WhatsApp Marketing: How Businesses Can Use It To Grow Their Customer Base

Many businesses seeking to expand their customer base focus on email marketing, social media, paid advertising, and SEO. 

They underrate WhatsApp marketing, as only a few consider it a channel to grow their customer base.

But the fact is that WhatsApp has gone beyond the regular messaging app, you know. 

It has evolved into a powerful marketing channel that currently has over 200 million businesses using it monthly. 

Source:

It has a high open rate, message delivery is instant, and the reach is global. 

Many of your potential customers are on WhatsApp Business, waiting for you to connect and give them reasons to buy your products and services. 

From the statistics above, 175 million people message a WhatsApp business account every day. 

This is to tell you how much money you have been leaving on the table if your business doesn’t have a presence on WhatsApp.

Does that sound interesting?

 If yes, keep reading because you’ll learn how to use WhatsApp marketing to grow your customer base and rake in more revenue.

Key Features WhatsApp Offers Businesses

Before we dive into how to use WhatsApp marketing to grow your customer base, let’s look at the core features WhatsApp Business offers.

WhatsApp Business App Feature To Get You Started 

With the WhatsApp business app, which you can download from Google or Apple Play Store, you create a business account. 

On the app, upload a profile photo, enter your email address, business address, website, business description, and other details that make your profile look professional.

This makes it easier for the algorithm to understand your business and help boost your reach on the platform. 

Once your business profile is created and optimized, set up an automated greeting message to welcome potential customers. 

Also, set an away message to let your customers know when you aren’t available so they don’t feel ignored.

Automate quick replies to save time and energy on responding to frequently asked questions about your business.

 No need for repeated responses on questions like business hours, delivery info, refund policies, etc. Insert them with a shortcut to save time and keep communication seamless.

Use labels to organize chats. On WhatsApp Business, you can sort conversations with labels. You can use it to tag a new customer, a pending order, or a delivered order. This makes it easier to manage multiple chats, track conversations, and ensure all queries are resolved. 

WhatsApp Business API (Suitable for Larger Businesses)

This is an important feature WhatsApp Business offers. I recommend it to larger and established businesses that want to automate customer support. 

WhatsApp API connects and integrates with chatbots and automated workflows to handle customer support even while you sleep. 

You can have a message template that you can use to send reminders, order updates, and promotions to all contacts in your WhatsApp business without spamming. 

The sweet spot is that it also connects with CRM tools, which allow businesses to have personalized conversations based on a customer’s previous behavior and actions.

Generally, it’s a sound idea to use official WhatsApp API providers like SendPulse and Twilio. SendPulse also features a WhatsApp chatbot builder and WhatsApp CRM integration, which are essential for effective WhatsApp marketing.  

How to Use WhatsApp Marketing to Grow Your Customer Base 

Now you know the features WhatsApp Business offers and how they get you started, let’s dive into how to grow your customer base.

1. Sharing Valuable Content 

This is a fast way to grow your customer base on WhatsApp Business. When your target audience opts in through an online form or other ethical ways, you collect their phone number; resist the urge to blast their DMs with promotional content.

Begin by sharing valuable content that speaks to their pain point while positioning your business as a solution.

Let’s assume you sell skincare products on WhatsApp. Target your new audience with content that educates them on the essence of taking care of their skin, a daily skincare routine they can practice at home, a bad skincare routine they should avoid, etc.

Below is a screenshot of a health and wellness brand sharing helpful content with its audience on WhatsApp:

Source:

 The content can be short videos, text, infographics, photo collages, and even memes. The goal is to build trust, sell value first, and for your audience to be convinced they haven’t joined another WhatsApp Business that’s all about product promotion.

“Customers don’t join WhatsApp lists for endless promotions; they join for value and relevance,” says Leon Huang, CEO at RapidDirect. “If you lead with education, sales will follow naturally.”

2. Customer Engagement and Relationship Building 

Customers are wise now. They know when all that matters to you is to make sales. That’s why I suggest you engage your customers and build strong relationships with them on WhatsApp Business. 

Send personalized greetings on birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and other special events. 

This makes them feel valued. Use rich media like voice notes, images, and short videos to build brand personality and generate engagement. 

3. Promotion and Marketing Campaigns 

Once you build credibility and trust with your audience on WhatsApp, the next step is to start promoting your products and services. 

Share exclusive deals, discounts, and flash sales. WhatsApp customers love feeling like insiders. By sending exclusive deals to their inbox, you create a sense of urgency for them to take action for the fear of missing out. 

To even make them take action faster, you can share a discount code that can be used within a specified period. 

An example can be “ 7 Hours Left to Claim Your 10% Discount” 

WhatsApp users who are interested in your offer will likely take action once they receive a WhatsApp notification about it. 

Apart from promoting an existing product, you can launch a new product directly into your customers’ inboxes.

“WhatsApp lets you create urgency at scale without feeling impersonal,” notes Allen Liu, Tech Lead & Content Specialist at FreSound. “A limited-time campaign in chat feels more direct than a social post.”

 This is faster than waiting for them to stumble across a social media post, email, or paid marketing campaign that doesn’t guarantee leads and sales. 

4. Create Customer Groups and Broadcast List

When you have customers who patronize you regularly, it becomes important to create a group for them. This makes it easier to interact with them, share tips, updates, and offer them discounts that would encourage them to make more purchases. 

For example, a beauty brand can create a skincare group for customers who regularly purchase skincare products. The idea is to turn this group into a vibrant community that engages one another. 

It positions you as a business that isn’t just about selling, but also about the well-being of a customer. 

And once customers see your business as one that truly cares, they go as far as sharing your WhatsApp business profile link with their families and friends who may need your products and services. 

I have also seen businesses create broadcast lists. 

Source:

This allows them to send mass personalized messages to their contacts without spamming.

5. Explore Latest WhatsApp Business Features 

WhatsApp Business often launches new features aimed at helping you grow your customer base. Make it a duty to check out these features and use them to your advantage.

 For example, it recently launched a new feature that helps brands turn Google searches into instant chat.

I got the notification on my WhatsApp Business, and watched the 5-second video that explained how to link my WhatsApp Business to Google so customers who found me on Google can easily start a chat with me on WhatsApp with a single tap.

“Every new feature on WhatsApp is essentially a shortcut to the customer,” explains Alex Vasylenko, Founder of Digital Business Card. “If you adopt them early, you gain a huge edge in visibility and trust.”

Even third-party marketing tools like SimplyBook.me, an appointment booking platform, have integrated WhatsApp notifications into their booking process so that service businesses can reach clients on WhatsApp faster and reliably.

6. Customer Support and Service

There is no way you can grow your customer base without offering responsive customer support. 

Your customers have to be happy and satisfied with the service you offer them before they can make repeated purchases, remain loyal to your business, and even recommend you to their friends and family. 

On WhatsApp Business, you can offer fast, convenient, and personalized support to your customers.

A customer who placed an order can message you on WhatsApp and get a fast response on why there is a delay in the delivery of their item. 

You can message a customer asking how they are enjoying the products they bought. 

So instead of sending emails, which can be missed, your business and customers can communicate in a friendly manner. 

WhatsApp Business API has even made customer support a breeze. Businesses can integrate chatbots programmed to answer questions customers ask in a friendly way and with a human tone. 

Some advanced WhatsApp Business API can even guide customers towards finding the ideal product or service, thereby making the customer journey easy and fun.

7. Feedback and Reviews

Feedback and reviews from your customers are part of growing your customer base with WhatsApp marketing. 

On WhatsApp Business, you have an effective tool to collect feedback from your customers – polls. 

Create a poll about your products and services and share it with your customers. 

This helps you understand how they feel about what you sell, offers you insight into what you can do to have them buy more of your products, and recommends your business on WhatsApp to their contacts. 

Also, encourage them to share their honest reviews about your products. 

Collect and analyze the reviews, work on the negative ones, and share the positive reviews on your WhatsApp Business status to prompt audiences who are yet to become customers to take action.

Best Practices For WhatsApp Marketing Businesses Should Know

While it’s easier to grow your customer base with WhatsApp marketing, there are best practices you should keep in mind to stay safe:

• Collect phone numbers of your audience ethically. Let them know they are joining your WhatsApp Business. This ensures compliance with privacy regulations and prevents your brand from being flagged as spam.

• Use a friendly and casual tone when communicating to make chats personal.

• Keep your messages short, simple, and clear so your audience understands within a few seconds of reading them.

• Avoid excessive promotional content. This can annoy customers and make them block you. 

• Analyze marketing insight WhatsApp Business App offers so you can understand what’s working and what isn’t.

Final Thoughts 

WhatsApp marketing is a gold mine for businesses that want to grow their customer base and rake in more revenue. 

It’s easy, affordable, and results are faster compared to email and social media marketing. 

I have shared with you how to make it work for your business.

 Starting from creating a WhatsApp business account, sharing valuable content, building relationships, to reviews and feedback, you have all you need to join over 200 million businesses on WhatsApp in getting more loyal customers daily. 

Author Bio

Chuks Chukwuemeka is a freelance SEO for SaaS brands. He loves writing articles on digital marketing and learning new things about SEO. Connect with him on LinkedIn.