Why WhatsApp marketing is the key to winning this Black Friday

Excited Black Friday shoppers splurged over £1bn last year in the UK – and that was just in online sales. With customers’ hopes of bagging a bargain building, it’s the perfect time of year for retailers to drive up revenue in the crucial Golden Quarter. Having a clear plan and choosing the right channel has never been so crucial. Including in your traditional plans WhatsApp marketing for Black Friday could be the game changer.

In fact, competition is fierce, particularly in the online world where customers can easily jump between retailers. Even if your products are different from those of other retailers, the sheer number of messages people receive around Black Friday can leave them feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. 

Black Friday WhatsApp messages, sent straight to mobiles is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience. It’s a conversational and interactive platform, which means it has all the bells and whistles needed to drive engagement and conversions.  

It’s important to meet customers where they are, by choosing their preferred communication channels, as well as sending the right amount of messages – too many and you could risk annoying them. Metrics like click-through and open rates also help you determine how effective your messaging is. 

Why WhatsApp is the perfect channel for Black Friday

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the UK, with two thirds of adults using it to send and receive messages. With 2bn monthly active users it’s an extremely powerful marketing tool to drive sales and promotions during Black Friday. 

Stats like these, coupled with very high open rates (up to 99%) mean you’re able to reach a wide audience and maximise the success of your Black Friday campaigns. 

If you aren’t convinced already, here are some more reasons to consider WhatsApp this Black Friday: 

Multimedia 

WhatsApp has interactive features, like polls and buttons, which you can use to increase engagement and conversions. Buttons like ‘Buy now’ or ‘Browse’ tempt customers to click through to your website. You could create a poll to build up excitement for the Black Friday sale, or send multimedia like pictures, videos, links and documents to support your messages. 

Two-way chat 

Customers are able to react to messages with emojis or reply – just as they do in personal messages – which makes it a natural channel for customer support. You might use it to answer questions, handle complaints or provide extra information. Customers can then reply when it’s convenient without having to wait in a long call queue. 

Standout features 

Read receipts – or blue ticks – tell you and customers when a message has been read so you can plan your next steps. For example, if a customer has read that your Black Friday sale has launched, you could send them a reminder as a follow-up.  

A business profile allows you to create brand consistency and shows people that messages are legitimate, which is particularly important during Black Friday when scams tend to increase. 

Features like group chats, broadcast lists and status can also be used to drive Black Friday promotions. You could share extra promo codes on your WhatsApp status or improve awareness of your sale. 

Efficient 

WhatsApp marketing messages are not resource intensive because they are typically direct and concise to get your message across. You’ll also find plenty of Black Friday marketing templates, which can be easily adapted, to speed up the process for your team.

Responses can also be automated, and you might choose to integrate chatbots or contact us buttons so customers get an immediate response. At Esendex, one of our customers added the Whatsapp Business Platform and chatbot functionality to reduce call centre volumes. Within a month, the chatbot handled 68% of customer enquiries, which improved response rates and reduced pressure on the customer service team. 

How to get the most out of WhatsApp marketing this Black Friday

WhatsApp marketing has untapped potential for businesses during busy sale periods including Black Friday. Because of its widespread use, WhatsApp messages sent in the run up to, and on, Black Friday could:

• Build excitement
• Send early access invites or codes 
• Launch the Black Friday sale 
• Offer extra incentives 
• Send low stock or checkout reminders 
• Help with Black Friday communications 
• Cross-sell 
• Drive loyalty programs 
• Provide customer support 

Follow these steps to get started:

Choose a WhatsApp Business Platform provider 

To advertise black Friday effectively, choose a reliable and experienced provider. 

WhatsApp is free for customers to download, but medium to large sized businesses have more complex marketing operations, so will need to access enhanced features with WhatsApp API – the WhatsApp Business Platform. It enables you to: 

• Send call-to-action (CTA) or reply buttons
• Automated messages
• Chatbot functionality
• Personalised bulk messages to all customers
• Group and segment customers 
• Green checkmark to verify account 

These features will improve professionalism and relevance for customers, while building your credibility on the platform. You currently can’t access them on the standard or basic Business platform, but you can read our guide to find out more about the differences. 

Get customers opted in 

Before sending your WhatsApp marketing Black Friday messages, customers need to have opted in otherwise you risk breaching GDPR. Meta, which hosts the platform, also requires a clear opt-in. Fortunately, this can be done through WhatsApp or SMS, website, phone, in-person or documents, which gives you greater opportunity to drive conversions. 

To improve opt-in rates, you could also promote your WhatsApp profile via social media, ads and your website, and certainly include it on your profile. A great time to ask customers to opt-in is after answering queries or by enticing them with extra Black Friday incentives if they choose to opt-in. 

Build up the hype

Start promoting Black Friday using WhatsApp a week or two before the event. Build excitement by sending sneak peaks, timers or early access. With its rich messaging features, you could encourage excitement through behind the scenes content with pictures and videos, or GIFs. 

WhatsApp is an interactive channel, so keep messages friendly and conversational – especially during the sale. Use emojis in messaging, like a Black Friday-inspired black heart, and make use of CTA buttons like ‘Pay now’ or ‘Shop now’ to drive conversions. The status feature can be used to share Black Friday reminders or countdowns. 

Personalise 

Address customers by their first name to grab attention, drive engagement and help the communications  feel more exclusive. Send tailored promotions based on customers buying behaviour, especially when cross-selling, and for messages like order updates. 

On Black Friday

To announce your Black Friday sale, send a personalised and bulk message to your customers and support it with a status update. Send an upbeat message including a link and button to encourage conversions. By creating a sense of urgency with language like ‘selling fast’ you could also improve sales, as well as sending low stock alerts and checkout reminders. 

After the big day

Use the platform to follow up or thank customers for their purchases, or provide updates on orders, cross-sell and inform them of upcoming events like Cyber Monday. It can also be used for customer support like answering questions about returns.

Cyber Monday 

Find out how well your Black Friday campaign performed and what customers engaged with best to inform your Cyber Monday marketing messages. Which promo codes performed best and CTA buttons? Use these to increase sales in future communications. 

Measuring success of WhatsApp marketing

With any campaign or channel, you need to monitor its success and make improvements where needed. WhatsApp is a great channel for metrics like reactions, read receipts and poll results, as well as reach, follows and top regions. This data is useful for informing your future Black Friday, and other marketing campaigns. 

Open and engagement rates 

Find out how many customers are reading your messages and interacting with them via read receipts, replies, poll interactions or button clicks. 

Click-through rate (CTR) 

CTR is an important metric because it tells you how persuasive your message is. With WhatsApp, you can identify how many customers clicked a link or button. If your CTR is low, you might need to adjust your messaging to make it more relevant. 

Conversion rate 

How many customers went on to make a purchase after your WhatsApp message? Your conversion rate tells you just that. You could also use it to judge which offers worked best, how effective your low stock or checkout reminders are, and if more urgent language or extra incentives performed better. 

Customer satisfaction 

For more personal and human feedback, ask customers to complete a short survey or encourage them to leave a review. 

Supercharge your Black Friday sales this year with Esendex 

WhatsApp is the ideal channel to reach customers during Black Friday and ensure your messages are read. It has plenty of interactive and engaging features like status, group chats, automated messaging or buttons to drive sales and conversions. 

Esendex has over 20 years of experience with mobile messaging and is a Meta Business Partner. Not only is the platform ultra secure with an IS027001 accreditation, we can help you integrate chatbots to streamline your communications and save time during the busy sale period. Explore WhatsApp for Business to drive your Black Friday sales.