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This day, and Cyber Monday, are notoriously busy days. We’ve all seen the videos of customers barging down the doors of stores. We’ve probably also all experienced trying to grab that last sale online and missing out on the last items. But even though the high sale prices are geared to generate lots of traffic, it’s not certain that customers will come to you. They might end up at your competitors.
Customers, old and new, need to know about your Black Friday deals. That’s why you want to reach as many people as possible. The easiest way to book great results? Start a marketing campaign via WhatsApp. Because with over 2 billion active users, this social media messaging platform is the most popular worldwide.
So let’s look at how WhatsApp can be very valuable for your marketing campaign and your Black Friday sales. And ensures that customers visit your store, or meet you online before and after Black Friday.
Set up WhatsApp Business for a smooth Black Friday
WhatsApp Business is already known as a great platform to use for customer service and support. Additionally, the platform is developing into a great outreach tool for marketing teams. To start a great marketing outreach, and have everything ready for the service & support you’ll need on Black Friday itself, cover these three steps:
1. Connect to the WhatsApp Business API via a Business Solution Provider
The WhatsApp Business app is great but has some limitations. The app is seen as a customer service solution and not an outreach tool. In addition, incoming messages can only be handled by one team member at a time.
For the features that will help you boost Black Friday deals connecting to the WhatsApp Business API is necessary. And a WhatsApp Business solution provider can do this for you. They create a connection between your data and the API. For instance, with a solution such as Trengo you will have a shared inbox that includes your WhatsApp channel, and allows access to all the important features such as auto- and quick-replies and chatbots. And of course, your entire team will be able to receive and send messages to your customers.
2. Integrate with your webshop
The goal of your marketing campaign is to create buzz around your Black Friday deals. Resulting in hopefully lots of traffic to your website and your store.
But you don’t want to lose time during the rush because of inefficiency. All customer touchpoints, before, during, and after the campaign, need to be handled with great care. So naturally, you want to set up all teams with everything they need to offer fast support and great customer experiences.
To deliver teams need to know what’s happening. When a customer contacts them, they need to know where this customer came from, what their question is, what they ordered… and more. Preferably in one overview. In short: your teams need insight into customer data right where the conversation takes place.
That’s where integration with your webshop comes into play. After you've been set up by your WhatsApp Business Solution Provider, with a shared inbox that includes WhatsApp as a marketing channel integrate with your webshop via Shopify, Magento, Lightspeed, or others.
3. Set up templates
We’re inching closer to the start of your Black Friday deals campaigns. So last stop before you’re ready to market via WhatsApp: create templates. Because they need to be approved by WhatsApp.
No need to worry though, WhatsApp takes 48 hours to review your template so if you put your templates up for review in advance you are all set! And once approved, these templates will help you drastically lower response time.
Tip: Consider putting a couple of different and valuable templates up for review, so once approved you have the various templates you need, such as sales notifications, informative updates about orders and shipping, and frequently asked questions.
Get started with WhatsApp marketing
Black Friday is coming up and you want to give that extra marketing push. You’ve set up WhatsApp business, the channel is connected to your shared inbox and so is your webshop. Everything looks good.
Now your marketing team wants everyone to know about your Black Friday deals. How? There are three efforts that will drastically boost the outreach of your Black Friday campaign:
Conversations with chatbots and flowbots
Chatbots and flowbots on your website for great service and support, yes definitely. But don’t forget their marketing value.
Both chat- and flowbots can pop up on your website, and have clever conversations with customers. Chatbots recognize keywords and answer with pre-filled answers. Answers that you can pre-fill with your Black Friday deals.
Flowbots simulate conversations with prospects and customers and can redirect to other teams or give multiple-choice options. Again you can mention your Black Friday Sale.
With both the chatbot and flowbot you can share deals with website visitors or invite them to come to the store. After Black Friday you can share the discount code for Cyber Monday.
Important: Ask for a WhatsApp opt-in via chatbot and flowbot conversations. Because this will greatly increase your newsletter list and will make it easier to send Broadcasted messages.
WhatsApp Broadcast your Black Friday deals
With WhatsApp Broadcast you can reach out to big groups of customers. Create a list of prospects, leads, or customers that you want to persuade in coming to the store, or your website, and send them a message about the upcoming sale.
WhatsApp is the perfect channel to boost engagement. Because of the average open rate of 90% you are sure that the Black Friday deal message will get read.
WhatsApp Black Friday templates
1. Template Black Friday sale
It's finally here!
Tomorrow, we are launching the much-awaited Black Friday Sale. For only 24 hours you can score the best deals of the year. Don’t miss out because offers last till stock lasts.
Check out your favorite items for the lowest price ever at our store on November 25th.
Doors open at 9, so be on time!
2. WhatsApp template online sale
No need to run down the doors at our stores this year! We are running special Black Friday deals on our collections for the next 24 hours ONLINE.
Use the [Black Friday promo code] to snag these deals from the comfort of your own home. Quickly check them out on our website now: [link].
3. WhatsApp template last Black Friday deals push:
With more than {{1}} items sold, [product] is going really fast. Only a couple of more hours to catch the best deal of the year!
Visit our store on the 25th, or if you’re not into the hassle of Black Friday but you do want to score your favorite item for a Black Friday price, visit our website on Cyber Monday.
Online Cyber Monday deals start at 8 sharp, don’t forget: [link]
Send a WhatsApp newsletter
Next to broadcasts you can also mention your upcoming Black Friday deals in your newsletters of course. But not just in email newsletters that only have an open rate of around 20% (e-commerce emails have an even lower average open rate of 15.68%). Because you have the option of sending a WhatsApp newsletter. So you can meet your customers on the channel they use the most.
Black Friday WhatsApp newsletter template
Hi {{1}},
You’re one of our most loyal customers! So it makes sense that we give you some insider info on our Black Friday deals.
On November 25th our doors will open at 9 AM and you can check out here which items will be heavily discounted:
[Collection link 1]
[Collection link 2]
[Collection link 3]
Check out directions to the store: [link]
Can’t make it to the store? No worries! We’ll keep you updated about Cyber Monday and the online discount code you need to score the next great deal.
WhatsApp marketing seasonal? No for every sale
Marketing campaigns are all about creating buzz, outreach, and conversion. By adding WhatsApp Business as a channel, you’re reaching out to many customers via their favorite platform. Making sure as many people hear about and interact with your Black Friday campaign.
Come the 25th of November, it will be extremely busy in-store and Cyber Monday online. So do also make sure your CS teams are ready for the busiest time of the year. How? Check our tips out here.
