In today's world, the most valuable currency is attention. Marketers fiercely compete for their audience’s attention, and the only way to get noticed more often is to be as responsive and interactive as a business can be.
Sure, automated systems are becoming prevalent in business, but the element of trust can only be built through personal communication between the seller and their prospects.
Luckily, WhatsApp makes this simpler through the introduction of WhatsApp ads or Click-to-WhatsApp ads. What are those? And why should your business use them? Read on to find out.
What are Click to WhatsApp Ads?
A Click to WhatsApp ad (or simply, a WhatsApp ad) is an ad that appears on another social media platform like Facebook or Instagram that allows users to open or initiate a conversation with the WhatsApp ad linked WhatsApp Business account.
Click to WhatsApp ads are useful to encourage prospective customers to message you regarding your products right after they have been exposed to them.
This is the digital equivalent of a passer-by seeing something on a store’s display and then entering the shop to talk to the owner about its details. The process for Click to WhatsApp ads is simple –
- Prospect views the Click to WhatsApp ad on Facebook or Instagram
- Prospect clicks on it or taps it to know more about the product or service
- A user-initiated conversation begins between the prospect and the WhatsApp Business account (the phone number of which is linked to the Click to WhatsApp ad)
Since Meta is strictly against spamming, customers or users must click on the WhatsApp ads to be directed to the seller’s WhatsApp Business account where they can initiate a conversation with them.
But, WhatsApp ads or Click to WhatsApp ads make it easier for your business to get noticed by potential customers who are also looking to purchase products similar to what is sold by your company.
Click to WhatsApp ads may be placed on various areas such as -
- Instagram feed
- Instagram explore feature
- Instagram stories
- Facebook marketplace
- Facebook news feed
- Facebook stories
Why Use Click to WhatsApp Ads?
Click-to-WhatsApp ads are still relatively new, so not as many businesses are using them. This presents the perfect opportunity for your brand to exploit this new feature before your competition starts using it, too.
Furthermore, there are several reasons why they could be a promising channel for your business to attract new leads from. Some of the reasons are –
- More than 55% of the people feel more connected to a business if the latter uses messaging apps (like WhatsApp) for communicating with its buyers
- About 38% of customers are likely to make a purchase based on an engaging conversation with a business over chat.
- Customers who chat with their businesses spend 60% more than those who do not.
- Businesses can boost retention rates through maintaining a conversational relationship with their customers which is 5-25 times cheaper than customer acquisition.
- WhatsApp broadcasts and promotions have a 99% open rate given its regular use by the public.
- WhatsApp marketing campaigns can have click through rates as high as 45% to 50% if the CTAs are well-placed.
- Businesses can improve their engagement rates by 83% through WhatsApp marketing.
Who Can Place Click to WhatsApp Ads?
Any WhatsApp Business account or WhatsApp Business API (or WhatsApp API) user may WhatsApp ads or click to WhatsApp Ads.
Note that this functionality is not available for WhatsApp accounts since it is the personal, non-commercial variant of Meta’s instant messaging.
In this guide, we will explore the process to create and add WhatsApp ads AKA click to WhatsApp ads for a WhatsApp Business account.
What is Needed to Setup WhatsApp Ads?
You need to have the following in place to set up WhatsApp ads or Click to WhatsApp ads -
- WhatsApp Business account linked to your business phone number
- Verified Facebook Business Manager account (click here for step-by-step guide)
- Connected WhatsApp Business phone number with your Facebook and/or Instagram account.
- Click here to learn how to connect your WhatsApp Business account to your Facebook page
- Click here to learn how to connect your WhatsApp Business account to your Instagram profile
If you want to place WhatsApp ads or Click to WhatsApp ads on Facebook, then your WhatsApp Business account must be connected to your Facebook page. Similarly, if you want to advertise your WhatsApp link on Instagram, it should be connected to your Instagram profile.
We recommend connecting both platforms to achieve maximum reach for your WhatsApp ads.
How to Set Up Click to WhatsApp Ads?
To set up WhatsApp ads or Click to WhatsApp ads, follow the steps below.
- Make sure that your WhatsApp Business phone number is connected to your Facebook page. Click here if it isn’t and you need to learn how to do so.
- Ensure that you are logged into your company’s admin access account to create and place WhatsApp ads.
- Navigate to Facebook Ads Manager while logged in; you will see this screen below. Click on ‘Engagement’ if prompted. If you do not see this new campaign creation screen, click on ‘Create’ (highlighted in green) and it will bring up the new campaign window.
- Click ‘Continue’
- Enter the campaign name; for illustration purposes, we have named it as ‘Click to WhatsApp Ads Campaign’, but you can name it whatever your campaign name is decided to be.
- If appropriate, click on the ‘Categories’ dropdown menu and select an appropriate choice. Since in this case we are only creating a Click to WhatsApp ad, we will not select any option from the list. The buying type is set and fixed to ‘Auction’, so it cannot be changed, the campaign objective is ‘Engagement’, because we want our customers to engage with our business over WhatsApp Business.
- In some cases, you can run A/B testing to determine which of the two ads perform better; since there is no relevance of A/B testing as the ads only have one message, which is click to WhatsApp, ignore this option for now.
- Click ‘Next’.
- You will now be taken to the ‘New Engagement Ad Set’; you can change the Ad set name to anything you want. For illustration purposes, we will rename it to ‘Click to WhatsApp Ad Set’.
- Next comes conversion. Since you have chosen your objective as ‘Engagement’, you must specify where you want Meta to drive engagement towards. Since we are creating a WhatsApp ad, make sure the ‘Messaging Apps’ radio button is checked in.
- As for the ‘Ad type’, there are only two choices, including ‘Click to Message’ or ‘Sponsored Messages’. Since we want our ads to start user-initiated conversations, select ‘Click to Message’.
- Moving on to Messaging Apps, you will see three options, including Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. We are interested in creating click to WhatsApp ads that direct conversations to WhatsApp only, so only select WhatsApp and ignore everything else.
- This is what your settings would look like once the setup is ready. Notice that we have only selected ‘WhatsApp’ among the messaging apps although there are two more options, including Instagram and Messenger.
- Scroll down and fill in your audience’s details; if you already have an audience, you can click on ‘Use Saved Audience’; you can edit the location and age. Those settings will decide who sees your ad on Facebook.
- Click on ‘Save this audience’, select ‘Advantage+ placements’ for Placements, and ‘Conversations’ for Optimization & delivery.
- Click ‘Next’. Enter the ad name to whatever you deem appropriate; for illustration purposes, we have chosen it to be ‘Click to WhatsApp Engagement Ad’.
- Choose the Facebook page that represents your ad; if you only have one page (like in this example), it will be chosen automatically for you. Your Instagram profile would also be chosen (as shown in the example). Review your selections.
- Scroll down to ‘ad setup’, you may either choose a single image or a carousel. Since our purpose is only to initiate conversations on WhatsApp, a single image or video will do, so choose that option.
- Upload the ad creative (the image or video); this is what your potential customers will see when the ad is displayed.
- Edit the primary text, headline, and description (if applicable). We have used a sample image below for illustrative purposes.
- Edit the ‘Call to Action’ to ‘Send WhatsApp Message’ although that is automatically selected for you (such as in this case).
- Create a message template; the message template will be what the customers who tap on your WhatsApp ad or click to WhatsApp ad will automatically copy in their WhatsApp message box when they are directed to your WhatsApp Business account.
- Add tracking parameters as/if applicable. Click on ‘Publish’.
- Add payment information in case you haven’t done so already. Your WhatsApp ad will not be live until your payment information has been added.
That’s it. Note that the process for creating and publishing WhatsApp ads or Click to WhatsApp ads are the same whether you are using WhatsApp Business or WhatsApp Business API.
WhatsApp Click-to-Chat Ad Content Tips
The purpose of publishing click to WhatsApp ads is to compel your audience to start a conversation with you. Follow the WhatsApp ad content tips below to maximize the chances of conversions -
- Keep the message short; avoid lengthy ad copy
- Avoid giving out the complete information; if you are releasing a new product, consider a silhouette image. If you are launching a new service, use phrases like “unbelievable discount” or similar that makes the viewers wonder what the discount (for example) may be.
WhatsApp Click-to-Chat Use Cases
The purpose of using WhatsApp ads or click-to-WhatsApp chat ads is to enable your users to initiate conversations with your brand, but this can happen through various ways.
Some of the WhatsApp click-to-chat use cases that your business can use are -
- Taking customers’ bookings and orders on WhatsApp; while this may also be done through a WhatsApp catalog on your WhatsApp Business or WhatsApp API profile, this also works to take orders from customers on Facebook who do not know about your store yet.
- Receiving pre-orders or pre-bookings; in case you are launching a new product that you believe will be well-received by the audience, you can configure WhatsApp click-to-chat ads to receive pre-bookings for your product or service.
- Answering customers’ questions; the simplest case is to invite your potential customers to browse your products and ask you questions in case they are interested in purchasing your products.
Upgrade Your WhatsApp Ad Campaigns with DelightChat!
In this article, we have only discussed how to create and publish WhatsApp ads (or Click-to-WhatsApp ads) if you have a WhatsApp Business account. However, if your business is growing, it (WhatsApp Business) may not be the most suitable choice for your business.
While WhatsApp Business is sufficient if you have only a few products at best in your inventory and serve a relatively small number of customers, WhatsApp API is the preferred choice for those looking to scale their businesses.
WhatsApp API enables you to automate many aspects of your WhatsApp ads, including responding to user-initiated conversations that are led by WhatsApp click-to-chat ads on Facebook and Instagram through customized message templates.
DelightChat offers a CRM suite with powerful WhatsApp marketing features such as abandoned cart recovery, order notifications, broadcast support, order verification, and more.
We are also a verified WhatsApp Business Partner, so we can completely handle the process of acquiring a WhatsApp API license for your business which is essential for you to benefit from WhatsApp’s advanced features (such as unlimited messaging, third-party app integration, etc.)
To leverage the power of WhatsApp marketing automation for your WhatsApp ads, contact us today!
