Everyone around you is talking about the importance of WhatsApp for Business if you’re running an ecommerce business. With its wide use case and an ever-expanding set of features, it’s only obvious that businesses can be seen looking for ways and means to reach their consumers frequently on the app. But are your customers really willing to receive those messages?
Truth be told, growing a WhatsApp list is hard. But what’s harder is actually engaging those on your list and reducing the number of opt-outs.
After having run multiple WhatsApp marketing campaigns for businesses across different industries, and at different frequencies, here are some of the ways we found to ensure the drop-offs from the list were less.
When a consumer chooses to opt-out of your WhatsApp list, set up a series of messages that can be used as a last opportunity to engage them. This typically includes reminding them of why they chose to opt-in and if they’re willing to let go of that value you’re trying to offer for their purchase interests.
For example, send a follow up message to notify them that they have been removed from the list of campaigns. It can include a small line on how ‘to know our ongoing offers and exclusive deals, send us a hello to opt-in to the list again’.
No matter what type of campaigns you’re running on WhatsApp, make sure you always make the consumers feel in control. Instead of always nudging them to take action on a message by clicking on a CTA button included, frequently also include one that is the opposite of it.
For example, if you’re sending a WhatsApp broadcast to promote an ongoing deal, one button can state ‘check out the deal’ and the other can be ‘don’t want to receive deals’. Keeping the choice open is like a psychological trick to make consumers feel opting out may result in losing core value from your brand.
An increasing number of brands are now using the messaging app for running WhatsApp broadcasts. Now because broadcasts are usually promotional in nature, overdoing them can result in making consumers feel like they’re being spammed. That’s where the importance of running engagement campaigns on WhatsApp comes into play.
Engagement campaigns typically include running campaigns for requesting product reviews, customer feedback, hosting contests or sending regular updates on your media features and so on.
Depending on how frequently and in what way your consumers interact with the campaigns, segment your WhatsApp list. We typically recommend segmenting a WhatsApp list into two main categories - active and inactive. This helps you run more campaigns for those who are finding value in what you have to say, and reducing the frequencies on those who aren’t as active.
You can also take it a step further and segment your WhatsApp list on the basis of the average spends made by the consumers. For example, high-spenders, one-time buyers, discount-shoppers and so on.
Another way to reduce your WhatsApp opt-outs is to continually seek feedback from the customers on your list. It’s important to understand if the customers on your WhatsApp list even want to engage with your brand on the messaging platform.
A simple customer feedback sequence asking them about how often they’d like to hear from you or what they’d like to hear from you about, can go a long way. This can help you understand a root cause problem even before someone starts to feel the need to opt-out of your WhatsApp list.
Keep watch on the performance of your WhatsApp marketing campaigns and make sure you measure how people engage with them. This is important as it helps you identify what holds the most value to your consumers, and what typically sees a low response. With WhatsApp Business API solutions like QuickReply.ai, you get access to a detailed insights dashboard to measure your success.
These insights act as actionable to optimize the type of campaigns you run, the message copy, discounts and deals offered and the call to action included.
Just because a consumer chose to opt-out of your WhatsApp list, does not mean they no longer see value in what you have to offer. That’s exactly why you should use their visit to your store as an opportunity to retarget them and get them to opt-in to your list again with a simple pop-up.
Alternatively, you can also run your retargeting campaigns on social media platforms to remind them of the value they’re missing. With click-to-WhatsApp ads, you can get people to opt-in to your list almost immediately.
Remember, just like any other platform, a consumer can choose to opt-out from your WhatsApp list. This can happen for a number of reasons including having found an alternative brand to buy from, not seeing value in your products or deals, not having a good experience and so on.
Always keep a close eye on your WhatsApp marketing campaigns to monitor the response you get and optimize for higher engagement.
The more engaged your WhatsApp list is, the lower are your number of opt-outs.
Looking for ways to keep your WhatsApp list healthy?
Tool and strategies modern teams need to help their companies grow.
Leverage the untapped growth potential of WhatsApp marketing to acquire and retain customers.
Opt-out refers to a user's refusal or withdrawal of consent in response to a specific event or process. Opting out includes not subscribing to newsletters, unticking a previously checked checkbox, declining to save personal information, rejecting the use of cookies, and so on.
When clients provide you with their cell phone number and consent to receive messages from your company over WhatsApp, this is known as an opt-in. Before sending a consumer a WhatsApp message, opt-ins must be gathered.
Yes, it can reduce opt-out. Running an engagement campaign on WhatsApp is a great way to engage your customers and increase the opt-in rate.
