WhatsApp is now one of the most popular instant messaging platforms out there. Thanks to its immense popularity, businesses too are using the platform to reach out to their customers more personally and instantly.
When comparing the rate of daily active users to monthly active users, WhatsApp has an engagement rate of 70% — making it a great platform to promote your business.
Today we are going to be looking at one incredible feature that has helped many businesses worldwide increase their customer engagement. We are referring to sending bulk messages on WhatsApp.
So let's start with the basics.
What are Bulk WhatsApp Messages?
In simple words, these are messages that are sent to a large number of people on WhatsApp at one go.
There is no restriction to the number of people who can receive notifications other than your number’s messaging tier with WhatsApp. Even people who have not saved your WhatsApp number can receive messages from you, if you're using WhatsApp API.
Bulk messages on WhatsApp help you save time and effort as you don't have to individually type out and send messages to each one of the intended recipients. These messages help you make the most of your resources and are a great way to distribute information instantly.
You can include images, videos and add as many characters as you want to make your messages more meaningful. WhatsApp bulk messages can be personalized to reach out to customers at scale using variables in your message template body.
By sending personalized messages to customers, your brand will be perceived as being reliable and trustworthy.
Use Cases of Automated Bulk Messages on WhatsApp
Businesses use WhatsApp’s bulk sending feature for a lot of purposes such as:
- Keeping customers informed about upcoming events
- Making announcements on new products launched
- Promoting products by sharing offers and discounts
- Reviving inactive or dormant users
- Sharing order updates with customers and keeping them informed at all times
Real-world example:
A fresh foods company in South Africa sends a bulk WhatsApp message every morning to all its customers who will receive the fresh food in the next 3 hours. Earlier the same company would take an hour to manually send 100 messages. With bulk messages using WhatsApp API, that's reduced to 1 minute.
Bulk WhatsApp Messages: What's the ROI?
Let's take a look at the ROI that you can expect from WhatsApp broadcast messages.
We have compiled a few successes from customers who use DelightChat's WhatApp Bulk Messages feature. Here's what we have found:
₹5.5 lakhs in sales
One D2C brand in home & kitchen category sent bulk WhatsApp messages to its 50,000 customer base and generated ₹5.5 lakhs in sales within 24 hours of sending the campaign.
7.1x higher ROI than Email
Another niche D2C apparel brand set out to test the ROI from Email marketing vs WhatsApp Broadcast messages using the API. As part of the campaign 1000 emails and 1000 WhatsApp broadcast messages were sent. On testing, it was found that the ROI on WhatsApp bulk messages was 7.1x higher when compared to email. That's 7.1 times more sales generated via WhatsApp.
26x ROI on WhatsApp message cost
Another leading fresh foods and grocery brand send a WhatsApp bulk message campaign. Within the same day, they generated revenue that was 26x times the amount the spent on sending those WhatsApp messages.
Can you send bulk messages on WhatsApp?
Yes, absolutely! You can send bulk WhatsApp messages to all your customers irrespective of whether they are existing contacts or new ones, and regardless of whether they have saved your number on their device.
All you have to do is
- get access to WhatsApp API (DelightChat can help you with that)
- upload a list of your customer contacts
- prepare a message template (how-to)
- send your promotional broadcast (how-to)
It's really as simple as that!
How to send 1000 messages on WhatsApp Business App?
With the regular WhatsApp Business App, you can send bulk messages to 256 recipients at one go. Additionally, your contacts must have your number saved on their phone. Only then would they receive your WhatsApp Broadcast sent via the Business app.
Here are the simple steps to follow to create a WhatsApp broadcast message:
- Open your WhatsApp Business Account
- Go to Chat, click on the Menu button and New List
- Type in or search the list of names to whom you want to send the message
- Tap the + button to select them from your list
- Click on OK
- Press Create
However, if you want to send 1000 messages or more, you need access to WhatsApp Business API.
The bulk WhatsApp messages feature offered by DelightChat, using official WhatsApp API, lets you send 1000 to 100,000 messages per day depending on the quality rating of your number and the messaging tier.
Learn more about the differences between WhatsApp Business App vs WhatsApp API.
How to send bulk messages on WhatsApp without getting banned?
While the idea of sending out a particular message to a large group of people at once is appealing, you must be careful not to spam your customers.
There is a risk of getting your account suspended or banned if you take to the mass promotion of your products on WhatsApp's platform, which is a big no-no according to their terms of service. WhatsApp has laid out strict rules to protect the interest of its users. Any business that is seen indulging in mass spammy promotions can get ousted from the platform.
By all means, it does not mean that bulk messages are not allowed. As long as you play by the rules you can enjoy all the benefits of this feature with absolutely no risk. If you fail to do it the right way, you could end up getting your number blocked by WhatsApp — which translates to losing potential clients.
We have also noticed that regular WhatsApp Business app numbers get banned far more easily, whereas WhatsApp Business API numbers rarely get banned, if ever.
To evade this WhatsApp lets you send bulk messages through WhatsApp Business API. This is the advanced version of WhatsApp Business, launched to help fast-growing companies streamline their communication.
With access to WhatsApp Business API, you can send bulk automated messages to 1000s of customers who have given their consent via opt-in to receive messages from your business. DelightChat is one such WhatsApp bulk sender software you cna use to achieve this.
Benefits of sending bulk messages using WhatsApp Business API
While you most certainly can send broadcasts using the regular WhatsApp business app, there are far too many upsides to using WhatsApp API for sending bulk messages.
Advantages:
- Get green tick verification for your WhatsApp API number, which certifies your business as being credible. Messages sent from a verified account will be considered reliable.
- You will be able to send promotional messages to alert customers on new offers, discounts, products that are back in stock and much more
- WhatsApp API numbers generally don’t get banned. If you end up spamming your users, your number’s rating will become lower. But that also gives you a chance to improve and get the rating back up to high.
- On a WhatsApp shared inbox platform that uses the Business API, multiple agents can work together seamlessly to resolve customer requests.
- Chatbots can be employed to send automated messages.
Disadvantages:
- WhatsApp Business API approval for your business is mandatory. Certain industries are not eligible for WhatsApp API.
- Template messages must be pre-approved by WhatsApp before they can be used to message your customers.
- Sending messages using the business app is free, whereas WhatsApp charges a fee for sending bulk messages using their API.
How to apply for WhatsApp Business API?
Before you set out to get WhatsApp Business API access, you must have the following in place:
- A phone number that you want to apply with WhatsApp API
- A business name that you want to display to your customers
- A verified Facebook Business Manager ID. If you do not have a Facebook Business page, click here to set up an account.
Once you are ready with the above details, you can approach a WhatsApp Business API Solution Provider like DelightChat, who will help you with your API application and get access within 2-4 days.
DelightChat will also make a free Green Tick Verification application to Meta on your behalf.
Send Bulk WhatsApp Messages via DelightChat in 3 steps!
DelightChat has made it extremely simple to send bulk WhatsApp messages in a single go!
With an easy-to-use interface and a quick three-step process, you will be able to send bulk messages like a pro.
Once you’ve signed up to DelightChat and gotten your WhatsApp API access (our team will help you through the process), here’s all that you have to do:
Step 0: Open DelightChat app
Head to the ‘Broadcasts’ tab, click on ‘Create New Broadcast’ and type in the name of your campaign.
Step 1: Upload your contacts
You can simply upload a CSV with your customers’ contacts numbers, The CSV file needs to have at least 2 columns - Phone Number & Country Code. This is mandatory.
You can choose to add on with more columns to use variables and customize your messages.
Step 2: Add your message
You need to add a pre-approved message template next. The body of the message is mandatory.
Besides that, you can choose to include a header which can be an image/video/document, a footer and CTA buttons to make your templates more interactive! You can even add variables to contextualize your messages.
Step 3: Schedule and send it out
You can then schedule it for a later date or choose to send it out immediately. Once you’re all set, hit ‘Publish Broadcast’ and your message will be on its way!
There you go! That’s how easy it is to send out bulk WhatsApp messages to 1000 or 100,000 of your customer contacts in just 3 simple steps.
Once you’ve sent out the messages, you can even track your campaigns in the reporting section and track sent, delivered, read reports as well as orders generated (via Shopify integration).
Grow your business with Bulk WhatsApp Marketing using DelightChat
From running your WhatsApp Marketing, to working seamlessly with a shared inbox, to sending out timely engaging notifications like abandoned cart recovery, order confirmation, delivery notifications — DelightChat comes packed with features that will power your business to do more using WhatsApp.
Take your customer engagement rates up by several notches with DelightChat’s all-in-one WhatsApp business solution. Get started today!
