In the marketing battlefield, WhatsApp Advertising is a powerful tool in your arsenal. Picture this—you want to connect with your target consumers on channels they engage with the most. At the same time, you must ensure that your communication is timely and highly relevant to their needs. You need to drive conversions—get them to buy your products, sign up for a free trial, book an appointment, submit their contact information—while keeping a check on your marketing expenses.

You also need to surpass the efforts of your competitors who are playing to win. Sounds painfully familiar?

Let’s break down each of these marketing problems.

The Rising CAC conundrum

A pressing problem for marketers is increasing customer acquisition costs (CAC), which has risen 222% between 2013 and 2021, according to research by SimplicityDX.

The reasons? 

• Increased competition and ad saturation in digital marketing
• Consumers’ increasing expectations for personalization and quality
• Privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) increasing data costs
• Growing costs of digital advertising on platforms like Google and Meta
• Economic conditions like inflation

Reaching the right consumers

The old ways of segmenting and targeting are passé. Consumers are now more discerning in their tastes and selective in their choices, conducting extensive research before purchasing. The decision-making process isn’t linear anymore nor is it limited to a handful of touchpoints.

Moreover, the volume of content online makes it harder for brands to engage their audience meaningfully. From display banners, search ads, and video inserts to native advertising in social media and publications, we’re exposed to hundreds of ads daily. It’s an entirely different matter that we only pay attention to a few, which brings us to the final challenge.

Getting up close and personal

With brands jostling for your attention and time, deep personalization matters more than ever today. Consumers not only ignore cookie-cutter messages but find them annoying. They want to take the marketing messaging they receive and run with it conversationally. And they want to do this on their own terms and platforms of their choice. It’s why over 7 in 10 consumers say personalized messages boost their consideration of a brand and that such personalization makes them more willing to repurchase.

How do you, as a marketer, tackle these problems?

The answer lies in WhatsApp advertising.

The hero in the battlefield - WhatsApp Advertising

With over 2.78 billion average monthly active users, WhatsApp is loved by users across the globe and is a gold mine for brands and marketers.

A WhatsApp marketing campaign leverages the ubiquitous platform for one-to-one communication elevated by a customer-focused conversational experience. This is enhanced by asynchronous messaging, bot-powered instant responses, logical flows, and interactive conversations.

Beyond these benefits, WhatsApp advertising surpasses other communication platforms, thanks to

• Personalization at scale – Give your customers what they want - direct, real-time communication customized to their needs and preferences. This fosters a more personal and interactive experience, enhancing brand trust.
• High engagement rates - With click-through rates (CTR) of up to 45% and the ability to boost sales by 27%, WhatsApp ads deliver messages to a primed and intentional audience ready for the plucking.
• 72-hour-free conversation window - When a customer initiates a conversation with your business on WhatsApp, there is a 72-hour window during which you can reply to the customer's messages without incurring any charges. This initial period is crucial to capture consumer attention and secure conversions and when done right, this feature of WhatsApp advertising can bring down CAC significantly.
• Unparalleled conversion rates – Would you opt for a 2-5% conversion rate with SMS and emails, or enjoy a conversion rate of 45-60% with WhatsApp campaigns?

In the WhatsApp marketing suite, one feature stands out when it comes to powering conversions while bringing down your cost per customer acquisition – Click to WhatsApp Ads (CTWA).

What is Click to WhatsApp Ads or CTWA?

Click to WhatsApp ads, or CTWA, are just what the name implies – an ad that will take you to WhatsApp when clicked.

Available across Meta’s platform suite - Facebook News Feed, Stories, Marketplace and Instagram News Feeds, Stories, and Explore, CTWA has a “Send Message” CTA button. When clicked on, it takes the customer to a branded WhatsApp chat, where the ad turns into a conversational space.

Know more about Click to WhatsApp ads

WhatsApp campaign tools such as CTWA have shown near-incomparable metrics in driving brand awareness, improving consideration and, our absolute favorite—driving conversions.

Since CTWA ads take a user from a native Meta ad environment to a one-to-one conversational platform, your customers can get more details about your product/service, receive personalized recommendations, and even shop within the messaging app using WhatsApp catalog templates, carousels, and more.

How CTWA Campaign works?

1. When users click on Facebook or Instagram ads, they are directed to the brand’s WhatsApp chat
2. Their contact data is captured, and a WhatsApp chatbot leads the conversation
3. Initial interactions help the chatbot understand customer preferences, allowing it to provide tailored product recommendations or query responses
4. If a customer doesn’t convert, they are remarketed to via the same chat, using the collected data. This reduces costs compared to remarketing through third-party websites

And what’s better than simply acquiring new customers? You can upsell and cross-sell with product and service recommendations, substitute offerings and add-on items or service features.

This variant of WhatsApp advertising can also be used for remarketing and targeting prospects who have dropped off your website or sales funnel.

Plus, CTWA is simple to create and set up.

Learn how to easily create and set up CTWA campaigns    

What makes CTWA a mighty addition to your marketing armory?

CTWA helps cut through the ad clutter like it is butter and addresses the critical marketing problems of rising CAC, reaching consumers, and targeting them with personalized communication—all in one go.

1) Maximize reach and reduce CAC with ease

Both Facebook and Instagram have monthly active user bases crossing billions. Since these platforms and WhatsApp are part of the Meta product suite, they can be integrated seamlessly, turning multi-platform advertising into reality.

The advantage of CTWA? You can reach out to your consumers where they are most engaged with your ads across these platforms and initiate tailored conversations with them. After all, personalization can reduce CAC by up to 50%.

Stone, a Brazilian financial technology company, leveraged Facebook click-to-WhatsApp-ads to connect with potential customers. In two months, the company initiated over 6,000 conversations, with a 5x lower cost per acquisition compared to other online conversion campaigns.

2) Personalize like a pro

CTWAs aren’t just a path from display ads to conversational commerce. They’re also a valuable tool that drives personalization. You can integrate a variety of WhatsApp Business features into your chats such as

• Personalized responses: Chatbot-powered automated conversations that hone in on the consumer’s preferences to offer tailored responses in an instant
• Curated catalogs: In-app product carousels and catalogs based on your consumers’ preferences to offer them a range of buying options
• Seamless payments: Payment collection within WhatsApp to give your consumers an easy and seamless shopping experience

With such powerful personalization features, it’s no surprise that WhatsApp advertising can drive 7x higher conversions than other communication platforms.

3) Retarget and re-engage the ones that got away

9 out of 10 people who click on ads and land on a website, leave. Sure, remarketing exists, but it is fragmented across platforms. Moreover, as Google does away with third-party cookies, cookie-based remarketing will soon be a thing of the past.

CTWA is different. It doesn’t rely solely on pixel-based retargeting. Instead, you can also connect with consumers who have dropped off the purchase funnel through consensually collected data—their phone numbers.

Re-engaging these users with individualized conversations and content encourages them to convert. For instance, you can remind potential customers that they have products in their cart or offer an exclusive coupon to those who haven’t shopped with you in the last three months.

3 Success Stories of WhatsApp Advertising

Still wondering if WhatsApp advertising is for you? Here are three real-life stories of brands using WhatsApp campaigns to meet a variety of marketing goals - from driving awareness to generating leads and closing sales.

1) Travel e-commerce company sees lead gen and bookings shoot up with WhatsApp Ads.

BWT Experiences is an India-based experiences-curation platform bringing varied interests across the globe under one virtual roof. Their target audience is individuals looking for genuine experiences rooted in wellness and growth.

The brand leveraged WhatsApp Advertising and campaign tools to sell online Yoga experiences. The nature of the offering is intangible, which would naturally generate pre-booking questions from the target audience. To take lead generation ads to the next level by automating query responses for scalability and efficiency, BTW Experiences relied on WhatsApp marketing.

• Click to WhatsApp ads including demo videos to engage customers
• Automated responses to queries via chatbot with frequently asked questions (FAQs) such as session fees/timings, sign-up process, terms and conditions, etc.
• Display of open slots against each session
• Remarketing via follow-up messages for drop-offs

The brand reported an 84% increase in lead conversions via CTWA versus other ad formats, with an overall conversion rate of 20%.

They also recorded an impressive 100% increase in bookings from remarketing follow-up messages.

2) Auto manufacturer drives new launch awareness with CTWA

Hyundai Brazil wanted to generate awareness for its latest car model (HB20). For this, it leveraged WhatsApp advertising.

The company’s social media ads took prospective buyers to a chatbot-powered digital assistant that answered queries related to the car model. In six months—between October 2019 to March 2020—Hyundai reached 3.9 million people and drove 15,000 conversations.

3) Leading food brand promotes virtual cooking classes with a WhatsApp campaign

To announce the launch of virtual cooking classes in Germany, Maggi used Facebook and Instagram ads that clicked to WhatsApp, where users could select their choice of classes.

Maggi created a digital assistant on its WhatsApp channel. This assistant allows customers to contact Maggi at any time. Besides reaching out, customers can use the free virtual cooking classes, complete with a grocery list for each dish, necessary education on nutrition and food safety, and quizzes.

In just two months, Maggi sent 200,000 messages and drove a valuable 3-point lift in awareness. Talk about a perfect recipe for success!

Unleash the power of WhatsApp Advertising with Gallabox

WhatsApp advertising and CTWA are marketing must-haves, if you’re looking to reduce your customer acquisition costs. With WhatsApp marketing campaigns, you can encourage customers to complete purchases through personalized chats, while building a database for remarketing and future campaigns.

While there are several benefits, it can be tricky to use such a powerhouse toolset properly. That’s why you need a one-stop shop for all your WhatsApp marketing campaign needs—one that integrates effortlessly with your existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, simplifies the process for you, is comprehensive in its offerings while being easy on the pocket, and provides exemplary customer support.

Gallabox offers a comprehensive suite of services that makes WhatsApp advertising nearly effortless, so much so that you’ll wonder why you never used it before!

Ease of use: Experience a user-friendly interface that simplifies the management of multiple marketing campaigns

Enhanced customer interaction: With features such as WhatsApp Flows, Chatbots, and a shared team inbox, streamline and personalize customer interactions with ease

Automation capabilities: The beauty of Gallabox lies in its multi-tool automation including drip marketing, personalized broadcasts, and automated sequences

Integration : Say hello to glitch-free integration with your platforms including Shopify, Zoho, RazorPay, and more. Smooth operations across your tech stack, guaranteed!

Personalized attention and support: We value you as much as you value your customers. Get exceptional customer service and support tailored to your unique business goals.

Pricing to suit your needs: Multi-level pricing—where each tier is packed with features and add-ons—makes Gallabox perfect for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

What are you waiting for?

Take your conversions up a notch with a 7-day free trial of Gallabox today!