What is the most common way for brands to share updates about new launches, deals, discounts, blogs, lookbooks, collaborations and more? Well, traditionally everyone has been using email newsletters. But with customer communication moving to WhatsApp, it’s time to introduce WhatsApp newsletters in your engagement strategy.
In this blog, we’re going to share what WhatsApp newsletters are, why we think they are great for customer engagement and a few tips to make the most out of them.
What is a WhatsApp newsletter?
A WhatsApp newsletter is similar to what a traditional newsletter on email looks like – but sent over the messaging platform. It is a form of a WhatsApp broadcast campaign that is targeted at sending subscribers and customers a summarized glimpse of your most recent updates. These can include:
• New product and collection launches
• New deals and discounts
• Media mentions and features
• Influencer collaborations
• Content updates (blogs, videos, lookbooks, etc)
And more
What are the benefits of a WhatsApp newsletter?
You’re already sending an email newsletter to your subscribers. So why should you consider creating a WhatsApp newsletter campaign as well?
• Wider reach
Irrespective of the demographics your target audience includes, WhatsApp is so commonly used that you stand a higher chance of reaching your subscribers on the messaging app instead of the email.
• Higher open rate
WhatsApp messages see an almost 99% open rate across campaigns owing to its frequent use during the day to communicate with friends and family.
• Better readability
Think about the last time you read a long email newsletter sent by a brand – chances are, you noticed one of the discounts highlighted and missed out on pretty much everything else. In WhatsApp newsletters, you’re forced to condense your content to make it message-readable; the concise messaging, formatting and WhatsApp emojis make your newsletter all the more readable.
• Higher click-through rate
Due to a high open rate and willingness to read the WhatsApp newsletter campaign, we have noticed the messaging campaigns lead to an almost 47% click-through rate.
• Better engagement
Traditional email newsletters are like one-way conversations. But since WhatsApp is naturally a chat app, brands can use interactive formats like list messages and reply buttons to make their WhatsApp newsletter a start for a new conversation.
• Supports media
And of course, brands can send a video, a PDF file, or an image to make their WhatsApp newsletter all the more engaging. The ease of downloading a file on WhatsApp makes them more likely to do so.
• Cost effective
Even if you use the WhatsApp Business API to automate your WhatsApp newsletters, the messaging app charges based on conversation pricing. So unlike emails, your expenses are not skyrocketing and the ROI from WhatsApp is more than promising.
How to create a WhatsApp newsletter?
Just like emails, we recommend strategizing your WhatsApp newsletter before sending one out. Here are some steps you should be following:
• Create a WhatsApp list
First things first, you want to ensure that you have the permission of online shoppers to contact them on WhatsApp. No matter where they opted in from, ensure that you seek permission before adding them to your WhatsApp list for sending newsletters and other updates.
• Segment your WhatsApp list
Next, take into account common demographics, purchase behavior, and the point of subscription to segment your WhatsApp list. This is important for creating personalized and contextual WhatsApp newsletter campaigns.
• Set a clear goal
Based on the segments you have created and those you want to get in touch with, set clear business goals and objectives. Whether it is to help boost returning traffic to a website, drive better customer engagement or increase customer retention.
• Sign up on a WhatsApp Business API platform
Just like any other campaign, WhatsApp newsletters need to be sent out in a timely manner. This is where setting up automations for your WhatsApp broadcast comes into play. Choosing a WhatsApp Business API platform like Interakt can help you not just automate your WhatsApp newsletters, but also the follow-ups on it to keep the conversation going. It also makes it much simpler to create WhatsApp message templates for the newsletter.
• Create your WhatsApp newsletter content
Once you have everything in place, it is now time to create your campaign content. Here it is important to note that you’re on a messaging platform – so choose only what you want to absolutely highlight, and can aid to your business goal. We recommend summarizing your ongoing deals and discounts, best sellers, new content on the blog, social proof, trending social media post, and similar content.
• Send, monitor and improve
Once your WhatsApp newsletter campaign is ready, hit send or schedule it on Interakt. And then, keep a close eye on how the newsletter performs – number of sends, open rates, click through rates, replies, sales generated and more. The idea is to see what part of the WhatsApp newsletter campaign drives maximum responses and positive outcomes so you can improve the next newsletter.
How to send a WhatsApp newsletter?
If you’re using the WhatsApp Business App, you will need to send the WhatsApp newsletter manually to your list – broadcasting it to upto 256 contacts. But if you’re a business with an extensive WhatsApp list, we recommend segmenting your subscribers based on past interactions and scheduling to automate your campaigns – this is where using a WhatsApp Business API platform like Interakt is better. It can help you send newsletters to 100,000 contacts through WhatsApp Bulk Messages and more without getting blocked.
The latter approach to send WhatsApp newsletters also helps you pre-plan your campaigns on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly cadence and automate them to be sent out at the right time, to the right people.
What are the best practices for WhatsApp newsletters?
While there is no one way to structure your WhatsApp newsletters, we do recommend following a few best practices to get the most out of them. These include:
• Format your WhatsApp message
Even if you’re using WhatsApp templates, we recommend paying close attention to the formatting of your message. Since your message is going to include at least 3-5 updates, and is viewed on a smaller screen, using short sentences, paragraph spacing each update, highlighting key messages with bold, italics or strikethrough can help with readability.
• Use emojis
Remember that WhatsApp is a chat app and it’s important to keep things natural. Just as you use emojis in messages to friends, use them in your WhatsApp newsletters to highlight important information or even in place of bullet points.
• Segment for personalization
WhatsApp is a personal communication channel. If you don’t want consumers to opt-out of your list, remember to segment and target them with newsletters that are contextual to their interest.
• Include an option to opt-out
Similar to email newsletters, it is important to respect your subscriber’s choice to receive updates. Give them the option to opt-out of your WhatsApp newsletter list or share the frequency at which they’d like to receive them.
• Streamline the content
You could have a thousand things to share. But remember to keep things streamlined and include only 3-5 updates at a time. These updates can be based on the goal you want to achieve from the newsletter sent.
• Seek feedback
Once you have sent out a few WhatsApp newsletters, create a broadcast campaign that simply seeks customer feedback. This can help you understand what they want to hear more about and how frequently, getting you a better response on the WhatsApp newsletters.
• Automate conversations
WhatsApp newsletters tend to get more responses in terms of replies from customers. Remember to automate your responses so as to not keep them hanging and use those conversations to gather more information about their interests and intent.
What are the best examples of WhatsApp newsletters?
We have been seeing a number of brands experimenting with WhatsApp newsletters lately. Here are some of our favorite WhatsApp newsletter examples:
1. Pulp
A beauty and cosmetics brand, Pulp uses WhatsApp newsletters to highlight specific products. They include the ongoing deals and use the rest of the content to mention the unique selling points and benefits.
2. Pause
A fashion and apparel brand, Pause uses WhatsApp newsletters to share customer stories instead of the usual discounts. They want to inspire fashion through their newsletters and encourage customers to share their looks, which makes for a great engagement strategy.
3. Care Health Insurance
A life and health insurance company, Care Health creates their WhatsApp newsletters to address one rising concern at a time. Here they can be seen diving into the number of cases of cancer and the benefits of having an insurance policy.
4. Blissclub
A womenswear brand, Blissclub uses their WhatsApp newsletter to highlight a bunch of their top-selling products. They highlight the USP of each range and include a discount towards the end to sweeten the deal!
Should you send WhatsApp newsletters?
Leading brands have started to experiment with the type of WhatsApp broadcast campaigns they send to subscribers and customers. This has helped them establish WhatsApp as a winning channel to boost engagement and retention over a period of time.
And WhatsApp newsletters are the perfect way to engage customers, without being overly pushy about them making a purchase.
So if you haven’t already, we recommend including WhatsApp newsletters in your marketing and customer engagement strategies through WhatsApp Marketing Campaign!
Not sure where to begin?
Send your first WhatsApp newsletter with Interakt.
FAQs
Why do you need pre-approved WhatsApp templates for Newsletters?
WhatsApp is taking a community-led approach to ensuring businesses comply with the rules and regulations while using the platform. This means that if your message does not meet with the WhatsApp template requirements and gets further flagged/ reported/ blocked by a recipient, you risk getting banned or blacklisted. Using pre-approved WhatsApp templates ensures your messages are well structured and contain all the fields that comply with the rules set.
What is the message limit for WhatsApp newsletters?
You can send a WhatsApp newsletter to upto 256 contacts if you’re using the WhatsApp Business App. But you can reach 100,000 contacts with the help of a WhatsApp Business API solution provider like Interakt.
How Much Do WhatsApp Newsletters Cost?
Sending WhatsApp newsletters using the WhatsApp Business API with Interakt is the most cost-effective way to engage customers. It costs INR 0.56 per Business Initiated Conversation and INR 0.34 per User Initiated Conversation, with 1000 free conversations per calendar month. Learn more about Interakt WhatsApp Business API Pricing
