WhatsApp as by e-mail, they will surely not want a medium as private as WhatsApp to fill it with information. But we can send you immediate information when you need it (geolocation, contact details…). Possibly, this will improve the relationship experience with us.
There are already companies that are using WhatsApp as a tool to complement telephone assistance to their customers: “A user of a service can send a photo of a product that is failing, a video of a process that has been done or a descriptive text of something what is happening to you… It is also a good use to use it as alerts: the possibility that when there is a specific offer they can send a message through WhatsApp and remain registered in that group to have timely information”
Steps for the marketing campaign
The experts list some steps to do w-marketing in an SME:
1. Prepare a database of your audience. It is very important that it is segmented, that is, divided into the different types of clients or consumers that you want to target. In this way you will be able to focus the messages and have more possibilities of obtaining a commercial response.
2. Define the message. Once you have the database ready (which you must continually update and complete), you have to work on the message: what do you want to communicate to your audience? How are you going to convince them of what you want and how are you going to get the message? What goal have you set for yourself?
3. Use audio, video or image. WhatsApp is easy to use. You can send messages by selecting photos, videos and audios, which expands the possibilities of communication. You will have more success and the receivers will be able to forward it to their contacts.
4. Look for impact and forwarding. More advice: Do not do the same as the rest. Try to imagine something new in your message and add value to your contacts. This will make the recipient of your communication pass it on to his followers, and they to theirs, and in this way you can reach thousands of people.
5. Shipping. You have to send according to the number of recipients:
– Few sends: you can do it from your smartphone, message by message, until you hit “send” to the last contact. It is a more laborious and traditional option but it has its charm.
. Many shipments: for this option, it is advisable to use specific web platforms for this purpose, such as Massyphone, Whatsapp Marketing, Whatsgateway or Double check. But always taking into account the Information Society Services Law (LSSI). In other words, remember that you must always have the prior consent of your customers.
