Why WhatsApp is a great customer retention tool [+ 7 WhatsApp templates]

Every WhatsApp salesperson will tell you that WhatsApp gets you open rates of around 90%. But many fail to mention the killer benefit of Whatsapp: retention. We take a look why it's so sticky – with 7 WhatsApp templates you can use.

WhatsApp is often sold as a tool to get amazing open rates of an average of 90%.

It is. But we don't position (just) it this way.

Why? 

Because to earn the maximum revenue from WhatsApp as a channel, you need to think about so much more than the open rate. You need to think what happens after a WhatsApp message is opened: from tap-through, to first purchase, to reengagement to repurchase to BFF (and ever).

WhatsApp is a ubiquitous messaging app (82% of Germans use WhatsApp, and almost 90% of them use WhatsApp every day) for a reason. People love it because it's a place they keep their besties with them all the time: friends, family, groups and yes, even businesses. It's not a dating app. It's a place for comfortable, fruitful, lasting relationships.

How are you going to keep people coming back for more? What kind of content will your audience love to get from you on a regular basis?

In WhatsApp, once someone has opened your message, the last thing you want to do is:

Be salesy

Be a flash in the pan

Be annoying

Be blocked

You do, however, want to:

Be welcome there

be heard

Be a 2-way conversation

Be gentle

Be human

Be relevant

be loved

So we tell marketers thinking about investing in WhatsApp Business that WhatsApp is an amazing tool for the entire customer journey – and that importantly, this is a journey that doesn't need to end.

With those amazing open rates, why not make sure you work to keep customers engaged in this channel. This way, when you do something to say, you're heard and responded to?

It's a nice feeling for a brand's marketing or CRM team to know they have a tool at their fingertips to share news and product launches and know their audience will actually read and respond to these messages. That's what our clients tell us anyway   

So in this article, we take a look at the retention powers of WhatsApp marketing:

Why WhatsApp is an amazing retention tool (particularly in Germany)

7 WhatsApp campaign examples that give you good reasons to message customers

How to use WhatsApp automation for easy customer retention 

We explore why WhatsApp is proving its worth for European eCommerce brands tired of acquiring new customers and aiming to get more from the ones they have. 

Why WhatsApp is a fantastic customer retention tool (with a Germany focus)

Let's look at reasons WhatsApp is so good at keeping customers with you in the long-term (feel free to use these to convince your boss):

Familiarity: People like getting messages in WhatsApp (even from brands)

In email marketing, you're happy when you see open rates of 30%. In WhatsApp, they're regularly 90% (see WhatsApp benchmarks here).

We know we said we don't focus on open rates, but they do need a mention. In Germany, with such a large and highly engaged WhatsApp user base, WhatsApp is a no-brainer for brands for this reason alone. As long as they also think about what happens after the opening ;)