Effective use of mailing on WhatsApp for business in 2024
Most people choose cell phones for a few main reasons: to keep in touch, for entertainment, and for taking pictures. Some also need to store files, others download app editors or even get into programming.
But the fact remains that messengers like Telegram, WhatsApp are sure to find their place in the memory of a smartphone.
In our article today, we will discuss WhatsApp which is used by more than 84 million people. This is a key indicator, as one of the methods of promoting a company’s services is direct mailing list spamming, and the larger the audience that can be reached, the more effective the campaign. However, it is important to keep in mind that by this we mean informative text introducing the recipient to the company, and avoid sending viruses, excessive files or any other negative reactions to the recipient’s phone.
Opportunities to cooperate with WhatsApp for advertising
Unlike Telegram, which still does not offer official advertisements, WhatsApp provides an option for white-label mailing lists with built-in analytics. However, not all companies use this option, especially in gray sectors, and may look to less legitimate promotion methods.
Official (WhatsApp Business API)
The official approach means that the service is paid but reliable. Each month, the account gets the opportunity to conduct up to 1,000 active dialogs with customers, including mailing lists to the existing base. The cost of further interaction depends on the initiator of the conversation (company or user) and the euro exchange rate. To obtain the “company” status, you need to submit an application to the official WhatsApp support service. After validation from the “Facebook” service, a unique API code will be created to connect to the system. With its help, a bot is set up to mailing lists and analyzing correspondence.
Unofficial (account farming)
Using unofficial methods, such as creating multiple accounts for mass mailing lists, can lead to negative consequences. While this “gray” method is not always associated with advertising casinos or dating services, some companies may use it to save on marketing costs. However, it should be remembered that this is a risky practice.
It should be understood that such actions can negatively affect the sender’s WhatsApp account. The developers do not define what exactly is considered “spam” and refer to it as any mass mailing lists.
Therefore, it is important to observe certain restrictions:
- The limit on the number of recipients in one mailing list is 256 people;
- All recipients’ contacts must be added to the sender’s address book, they cannot be used from purchased databases without consent;
- Recipients must be made aware of the possible spam mailing list, and information must be provided that they agree to receive the messages.
Otherwise, you can get complaints and lose your account. In general, this method requires less financial outlay, but more effort to achieve the goals, including warming up the account and careful business correspondence.
Mailing list in WhatsApp: how to do it right and what you need to consider
At first, it seems that creating spam mailing lists is not a complicated process: you can acquire a contact database, write a message like “We have discounts of up to 99.9% in our store right now”, and then expect enthusiastic responses from potential customers like “Where to come?”, “Is this really a discount?” or “I’m ready to buy your entire store!”. However, the result may not be as impressive as expected. Instead, you might say, “It’s good that at least we got something out of it.”
In practice, things are much more complicated: we will describe the complete process of dealing with spam in WhatsApp. Some steps can be rearranged, it is not necessary to use the specified services and follow the instructions verbatim. Creativity is what is really valued in this market.
Step 1: Understand the purpose of conducting mass messaging.
Depending on the goals, you can determine the necessary functionality. For example, for sending New Year greetings to relatives, the cost of the message will be minimal. If the purpose is to inform customers about discounts, the cost will depend on the number of messages sent.
There are different types of interaction with a potential user, such as informational (notifications about discounts, arrivals of goods), entertaining (congratulations on various holidays) and discussion (surveys, interviews, recording for procedures or work shifts).
An informational mailing list with the necessary message segmentation will require reaching the maximum audience. At the same time, business correspondence communications are limited only by the need to be online at the right time.
Step 2. is to visually organize the advertising campaign with a funnel.
On paper or in a virtual environment, you need to show the sequence of steps that users will go through before taking a targeted action. A promotional mailing list is just one of the steps, which screens out about 10% of potentially uninterested customers.
Promotional mailing list – sending messages with attached lead magnets such as promo codes, referral links or code words. Landing page – a web page where the user has to enter his/her data for further contact with the operator. Official website – an online resource that presents a catalog of products or services. Payment form – an online shopping cart with the possibility of adding lead magnets. This process can be illustrated by the example of a gym: if the user left his data on the lending pad, his contact gets into the mailing list database, which periodically stimulates his return to the funnel.
Step 3: Creating the database
As mentioned earlier, you can’t just pick up and start sending messages to random numbers, as WhatsApp’s security systems check if the sender and recipient have an account in each other’s directory. Therefore, the best way to organize the database is to ask the customer to write to the companies themselves.
To ensure the safety of correspondence and avoid problems, it is better to create your own mailing list database rather than buying ready-made lists. Some sellers may add fictitious numbers or register them themselves (so-called “dead souls”), which will increase the price of the database. Also, when you use purchased lists, you don’t know what criteria were used to segment the numbers, and users may react negatively to your offer because of this. In addition, too many complaints about mailing lists can lead to the company’s account being blocked. Roskomnadzor may also require users to confirm their consent to the mailing list. Often the rules are ignored, which leads to unpleasant or useless mailing lists, such as offers of loans or casinos. Therefore, it is better to build your mailing list base to avoid these problems.
If one of WhatsApp’s technical managers or a government representative asks about ways to build an up-to-date mailing list base, the following methods can be demonstrated:
- a subscription form hosted on the website with up-to-date URL links to the company’s social media;
- a widget within a chat room to add links to social media for off-site interactions;
- using targeting via Facebook* metrics to activate conversions to other social media such as WhatsApp.
All of these methods provide equivalent evidence of the legitimacy of building a customer base.
Step 4: Write an enticing spam message
Abbreviation and originality – these qualities define a good promotional offer. Their content includes several components:
- Greeting. Meeting the interlocutor with respect is very important, it is ideal if it will be with the name and patronymic.
- Introduction. The user must understand who is addressing him and how he provided his data to the company.
- Proposal. It is necessary to disclose all the details: why the user should read the message to the end, what he will get and how.
- Call to action. The text should contain a call to perform a targeted action.
- Contact information. If there are other ways to contact the company, such as social media, official phone numbers, current address, all this should be stated so that the buyer can conveniently get in touch.
- Visualization. If there is something to showcase, it should be presented in the form of a 400 by 400 pixel banner in high resolution.
Professional organizations hire copywriters in hopes of getting the perfect message to send. However, experience has shown that for best effectiveness, you need to properly segment your audience and offer multiple variations of the spam message.
Step 5: Create a mailing list
When you have everything you need in your arsenal, from an idea to test mailing lists, you can start executing. The best option would be to turn to services that have proven to be reliable.
You have the opportunity to try out the WaNeuro service for free with sending 300 messages every month at no extra charge on a free tariff available from 690 rubles. This tariff includes 20,000 messages and 8 accounts and provides mailing list templates, successful templates with high conversion rates.
Method: how to avoid account blocking due to mass mailing lists.
Whether the mailing list is done manually or using software, it is important to follow a few “security rules” for the account.
Otherwise, it will take much longer to prove your innocence:
- You can’t exceed the mailing list limit – no more than 256 people in a group,
- no more than 50 new messages per day.
- An advertising account should start with minimal message traffic.
- There should be an interval of 20-50 seconds between mailing lists – human reaction.
- The ratio of message size and quantity should be approximately the same, if it is not a chatbot.
- It is best to work through a “warm” channel, otherwise there will be complaints.
- It is recommended to cooperate with proven legal mailing list services.
If you still have not chosen a service, you should not choose it only because of the low price. It is important to study its functionality and features, especially during the trial period. Low-quality services may offer low prices or even be free, but they may violate the rules, which may cause the user to lose their account in the future.