WhatsApp Marketing tools

Updated: August 01, 2023

WhatsApp marketing tools are digital solutions designed to facilitate marketing and communication efforts through the popular messaging platform WhatsApp. These tools enable businesses to reach their target audience, engage customers, and promote products or services via text, images, videos, and links. WhatsApp marketing tools often provide features such as bulk messaging, contact list management, and automated responses, allowing businesses to streamline their messaging and efficiently interact with customers. Additionally, these tools may offer analytics and reporting features, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and customer engagement. When used ethically and responsibly, WhatsApp marketing tools can be a powerful resource for businesses to foster customer relationships, enhance brand visibility, and drive sales, tapping into the vast potential of WhatsApp's large user base for marketing purposes.

See also: Top 10 Business Messaging platforms

2022. Charles raises $20M to bring conversational commerce to WhatsApp in Europe



Conversational commerce has gained significant traction in Asia, primarily due to the influence of WeChat. However, it has yet to reach the same level of adoption in Europe. German startup Charles aims to change this dynamic with its recent $20 million funding. Charles offers a comprehensive platform that seamlessly integrates key components of conversational commerce with the marketing capabilities of newsletters. It positions itself as an end-to-end solution, encompassing both backend and interface functionalities. By connecting messaging service APIs like WhatsApp with popular e-commerce and CRM systems such as Shopify and Salesforce, businesses can facilitate product sales, distribute newsletters, and provide ongoing support to customers.


2018. WhatsApp adds Telegram-like channels



WhatsApp has introduced a new feature that allows group chat administrators to restrict message sending privileges to only admins. This addition proves beneficial for individuals and organizations utilizing WhatsApp as a platform for disseminating mass updates, while simultaneously reducing unnecessary noise and clutter. This functionality serves as an alternative to Telegram's channels, where only administrators possess the ability to broadcast messages. Such a format proves ideal for corporate micro-blogs seeking to deliver company news, discount offers, or announcements to a significant number of customers.


2018. WhatsApp updates group chats to fight Telegram



WhatsApp has introduced a range of new features for Groups on both iOS and Android. These updates empower group admins to set a description for their community and manage the Groups settings by determining who can make changes. Additionally, users can now catch up on group discussions by accessing a dedicated section that displays messages where they were mentioned. The search functionality has also been enhanced, enabling users to easily find specific individuals within the group. These improvements to WhatsApp Groups aim to strengthen its competitiveness against platforms like Telegram, which have gained significant popularity for chat groups, particularly in the realm of cryptocurrency. While both apps offer admin controls, the focus now lies in streamlining the experience of navigating these dynamic chat forums.


2018. WhatsApp launches its app for business



WhatsApp has recently unveiled its highly anticipated WhatsApp Business app in several markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S., as a preliminary step before its global release. Designed specifically for small businesses, this free Android app facilitates improved customer engagement and enables companies to establish an official presence on WhatsApp's platform. In essence, it serves as the WhatsApp equivalent of a Facebook Page. With the introduction of this new app, small businesses now have the opportunity to create their own WhatsApp Business profiles by providing essential details such as business descriptions, email addresses, physical addresses, and websites.


2017. WhatsApp launched business-accounts



Messager WhatsApp, a messaging platform owned by Facebook, is currently conducting experiments to provide verified accounts to businesses. These business accounts will be marked with a green tick badge, similar to Viber, indicating that WhatsApp has verified their phone number as belonging to a business account. Additionally, WhatsApp will be launching a free app called WhatsApp Business, designed for small-to-medium sized businesses, although the specific features of the app have not been detailed. This enterprise solution will enable global companies to send valuable notifications to customers, such as flight updates, delivery confirmations, and other relevant information. At present, registration for a business account on WhatsApp is available only through invitation.


2016. WhatsApp will go free and add features for business



WhatsApp has made a significant announcement regarding its subscription fee, stating that it will be dropped, making the service free for all users. Furthermore, the company has clarified that it will not introduce third-party advertisements to its platform. Instead, WhatsApp intends to enhance user connections with businesses and organizations by introducing new features. These features could facilitate communication with banks to inquire about potentially fraudulent transactions or airlines to address flight delays, for example. WhatsApp plans to charge organizations and businesses for establishing channels to engage with users through the service. It is worth noting that Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $16 billion in February 2014. According to recent reports, WhatsApp currently boasts "nearly" 1 billion users, a milestone that Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed as an opportunity for monetization.