How can you reach thousands of users with just one message on one of the world's most popular social media platforms? By sending out WhatsApp broadcast messages! Officially known as WhatsApp marketing notifications, these notifications allow you to grow your customer base, increase engagement, and even drive sales. Get inspired by six examples from India!
WhatsApp broadcast, WhatsApp newsletter, WhatsApp push notifications, WhatsApp bulk messages, or WhatsApp marketing notifications: the notification tool on Meta's green messaging app has many names. But no matter what you call it, the feature enables businesses to communicate directly with thousands of users.
What makes the WhatsApp bulk messages even more attractive is that it has incredibly high open and click-through rates, and is a real business driver. Luckily, after banning the feature in 2019, WhatsApp decided to bring the newsletter back in 2021. So, how are companies using WhatsApp notifications for marketing? We'll show you inspiring examples of companies from India that are successfully growing their business with the feature.
WhatsApp broadcasts convert better
Of course, WhatsApp is not the only option for sending out marketing messages, but it's the one that converts the best!
Did you know, for example, that the open rate of a WhatsApp message is 90% (!!!), while open rates for the most successful e-mail campaigns only reach 27%.
And a WhatsApp broadcast will also get more attention than e-mails or social media campaigns! Compared to e-mails, the open rates for messaging apps is more than ten times as high.
Users prefer getting a WhatsApp message over an e-mail (too many messages there already) and social media posts (people are using traditional social media channels less, and feeling more fatigue over the content). And: your messages will get a lot more attention on WhatsApp as well!
With messaging notifications on WhatsApp and other messenger apps, your company's message ends up front and center on the users' locked screen. And by using channels like WhatsApp, iMessage, or Telegram, you're already communicating in the same environment as the customers' friends and family. This makes marketing on WhatsApp a more personable and direct way to reach customers.
After conducting extensive research, we discovered that WhatsApp is more than just a personal messaging application for our consumers – it’s a tool that is fully integrated into their daily life. We thought that WhatsApp would work perfectly as a content distribution platform, reaching out directly to our readers.
Ankit Dikshit, Bloomberg Quint, India
And with WhatsApp being the most used messaging app in the world, it makes it the perfect channel for businesses to reach and engage users throughout the entire customer journey!
How can I set up a WhatsApp broadcast?
Companies have two ways to set up a WhatsApp broadcast: you can use the WhatsApp Business app or the WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly known as WhatsApp Business API).
❗ Important: According to WhatsApp's policies, you're not allowed to use the private WhatsApp app for commercial purposes. Violating this policy can get your account blocked.
The WhatsApp Business app was specifically designed for small businesses with up to five employees. While it's free of charge, you can't integrate chatbots, you can't automate campaigns, there's no green tick, and it doesn't guarantee data protection. You also can only contact a maximum of 256 users per broadcasting list (manually... unless you pay for the one-to-many message upgrade), so it won't allow you to scale campaigns. If you send out more than the allowed limit, WhatsApp will block your account.
The WhatsApp Business Platform, on the other hand, gives you access to the WhatsApp API. Here, you start with a minimum of 1,000 messages, you can automate bulk messages, and track your campaigns.
💡 WhatsApp broadcast: The ultimate business guide
The easiest way to get access to the WhatsApp Business Platform is through a Business Solution Provider like Sinch Engage. These official Meta partners provide professional messaging solutions for sending out WhatsApp broadcasts.
- You can get started right away, no complicated IT infrastructure needed.
- It's a ready-to-go solution that doesn't require any special IT skills.
- It's possible to integrate AI-based chatbots with an easy chatbot builder.
- You don't have to worry about data protection laws (data privacy compliance is 100% guaranteed).
- You can not only send out broadcasting messages on WhatsApp, but also on other messaging apps like Telegram, Instagram Direct, the Messenger from Meta, iMessage, and many more — and manage it all from one dashboard.
With Sinch Engage, you can scale your marketing campaigns on messaging apps easier and faster.
Successful with WhatsApp marketing: Six inspiring examples from India
1. Bloomberg Quint: Reaching 200,000+ readers
When the financial news outlet Bloomberg Quint launched its WhatsApp channel in India, it was one of the country’s first business news messaging services for decision makers and executives on the go.
As Bloomberg Quint was looking to reach more readers, the publication partnered with Sinch Engage, and started using the WhatsApp broadcast feature to send out important stock market and financial news to its subscribers.
With the newsletter, Bloomberg didn't only meet its target of reaching 100,000 users, but was able to more than double that number to grow its community to more than 225,000 active users.
2. Newschecker: Fighting misinformation
While digitalization in India is growing, digital literacy is still very low in the country. This makes the spread of misinformation online easy and fast.
In order to educate Indians on different topics, the fact checking organization Newschecker worked with Sinch Engage to launch a WhatsApp broadcast where subscribers can send in stories they want to be checked, or simply read fact-checked news.
The WhatsApp newsletter makes it easy for Newschecker to reach many readers, and thus, stop the spread of misinformation faster.
3. Netflix: Increasing viewership
In the very early days of the WhatsApp broadcast messages, Netflix already recognized the potential the tool held. In 2017, the streaming service launched a WhatsApp newsletter campaign in India that has since also been rolled out in the UK.
The idea: Netflix would send subscribers notifications whenever they came out with a new movie or TV show that could be streamed on WhatsApp. Users could choose to enable the update, and select what type of content they would be interested in. Subscribers would then receive regular messages on new content.
This example shows how useful WhatsApp newsletters can be to re-activate users, keep them engaged, and of course, it also helped Netflix increase viewership for their new shows.
4. Adidas: Getting more members
In December 2021, Adidas India updated their website. With the relaunch, they also introduced a new membership initiative. In order to spread the word, and get more members, Adidas used the WhatsApp broadcasting function.
5. Flipkart: Increase buzz around sales campaign
India's large e-commerce marketplace Flipkart offers pretty much anything, from lifestyle products to electronics to groceries. For their sales campaign "Big Billion Days", they were looking for a way to increase attention around the event.
Instead of betting on online ads or social media promotions where it's very hard to stand out, they decided to reach their customers in a conversational way: through WhatsApp.
In a campaign that involved conversational flows, multimedia, and elements from India's famous TV show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (including host Amitabh Bachchan as a chatbot!), they were able to get users' attention, and increase the buzz around their campaign considerably.
With the WhatsApp campaign, they were able to:
- get 3.5 times more conversions
- seven times more high-quality visitors
- generate 2.5 million US dollars in revenue
6. Big Bazaar: Growing the customer base
The retail chain Big Bazaar launched their two-hour delivery service back in April 2021. It already included the option to order through WhatsApp.
After launching the new service, Big Bazaar reached about 50,000 orders per day. In order to grow even faster, the retailer started sending out special deals on WhatsApp to newsletter subscribers.
Through their WhatsApp broadcast, customers were able to get discounts on certain groceries, which added an extra incentive to shop at Big Bazaar, and was a clever way for the company to increase its customer base.
Telegram, iMessage, and more: Are there good alternatives to WhatsApp broadcast?
WhatsApp isn't the only messaging app companies can use to send out newsletters. Telegram, iMessage, and now even the Facebook Messenger offer options for bulk messaging. Are these viable alternatives to WhatsApp? They definitely can be!
Telegram
Telegram is the rising star among the messaging apps. It has far fewer users than its competitors (700 million vs. WhatsApp's two billion), but it's the fastest growing messenger service right now. In India, Telegram is more popular than the Facebook Messenger!
There are also some newsletter features that are unique to Telegram. For one, the newsletters are free of charge, you don't need to get your newsletter templates pre-approved, and you don't have to worry as much about Telegram pausing campaigns. So, especially for promoting fast-selling deals, this might be a better-suited channel.
💡How to send free bulk messages on Telegram
Facebook Messenger
Meta re-opened the recurring notifications on the Facebook Messenger for all businesses this year. Before, only companies that were registered on Facebook's news index were allowed to use the feature.
The Messenger can be an interesting option if your customers are primarily on Facebook, but also if you want to expand your user base. Keep in mind, that in some markets, like the US, the Messenger is still more popular than WhatsApp!
Apple Messages for Business
With Apple Messages for Business, you're able to reach a different target audience than with WhatsApp. Yes, there are fewer Apple users than Android users, but they tend to spend more! In addition, Apple doesn't charge businesses additionally for sending out newsletters on Apple Messages for Business, so there's also a cost advantage over WhatsApp.
If you're running an international business, you can reach Apple customers without needing a SIM card for each country (like you do for WhatsApp).
And you also don't have to worry about open rates!
On iMessage, we have message open rates of over 90 percent. When we send out iMessage links through our newsletter, we have a click-through rate of more than 60 percent.
Kara Dilling, Business Development Manager at influencer affiliate platform stylink
So, depending on your product and audience, this might be a good alternative for you.
Send out bulk messages on multiple messaging apps
What if you don't just want to stick to one messaging app, but use several to send out your newsletters, and reach even more users? That's possible with a professional messaging solution like Sinch Engage.
With Sinch Engage, you can send out marketing messages on practically every messaging app, from Telegram to WhatsApp to Apple Messages for Business. It all works on a centralized platform, so you don't have to switch back and forth between applications, and you can even integrate chatbots and automated opt-in and opt-out messages. And: there's even a GPT integration to help you come up with creative campaigns faster!
Get in touch with our local Sinch Engage experts in India, and we'll be happy to answer all your questions.