WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Examples

From being a simple messaging service, WhatsApp has developed into one of the most powerful marketing tools available to marketers today.

With close to 3 billion monthly active users and open rates of close to 98%, WhatsApp offers marketers unprecedented reach and engagement opportunities if they choose to leverage conversational marketing on this popular messaging service.

This guide will look at examples of marketing campaigns on WhatsApp, sector-specific applications of WhatsApp marketing, and best practices that can be followed in building marketing campaigns on this service.

Why WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns Work

WhatsApp has a unique place in the marketing arena.

For example, when using email marketing, the messages compete with other messages in the inbox, while social media ads are scrolled past by users, but WhatsApp messages reach the user on an app they visit several times every day.

The user opens WhatsApp 23-25 times per day on average.

There are several reasons why WhatsApp can be highly effective for marketing:

The engagement rates are very high

The opening rate of WhatsApp messages reaches 98%, which is in comparison to 20% from emails.

The click-through rate sometimes exceeds 15%, and conversion rates range between 45% and 60%.

Conversational tone

WhatsApp allows for two-way communication that is conversational in tone, not advertising-oriented.

The customer is able to ask questions, ask for further information, and even finalize their purchase in the same messaging thread.

Lifecycle coverage

Beginning from the point of lead generation to after-sales services, the entire customer life cycle is supported by the services offered by WhatsApp.

Businesses use the platform for acquisition, conversion, retention, and re-engagement purposes.

International presence

The popularity of the WhatsApp service leads in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

For example, 98% of messaging app users in Brazil

The service also reaches over 500 million users in India.

What Is a WhatsApp Marketing Campaign?

A WhatsApp Marketing campaign represents an organized effort that leverages WhatsApp Business features to send promotional messages, updates, or engaging content to customers who are opted into receiving communication.

In contrast to casual business communication, these campaigns are organized in terms of:

• The requirement for opt-in: WhatsApp forces businesses to obtain explicit consent before they can send marketing messages to their customers. This ensures that customers have granted permission for the messages, thus improving customer engagement levels as well as reducing complaints.
• Approved templates: The marketing messages that are sent outside the 24-hour customer service window should make use of approved message templates. These templates are reviewed by WhatsApp before being used by the business.
• Messaging through the API: Although the WhatsApp Business App is sufficient and free for small-scale messaging, the use of the WhatsApp Business API is necessary for large-scale marketing activities.
• Rich media support: WhatsApp marketing campaigns can make use of images, videos, documents, product catalogs, interactive buttons, as well as quick replies. This increases message engagement beyond what is possible using plain text.

Types of WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns

Knowledge of the different types of campaigns allows for the proper approach to be chosen, based on the goals of the business.

Promotional and Offer-Based Campaigns

These campaigns call for urgent action by discounts, offers, flash sales, or exclusive offers.

These campaigns work well on e-commerce sites, retail outlets, or any business that aims at earning immediate revenue.

When to use: Product Launch, Season Sales, Inventory Clearance

Benefit for business: Direct revenue with attribution.

Conversational Commerce Campaigns

Conversational Commerce Campaigns assist consumers in navigating the purchasing flow through chat.

Instead of pointing consumers to a website, these campaigns enable product discovery, recommendation, and purchasing through WhatsApp.

When to use: Complex products requiring consultation, personalized recommendations, high-consideration purchases.

Benefits for the business: It removes friction from the purchase experience, boosts the average order value by recommending products, and acquires consumers who like to receive messages instead of browsing the website.

Consumer Engagement & Brand Campaigns

These campaigns are relationship-focused and not sales-driven.

They involve activities such as content sharing, education messaging, surveys, polls, and other forms of engagement to ensure the brand remains at the forefront of the consumer’s mind.

When to use: When creating communities, collecting customer feedback, cultivating leads who are not yet ready to buy, and after each purchase.

Benefit for the Business: This helps build brand loyalty and provide key insights into consumers. Additionally, this helps maintain interaction even when there is no promotional activity.

Retention & Lifecycle Campaigns

These campaigns target customers based on their past purchases, behaviors, or relationship status.

They include loyalty programs, replenishment, win-back, and personalized recommendations.

When to use: Turnover reduction, encouraging return business, rewarding loyal customers, reactivating inactive accounts.

Business benefit: Increases customer lifetime value at a reduced cost compared to new customer acquisition. The customer has a pre-existing level of familiarity and trust with the brands they already interact with.

Service and Transactional Campaigns

Although these are operational in nature, these messages also provide marketing possibilities if they are strategically managed.

Appointment reminders, and account notices can be used to deliver relevant upsells or cross-sells.

When to use: At any point in the customer life cycle when a transactional notification is required.

Value to the business: Adds value by providing relevant information, creating opportunities for engagement or purchase.

Real-World WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Examples

Below are some examples that highlight how organizations have utilized one-to-many WhatsApp broadcast messages to deliver tangible results.

Example 1: Flash Sale Broadcast Campaign  

Objective: To generate sales immediately within a 48-hour promotion period.

Campaign Strategy: A fashion retailer sent an announcement about the surprise 40% off sale to the entire list of subscribers.

This included the countdown timer graphic, the list of bestselling products, and the “Shop Now” button to the surprise 40% off collection.

A subsequent broadcast message was sent 12 hours before the end of the sale.

Why it worked: This broadcast reached thousands of subscribers at once with the same time-sensitive offer.

WhatsApp’s high open rates meant that the vast majority of users opened the message in the first few hours.

The two-message combination created the excitement of opening and the urgency of closing.

Key takeaway: WhatsApp broadcasts are ideal when there is an urgency associated with promotional offers and they have to reach as many people as possible with guaranteed visibility.

Example 2: Seasonal Campaign with Segmented Offers

Objective: Maximizing revenue on Black Friday by promotion.

Campaign strategy: The strategy used by the electronics store was to segment their list of WhatsApp subscribers based on past purchase categories, which included mobile phones, laptops, gaming, and home audio.

Each segment was sent a targeted Black Friday broadcast offer based on their interests.

Subscribers who bought phones would receive offers on smartphones, those who are gamers would receive offers on consoles, and so on.

A final broadcast was sent to all segments promoting doorbusters on the entire site.

Why it worked: Segmentation allowed each and every subscriber to be offered what they were truly interested in, and the clickthrough rate was greatly improved over a mass mailing.

The targeted communications in each category felt personalized, even to the thousands of people it was sent to.

Key takeaway: The effectiveness of segmented broadcast messages over universal messages.

Even a simple purchase history segment has shown a significant impact.

Example 3: Product Launch Announcement Campaign

Objective: Goal: To stimulate sales during the first week that the new product line is in the market

Example of the campaign strategy: The skincare brand ran a three-step broadcast campaign to promote the launch of the new serum product offering.

Step one happened a week before the product launch and consisted of teasers with behind-the-scenes shots of the product development process.

Step two happened during the time of the product launch and included messages about the availability of the product through a video, the features of the product, and early bird offers.

Step three happened after the product launch and consisted of customer testimonials and an offer to buy the product as part of a package deal for a

Why it was successful: This staggered release created anticipation before the product even hit the markets, as well as captured demand upon release.

Each of these broadcasts played a different role in the release cycle.

Takeaway: Product launches require multi-touch broadcast sequences to move subscribers through the awareness-to-purchase process.

Example 4: Win Back Campaign for Inactive Customers

Objective: The objective of this campaign is to re-engage those consumers who had not made a purchase

A meal kit delivery service discovered a group of 15,000 inactive subscribers and launched a three-week broadcast series to win them back.

Week one recognized the absence and featured new dish options.

Week two provided a “welcome back” discount of 50% off the first delivery. Week three used a sense of urgency with a 48-hour deadline.

Why it worked: The campaign targeted different objections at different points, starting with reminding inactive customers of what they were missing, then lowering the cost threshold, and finally instilling a sense of urgency.

The WhatsApp broadcast was very economical to deliver to thousands of inactive accounts.

Key takeaway: Win-back campaigns are more successful as an escalating series of messages, as opposed to a single message blast.

Example 5: Loyalty Program Milestone Campaign

Objective: Encourage repeat business by advertising loyalty rewards.

The coffee shop chain shared "points balance updates" every month on WhatsApp with all of its loyalty card members.

The alert included the member's current points balance, their progress towards earning the next points reward, and an offer of additional points valid only during that time (e.g., "2x points on cold beverages this weekend").

The campaign reached over 50,000 loyalty card members at once.

How it worked: The messaging combined personalized information (individual points balances) with mass marketing (bonus points) in order to be relevant at scale.

Touchpoints kept the loyalty program top of mind.

Talking point: WhatsApp broadcast messaging can leverage personalized elements at scale, blending the power of mass communications with the effectiveness of personalized content.

Example 6: Event Promotion Campaign

Objective: To fill seats during the in-store event nationwide.

Approach used in the campaign: A home appliance brand organized cooking demonstration activities at 30 retail outlets through geo-segmented broadcasts on the messaging service WhatsApp.

Users were invited for their nearest outlet along with the date and time of the event.

There was a reminder broadcast for those who selected “Interested" three days prior to the event.

Why it worked: Geographic segmentation ensured that only local event details were communicated to the subscribers.

The broadcast method was effective in advertising 30 events at once without having to contact each person individually.

The reminder broadcast to the engaged subscribers ensured maximum turnout.

Key takeaway: Location-based broadcast advertising allows for effective promotion of multi-location events with local relevance.

Example 7: Content-Driven Nurture Campaign

Objective: Educating subscribers and building purchase intent for high-consideration products.

Approach to campaign: A mattress brand ran a four-week broadcast campaign for new subscribers.

• Week one focused on basic sleep science.
• Week two focused on mattresses and their features.
• Week three focused on common purchase objections (trials, returns, delivery).
• Week four offered a promotion. All messages linked to in-depth blog posts and offered “Talk to a Sleep Expert.”

Why it worked: The educational series developed trust and tackled objections before asking for the sale.

Viewers who were exposed to the entire series had conversion rates that were substantially higher than those who were exposed only to promotional emails.

Key takeaway: For high-consideration purchases, content-driven broadcast sequences that teach before the hard sell perform better than immediate promotion campaigns.

Example 8: User-Generated Content Campaign

Objective: Encourage interaction and build social proof for marketing purposes.

Campaign strategy: One campaign strategy was to send out an email to the brand’s list of subscribers with an offer to share photos of themselves wearing the brand’s products in exchange for the possibility of being featured on the brand’s social media page and winning store credit.

In the second email, the brand showed the best photos and awarded the winners.

Why it worked: The campaign engaged passive subscribers and converted them into active participants, who then produced their own content for the purpose of marketing.

The broadcast method of communication effectively reached all the subscribers, and the interactive method stimulated feedback.

Key takeaway: Broadcast your campaign to generate engagement beyond clicks and purchases by encouraging subscribers to take part.

WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Examples by Industry

Various sectors utilize WhatsApp in accordance with their customer journey and business models.

E-commerce & Retail

E-commerce brands use the WhatsApp platform for the entire purchasing process. Some common types of campaigns are:

• New arrival notices with product carousels
• Flash sales & Limited offers
• Cart recovery sequences
• Order Confirmation and Shipping Updates
• Size and fit consultations through chat
• Post-purchase review requests
• Replenishment reminders for consumable items

The visual aspect of WhatsApp messages, with facilities for images, video, and product catalogues, makes it very effective in product demonstration.

Fintech & Banking

Companies offering financial services utilize WhatsApp for secure communication. Common activities include:

• Account alerts and transaction notifications
• Payment reminders with direct pay links
• Feature announcements
• Educational content on personal finance
• Personalized offers for loans or credit cards
• Gathering of documents for application purposes
• Customer Service Routing

The level of trust that users have in the encryption provided by WhatsApp is well-suited in the financial sector, in which security is a primary concern.

Travel and Hospitality

Travel companies utilize WhatsApp to improve the travel experience of customers before, during, and after travel. The common campaigns include:

• Booking confirmations and itinerary information
• Arrival information and check-in services
• Local tips & activity recommendations
• Flight or reservation status updates
• Requests for feedback after stay
• Loyalty Program Changes and Offers
• Re-engagement of returning bookings

The immediate nature of communication on WhatsApp is especially important in the travel industry, where plans can change at the last minute and customers need immediate answers.

Healthcare and Appointments

Healthcare providers use WhatsApp in order to enhance communication with patients while maintaining their privacy. The common campaigns that are conducted include:

• Appointment reminders with confirmation buttons
• Pre-visit preparation instructions
• Prescription refill reminders
• Health tips and preventive care information
• Availability of Lab Results
• Follow-Up Care Instructions
• Customer satisfaction surveys

One of the advantages of the WhatsApp messaging system is the direct delivery of health information, which ensures timely communication.

Marketplaces and Platforms

Multi-vendor marketplaces utilize WhatsApp to enable transactions between buyers and sellers. Common campaigns include:

• Notifications of new listings matching saved searches
• Price drop notifications for tracked items
• Seller response notifications
• Transaction status updates
• Dispute resolution communication
• Announcements about platform features
• Seasonal campaign participation invitations

The conversational style of WhatsApp facilitates negotiation and inquiry, which are typical of marketplace transactions.

SaaS and Digital Services

The software firms use the services of WhatsApp for customer onboarding and retention. Some of the common campaigns used include:

• Trial welcome sequences
• Feature announcements & education
• Usage Tips & Best Practices
• Renewal reminders
• Upgrade offers based on usage patterns
• Customer Success check-ins
• NPS and Feedback Surveys

This is because WhatsApp gives customers a personal means of communication that results in a higher response rate compared to using emails.

High-Performing WhatsApp Message Examples

Effective WhatsApp messages are concise, clear, and action-oriented. Here are message templates that work across different campaign types.

Promotional Message

Hi [Name]! ? Our biggest sale of the season starts NOW. Get 30% off everything for the next 48 hours.
Shop your favorites before they sell out: [link]
Questions about sizing or products? Just reply here!

Cart Recovery Message

Hey [Name], you left some great items in your cart!
Your [Product Name] is still waiting for you. Complete your order in the next 24 hours and get free shipping.
[Complete Order button] [Ask a Question button]

Appointment Reminder

Hi [Name], just a reminder about your appointment tomorrow:
? [Date] at [Time]
? [Location]
[Confirm button] [Reschedule button]
Need anything before your visit? Reply here.

Re-engagement Message

Hi [Name], it's been a while! We miss you at [Brand].
A lot has changed since your last visit—we've added [new products/features] we think you'll love.
Here's 20% off your next order as a welcome back: [CODE]
[Shop Now button]

Conversational CTA

Hi [Name]! Based on your recent purchase of [Product], you might love our new [Related Product].
Want me to send you more details or answer any questions?
[Tell me more button] [Not right now button]

Best Practices for WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns

Following such practices is essential to ensure the success of the campaign and the maintenance of customer trust.

Emphasize Opt-in Quality

While obtaining opt-in consent is mandatory, the level of opt-in consent has a great impact on the performance of the campaign, not only as a matter of compliance but as a means of optimizing results.

The subscribers who opted-in actively tend to be more responsive than those who opted-in passively or without their explicit consent.

Collect opt-ins through:

• Pop-ups with value propositions on websites
• Facebook and Instagram click-to-WhatsApp ads
• QR code on packages, receipts, and in-store displays
• Order confirmations providing updates through WhatsApp
• Lead magnets tailored specifically for subscribers to the WhatsApp service

Articulate the value of the subscription: it could be special offers, early access, convenient service, or whatever the actual value you are providing to your customers through the subscription model.

Segment Your Audience

Broadcasting the same message to all recipients means that the potential of personalization offered by the use of WhatsApp is wasted. The recipients should be segmented according to:

• Purchase history & preferences
• Engagement level with previous messages
• Lifecycle stage (new lead, first-time buyer, repeat customer, lapsed)
• Geographic location
• Product interests or categories browsed

In terms of engagement and conversion, the results show that the segmented campaign performs far better than the broadcast message.

Personalize Beyond First Names

True personalization means more than just filling in the name of the recipient.

Use their particular purchasing history, browsing activity, or expressed preference.

Suggest items based on what they have purchased or browsed.

Take note of their status with your company (new, loyal, returning after an absence).

Personalized messages are more like one-on-one communication and not mass marketing, and that fits the expectations of WhatsApp users.

Control Messages Frequency

The WhatsApp is an individual communication channel.

It is not advisable to use it excessively because that would decrease the engagement value it provides.

The most successful organizations use:

• 2-4 promotional messages per month
• Transactional messages as needed
• Re-engagement messages to inactive subscribers

Try to avoid sending promotional messages on consecutive days.

Keep track of the unsubscribe rate and direct feedback, and cut back on frequency if customers complain about the number of messages being received.

Design for Conversation

WhatsApp is a conversational platform.

Design your campaigns in a way that allows people to respond and be ready to handle the responses.

Use quick reply options to make it easier for people to respond.

Assign staff to handle the responses or use a bot.

When customers respond, respond instantly.

The response time for a WhatsApp message should be faster than that of email.

Measure and Optimize

Monitor important metrics for each campaign:

• Delivery rate
• Open/read rate
• Click through rate
• Conversion Rate
• Response rate

Unsubscribe rate Use these metrics to better time and target messages, as well as control frequency.

A/B test various methods to continually improve results.

How to Scale WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns with Dexatel

Dexatel’s CPaaS solution provides an enabling infrastructure for conducting effective WhatsApp marketing campaigns on a large scale. It enables enterprises to perform, automate, and optimize their WhatsApp campaigns.

WhatsApp Business API Access

Dexatel offers the ability to use the WhatsApp Business API without the need for complex integration with Meta. This service allows for batch messaging, automation, and analytics, which cannot be achieved with the free WhatsApp Business App.

Automation & Workflows

Create automated sequences of messages based on customer activity, including abandoned carts, purchase dates, subscription renewals, and custom events from in-house systems. Automation eliminates the need for human intervention and allows messages that are timely and relevant to be sent.

CRM Integration

Integrate the WhatsApp campaigns with the customer data that already exists.

The customer data may include contact details, purchase history, and engagement details.

Analytics and Reporting

Campaign tracking can be done with analytics.

This involves tracking delivery rates and attributions of conversion to determine the best methods.

Compliance and Template Management

With Dexatel, template development and approval procedures for creating WhatsApp-approved campaigns are simplified.

All template management activities can be tracked through a single interface.

Multi-Channel Coordination

However, WhatsApp is best used as part of a comprehensive communications plan.

With Dexatel, there is the ability to coordinate a communications plan across a range of channels including WhatsApp, SMS, Voice, as well as other channels that the customer prefers.

Conclusion

The level of engagement offered by WhatsApp marketing campaigns is unmatched by other channels.

The fact that all messages are opened, coupled with the ability for a two-way conversation and rich media support, makes WhatsApp a channel with significant potential for customer engagement across the lifecycle.

To be successful, it’s essential to treat the WhatsApp channel like the personal channel it is – by obtaining the right consent, personalizing messages, honoring frequency expectations, and building for conversations, not broadcasts.

With the right strategy, segmentation, and infrastructure, WhatsApp is an extremely effective driver for acquisition, conversion, and retention.

It is the companies that focus on building relationships through this channel, as opposed to simply promoting, that get the best results.

Are you ready to start running WhatsApp marketing campaigns and getting the results you want?

Learn how the Dexatel platform can help you connect with your customers on the communication platform of their choice.