Reaching out to customers proactively on WhatsApp

Reaching customers first on WhatsApp is possible, restricted, and easy to get wrong in a way that costs the channel.

Reaching customers first on WhatsApp is possible, restricted, and easy to get wrong in a way that costs the channel.

What it takes

1. An approved template for what you want to say.
2. The customer's number, obtained with their agreement.
3. A reason they will recognise.
4. A way to send: by hand from a ticket, or through an integration for volume.

Consent is not optional

WhatsApp expects people to have agreed to be contacted there. A number scraped from an order form is not consent, and messaging it produces blocks and reports, which lowers your template quality and eventually your ability to send at all.

Ask, record that you asked, and honour it when somebody says stop.

What works

• Order and delivery updates the customer is waiting for.
• Appointment reminders.
• Following up on a conversation they started.

All of these are things the recipient wants. That is the test.

What does not

Anything the recipient did not ask for. WhatsApp is a personal space, and a message there is felt differently from an email. The reaction to an unwanted one is not indifference; it is a block.

Each message is charged

Templates cost money per send. That is a genuine constraint on volume, and a reason to be selective rather than sending because you can.

See also

• The caveats of proactive WhatsApp messaging
• Sending a template to an end user
• Managing your templates