What is WhatsApp marketing?
WhatsApp marketing uses two-way messaging to build customer relationships and generate revenue with real-time conversations. With rich media, quick replies, and interactive formats like carousels and buttons, brands can use WhatsApp marketing to deliver personal, dynamic experiences that move customers from interest to action in a single thread.
WhatsApp is the preferred channel for communication in regions such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, and parts of Europe. With nearly 3 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is one of the most powerful marketing tools for customer engagement on a global scale.
Why is WhatsApp marketing important?
Consumers expect more than broadcast promotions from brands. They want instant answers, personal attention, and relevant offers on the channels they use every day.
WhatsApp marketing delivers on those expectations by helping brands:
- Turn product interest into rich, interactive conversations that convert.
- Support customers and make sales in the same real-time thread.
- Build lasting loyalty by meeting customers where they are.
In many regions, WhatsApp is the most trusted and effective channel for brand interactions. And because people generally read every WhatsApp they receive, relevance and timing are everything.
How does WhatsApp marketing work?
It’s easy to launch, personalise, and scale WhatsApp marketing within your existing B2C CRM. Here are 7 steps to make it work:
- Make it easy for people to opt in. Brands must get explicit consent from subscribers to send WhatsApp messages. You can collect consent via forms, pop-ups, or keywords (e.g., “Text JOIN”).
- Build approved templates. Start with Meta-approved message formats such as promotions, confirmations, reminders.
- Set up automated flows. Set up messages that trigger automatically when someone abandons their cart, views a product, or hits a loyalty milestone.
- Start sending campaigns. Create personalised announcements, offers, or brand updates for specific segments of your audience.
- Enable two-way conversations. Use quick replies and automated conversations to answer FAQs or guide purchases. For more complex queries, customers can escalate to a live agent via a customer service integration like Gorgias.
- Expand your message formats. Use carousels, videos, CTA buttons, and more to create rich, mobile-first content that matches your brand and keeps customers engaged.
- Measure and optimise performance. Track clicks, revenue, conversion rates, and customer engagement with your CRM’s built-in WhatsApp reporting, A/B testing, and funnel analysis tools.
What are some common WhatsApp use cases?
WhatsApp use cases span the entire customer journey, including:
- Promotion: abandoned cart, back-in-stock notifications, post-purchase check-ins
- Post-purchase communication: order confirmations, shipping updates, delivery reminders
- Authentication: identity verification or login codes
- Customer support: real-time assistance or escalation to a service agent
How effective is WhatsApp marketing?
WhatsApp marketing can outperform traditional channels in the right contexts, especially in regions where it’s the go-to messaging platform. WhatsApp marketing can drive:
- High adoption among consumers, specifically in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and the US
- More conversions from personalised, real-time experiences
- Faster resolution times for customer service inquiries
- Increased loyalty and retention from conversational follow-ups
When used as part of an omnichannel strategy—alongside email, SMS, and mobile push—WhatsApp can strengthen your ability to engage the right customer, on the right channel, at the right time.
How does WhatsApp compare to other marketing channels?
| Channel | Best for | Strengths | Considerations |
| Conversational marketing, global reach, loyalty programs, and customer support | Rich media, real-time replies, and global trust | Requires opt-in and approved templates | |
| SMS | Urgent updates, flash sales, and alerts | Wide reach and instant delivery with rich media through MMS and RCS | Consumers in some regions may prefer WhatsApp over SMS |
| Content-rich campaigns, newsletters, and transactional messages | Scalable, versatile, and highly customisable | Lower open rates in mobile-first regions |
Why use Klaviyo for WhatsApp marketing?
With Klaviyo, the only CRM built for B2C, you can run your WhatsApp marketing initiatives without leaving the platform (currently in public beta; available to general public in Q3 2025). Here’s what you can expect:
- A unified omnichannel platform: Manage email, SMS, WhatsApp, and push notifications from a single platform.
- Built-in customer data platform (CDP): Personalise every message by pulling customer data for any channel from a single source.
- No dev work required: Templates, flows, and integrations are built in. Go live in days, not months.
- Marketing and service, together: Automatically route messages between flows and support tools like Gorgias for integrated customer service and brand experiences.
- Global-first design: Klaviyo is designed for markets where WhatsApp is dominant.