Whatsapp: a good partner to communicate with my clients?

WhatsApp, an application that counts, today, with more than 600 million active users and a traffic of more than ten billion messages per day. This app has already exceeded the number of users to Twitter and Facebook. With these data, are you still doubting the strength of this famous App? WhatsApp has become one of the most powerful marketing tools. An opportunity for all companies seeking to improve and innovate in their methodology to contact and communicate with their customers.

Is WhatsApp a good choice as a communication and marketing tool? The answer is yes! Here are some tips you should follow if you want WhatsApp to be your best ally to innovate and strengthen communication with your customers.

Define your message as a company

To start developing your communication through WhatsApp, the first thing you should do is prepare a complete database, where you segment all your clients that you want to address. It is essential that, as an entrepreneur, you know perfectly what is your target or target audience to which you will direct all your communication and advertising efforts. This will allow you to set a more realistic and efficient goal: increased sales, greater brand awareness, or participation in a specific call to action.

Next, it is important that you work on the message you are going to send: What do I want to communicate and achieve? It is vital to be clear about the objective that I have with this action and how I am going to draw the attention of clients and potential clients. Although the sending of WhatsApp does not have a limited number of characters, the message must be direct and concise, so that your audience captures the message and hooks it from the beginning.

Do not do the same as everyone else! Imagine something new in your message and add value to your customers. WhatsApp has a comfortable and practical use, where not everything has to be text, you can also include photos, videos or audios, something that will make your message much more attractive.

How to send the messages?

Based on the number of messages you are going to make, you must select the best way to do it. If you have a small business and want to send the messages one by one, you can do it directly through your Smartphone.

However, if you have a very broad database, do not even think about sending your shipments with your Smartphone! Creating groups is not an option either, your clients will not be very happy to be part of a group with so many strangers.

There are specific platforms for mass mailings. An example is ‘MassyPhone’, made by Spanish entrepreneurs. It allows to send massive numbers to several numbers of WhatsApp through the import of the database in your system and previously created.

Toyota and its campaign on WhatsApp

Toyota was one of the first companies to use WhatsApp as a marketing tool. In order to enhance its range of hybrid vehicles began the “Hybridize your WhatsApp”, through which invited users to change their status of WhatsApp and enter a draw of 5 iPhone per week, formalizing the registration through a simple landing page.

Every week they sent customized messages by WhatsApp to each registered user, congratulating and thanking them for their participation and inviting them to visit the corporate website and download the ‘Drivetolls’ App. The campaign lasted 1 month and was such a success that they had more than 33,000 visits and more than 6,500 registered users.

Whatsapp Web: a practical option for work

A web version of WhatsApp was one of the main demands of the users of this app. His arrival allowed to use the instant messaging application not only on mobile devices, but also from the computer. The corporate use of WhatsApp was a real necessity, especially not to be outdone by the competition.

But, what benefit is obtained with WhatsApp Web with respect to the mobile version? Mainly, is that the web version of WhatsApp is much more intuitive and there are some actions that you can perform with a simple step, while with the mobile version if you have to “click” something else to get to perform the same action. In addition, the most obvious advantage of WhatsApp Web is that you can talk more easily through the physical keyboard of the computer, and as we said, share links and images more easily, saving you some steps regarding the mobile version.

How to promote the use of WhatsApp as a customer service channel?

WhatsApp has been a revolution for the personalized attention of customers and users. Because it is a bidirectional and instantaneous channel, WhatsApp has become the perfect tool to use as a customer service. In this way, a better customer loyalty is achieved, increasing business sales.

What we must take into account as a company is that we must take good care of our communication and always ask the customer if he wants to be included in the WhatsApp group of customer service. Try to maintain an effective, concise and very direct communication.

Share my web content via WhatsApp

Many companies already offer in their web pages the option of sharing their content or articles of interest on WhatsApp, as well as on Twitter or Facebook. The main advantage is that it allows users to share web content through WhatsApp, which is a great help to promote the articles, products, or services of a company or business easily.

This functionality began to be incorporated into web pages created with HTML or WordPress, a plugin that allows adding the WhatsApp button to a web page or blog. This favors the web content can become viral and get a better web positioning.

Advertising use with WhatsApp? Attention to legal aspects

WhatsApp by itself, does not include advertising, at least for now, but many companies see this App as a means of sale and include it in the design of their online marketing strategies. However, we must pay close attention to strict compliance with the law, specifically the Law of Services of the Information Society (LSSI), especially those referred to in the following articles, which specify the risks involved in sending advertising through social media , especially by WhatsApp.

“It is prohibited to send advertising or promotional communications by electronic mail or any other means of electronic communication that previously had not been requested or expressly authorized by the recipients thereof” (Article 21.1 LSSI)

“The provisions of the previous section shall not apply when there is a prior contractual relationship, provided that the provider had obtained lawfully the contact data of the recipient and used to send commercial communications concerning products or services of their own company that are similar to those that were originally the object of contracting with the client “(Article 21.2 LSSI, Paragraph 2).

In the event that a company or individual uses WhatsApp to send advertising without the consent of the user, it could be sanctioned by the Spanish Agency for Data Protection. The sending of non-consensual advertising through WhatsApp is an aggressive marketing practice that can be annoying for the user, which can lead to a result of rejection of the product offered on many occasions. That is why the most advisable is to use the option that customers, through the web, provide their data and they specify the consent to send advertising to your personal phone.

Any company, whatever its size, can use WhatsApp as a Marketing and Communication tool. The limits on its use only have the employer, who can with this App from reaching their customers and sell their products or services, to direct and personalized attention to the customer, special promotions, etc. A way to do effective marketing with low budget, which is an opportunity that more and more companies take advantage of.