How does the WhatsApp newsletter work?

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The WhatsApp newsletter is back and GDPR compliant!

Opening rates of more than 90% and higher conversion rates than e-mail, only the WhatsApp newsletter can do that. In contrast, classic e-mail performs rather poorly.

We all know it – e-mails usually end up directly in the recycle bin. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is opened within a few minutes in most cases. That puts you in marketing heaven.

Product updates, reminder service or “30-day challenge” – with the WhatsApp and messenger newsletter, companies can get closer to their customers than ever before. Establishing new customer relationships, expanding and maintaining existing ones, all this is possible with WhatsApp, the most popular chat messenger among other things. But how exactly does it work and what do companies have to consider?

What is the difference between campaigns and a messenger newsletter?

With the WhatsApp newsletter, companies can reach their customers even more directly. We differentiate between keyword campaigns and messenger newsletters.
A keyword campaign is actively started by the customer with a keyword (e.g. #SummerSun22), a special link or QR code. A Messenger newsletter is received passively, just like an email newsletter – only with a higher open rate. The campaign content can always be the same in both versions, only the trigger is different. With keyword campaigns, new customers can be explicitly guided into the company chat. Messenger newsletters are aimed at already known contacts. The following images show a keyword campaign for travel agencies and a messenger newsletter for e-commerce.

Which newsletter content makes sense?

Newsletters and marketing have always belonged together. Conversational Commerce and messenger marketing are becoming more and more relevant, especially for medium-sized companies. However, the focus should always be on the end user. To ensure a qualitative user experience with messenger newsletter companies should be aware which content is of interest to their target groups. News and general information about the company can be interesting, but companies should make their messenger communication as personal as possible in order to ensure as much customer interaction as possible. Here the WhatsApp newsletter can help out with personalized discount codes, for example. Qualitative appearance of messages (rich media) should also be in focus. Companies can enrich messages with documents and images for this purpose. CTA buttons are also possible, which ensure more engagement and paths (e.g. linking blog posts, websites or directly to offers).

💡 Tip: quality before quantity!

Use case examples can be:

Product Recommendation/Product Alert: this could be suggestions for similar products that match customer buying behavior,a photo or video message of products, presentation of new products or personalized content such as discount codes for birthdays.

With product or service reminders, e.g. shopping cart reminders, stock updates and appointment reminders are possible.

Relevant information such as the latest company news, current offers, e.g. for travel orpromotional discounts such as Black Friday, sales or Sunday shopping are also an option.

Is the newsletter GDPR compliant?

The ultimate goal of WhatsApp is to expand and maintain user numbers. So it is only understandable that WhatsApp wants to specifically protect end customers from spam and has therefore set up certain rules for companies. No WhatsApp newsletter without an opt-in and opt-out option!

This means that customers must always first have given their consent that they would like to receive news, information or offers from companies and always have the option of unsubscribing from the newsletter as easily as they subscribed. There is no technical limitation of messengers, but rather a reference to the applicable law. With a tool like ChatWerk, the newsletters are always GDPR-compliant because the product follows the privacy by design approach. All processes via ChatWerk are checked in accordance with data protection law. Companies can use this directly and decide for themselves whether they want to request an opt-in at the start of contact or for the first campaign. This will enable customers to easily subscribe and unsubscribe and ensure privacy with every message.

Why Messenger newsletter instead of email?

Customers appreciate the informal and easy contact option that WhatsApp offers them. Marketing messages via WhatsApp have an opening rate of over 90%. That’s about 2.5 times more than email. With Messenger, companies also benefit from supporting features such as automations, notes and contact information. WhatsApp and Co have long since replaced e-mails with their modern customer communication: 93% of Germans use WhatsApp, only 88% classic e-mail (heise.de).

Conclusion

The WhatsApp newsletter is a great and important marketing function in the marketing mix and offers companies exciting opportunities in messenger marketing. It should be noted, however, that automated campaigns and newsletters can only be processed with the WhatsApp Business API works. We explain why in detail in our free WhatsApp Guide.
With ChatWerk, newsletters can not only be sent via WhatsApp, campaigns are possible in all messengers. A price overview of our packages can be found here.