A Guide to the Best WhatsApp Marketing Tools

Posted by Eileen Chan

WhatsApp. For many of us, it has become part of our daily lives – two billion monthly active users, to be specific.  With such numbers and reach, this instant messaging platform is a great way to get your word out, as well as engage and retain your customers. On top of helping you build connections as well as awareness of your business, it also enables you to connect with your audience in real-time.

If you’re doing e-commerce marketing, you will probably recognize the importance of driving awareness towards your products and services, and one of your strategies can include WhatsApp. Benefits are aplenty – for one, you can reach out to your customers instantly via their phones and personalize your interactions with them if you have the means to.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? But here’s the thing, which you’ve probably already realized – WhatsApp does not support advertisements. How then, can you get your brand on this popular platform and still reap the benefits of a social media campaign? To optimize your marketing efforts, you can use WhatsApp marketing tools to promote brand awareness and send information on promotions to your customers.

Using such tools enable you to send bulk messages, and some benefits that can stem from this are:

• Multimedia functionalities
  WhatsApp is more than just about text messages – marketers can also attach images, audio, videos, and more to market their products. It’s going to be like email, but with a higher probability of your messages get read faster, since people tend to check their texts more frequently than they do with their email accounts.
• Automation
  Don’t have the manpower to manage a WhatsApp account? No problem! WhatsApp marketing tools typically come along with automation services, so that you can send smart replies to your customers, from the first touch point to sales closure.
• Cost efficiency
  Without the need for ad space, email templates, and design, costs are typically lower, giving businesses more room for other campaigns.
• Easy tracking of open rates
  The (sometimes dreaded) blue tick? These are great to help monitor your WhatsApp marketing campaign because it enables you to see the open rate of your messages.
• Communication
  You’ll be able to chat and respond directly to inquiries about the latest promotion you’ve just sent out if you’d like to! If you’re an email marketer who sometimes wishes for quicker responses, you’ll like this.

Below are some features that digital marketers can look out for when exploring WhatsApp marketing tools:

• Adding a large volume of WhatsApp numbers and sending messages
• Setting up a chatbot for smart replies to commonly asked questions
• Sending personalized replies to customer queries
• Categorizing into different groups for targeting purposes
• Supporting multiple languages
• Tracking marketing campaign success
• Sending automatic replies
• Personalizing and customizing messages
• Receiving real-time insights with engagement metrics (e.g. number of sent, delivered, and opened messages)
• Ability to add multiple agents to your team inbox to answer business messages

Now that you know what to expect from WhatsApp marketing tools, you can start the ball rolling by checking out some of them! Do note that there are many in the market, and they typically offer most of the above-mentioned features – so all you need to do is to try them out (many of them offer demos) to see which appeals to you most!

1. SendPulse

With SendPulse, you’ll be able to automate your sales and keep your customer data at your fingertips in its free CRM. You’ll also be able to add widgets to your website so encourage your customers to connect with you there. SendPulse is an official WhatsApp Business solution provider, so you’ll have peace of mind that your account and data, as well as those of your customers, will be safe!

What we love:

• You’ll get pre-designed message templates, which allow you to easily send the right messages across.
• Whenever you need to, you can distribute chat duties amongst team members on different devices.
• SendPulse provides an open API. This means that you can integrate your WhatsApp channel into other projects such as your CRM and analytics system.

Find it here: https://sendpulse.com/

 

2. Trendgo

This software will allow you to build chatbots (code-free, so you don’t have to worry about not having deep technical expertise!) to automate your communications, or direct customers to your agents or help center. You’ll also be able to set up automated replies to keep your customers updated even if you aren’t able to reply. Trendgo also offers solutions for other platforms such as emails and voice calls, so you can scale up your campaigns whenever you are ready – all via one inbox!

What we Love

• You can integrate your webshop software into the WhatsApp platform – this means that you’ll have everything you need to know about your customer from Shopify, Magento, or WooCommerce with easy access in your inbox!
• Too many chats? No problem. Simply add labels to your WhatsApp Business conversations to have them well-organized in a way Marie Kondo would be proud of.
• Trendgo gives you the option to scale up as you go – beyond the regular plan, you can buy add-ons such as flowbots, co-browsing, and more.

Find it at: https://trengo.com/en/products/whatsapp/

 

3. Wati

Wati is a WhatsApp-only platform. This is great for those who want a streamlined app that’s easy to use – you won’t have to worry about distractions or be overwhelmed with the sheer amount of possibilities. Such streamlined features also help to keep costs low because you don’t have to pay for features that you won’t likely be using!

What We Love:

• Many resources such as developer docs, help centers, and training videos are available to help you familiarize yourself with the tool.
• The platform allows you to personalize notifications and send them out on custom events such as abandoned carts.

Find it at:  https://www.wati.io

WhatsApp can be a great digital marketing platform to work with, especially for start-ups.  For one, it is relatively affordable – a sure advantage for startups who don’t necessarily have the size of the budget as larger corporations and need to invest their startup loans wisely.

Do note that you’ll have to look into your country or region’s law or stance on messaging since this involves communicating via private numbers. You might like to check out this page for official WhatsApp partners so that you know that your business account and customers’ data are in safe hands. Doing this also helps in verifying your account as not spam.

There are many tools out there, so you may like to explore them yourselves (some platforms offer free trial services) and see which best meets your needs, preferences, and budget. Here’s to high-quality WhatsApp campaigns!