The Only WhatsApp Marketing Campaign Checklist You Need for BFCM 2024
Sreyashi Chatterjee
October 10, 2024
As the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) frenzy approaches, email inboxes are bracing for impact. But while everyone's obsessing over the perfect subject line, there's a sleeping giant in the world of digital marketing—WhatsApp.
With over 2 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is the perfect way to stand out in a sea of unread/promotional emails. A WhatsApp message feels more personal—sort of like a VIP pass to your customer’s attention (and maybe their wallets, too).
In this blog, we'll cut through the clutter and provide you with a no-nonsense, action-oriented WhatsApp marketing checklist that'll help you create campaigns that stand out and drive sales.
If you're new to the WhatsApp game or just need a little nudge, we’re here to help. Grab a coffee (and maybe a notepad), settle in, and let's walk you through the steps to kickstart your Black Friday WhatsApp campaign.
Step 1: Create a WhatsApp Business account
Before you start sliding into your customers' DMs with irresistible BFCM offers, you need to set up shop. And by shop, we mean your WhatsApp Business Account. It is like your digital storefront, but instead of a fancy window display, you have a profile that says, "We mean business!"
You may ask, I already have a WhatsApp account—why do I need a WhatsApp Business account?
Unlike your personal WhatsApp, where you share memes with friends or are victims of the endless forwards from your family group(thanks, mom!), a WhatsApp business account comes packed with marketing tools that'll make your BFCM campaigns pop:
Product catalogs
Short product links
Quick replies and message scheduling
Sorting with labels, so you can organize conversations faster—you’ll need it when you want to give that next update to your manager
To create a WhatsApp Business account, follow the steps below. Prefer watching a video instead? We got you:
Download and install the WhatsApp Business app from your app store (Android or Apple store)
Review and agree to the terms and services. We know you'll actually read them, right? Right?
Register with your business contact number
Allow WhatsApp to access your contacts and media files. Don't worry, it's not interested in your personal pizza order history.
Fill out details like business name, description, profile picture, catalog, etc., to complete setting up your account
Start sending those irresistible offers via WhatsApp campaigns to your customers
And if you're a business with a large customer base, the WhatsApp Business API could be a game-changer. It lets you integrate with your existing systems, connect to your analytics tools, and automate high-volume conversations and campaigns.
Step 2: Integrate your WhatsApp account with a service provider
Now that your WhatsApp Business account is up and running, it's time to give it some serious marketing muscles. Enter customer engagement platforms or marketing automation tools that can be your new best friend for BFCM campaigns that practically run themselves.
Sure, you could use standalone WhatsApp service providers, but why settle for a one-trick pony when you can have a whole marketing circus? Here's why you should integrate with a full-fledged customer engagement platform:
Customizable Templates: Create messages that reflect your brand's unique voice and style.
Intelligent Segmentation: Group your audience based on behavior, preferences, and past interactions for more relevant communications.
Automated Workflows: Set up customer journeys that respond to real-time actions and triggers.
Cross-Channel Integration: Easily connect your WhatsApp strategy with email and other channels for a cohesive customer experience.
And with a tool like ZEPIC, which is packed with all the features you need, you can upgrade your WhatsApp marketing game and boost your sales this season.
Step 3: Segment your customers
Once you’ve identified the right tool, you can now start channeling your inner marketing superhero! Most tools come with advanced search filters and data integrated from every corner of your digital universe—whether it’s your website, emails, or, if you're using ZEPIC, data from literally any other tool in your tech stack. You can segment and categorize your audience like a playlist—tailored, and on-point.
Here are a few ideas to keep you going:
#1 New customers
Meet your newest WhatsApp subscribers—they could be deal seekers on the lookout for welcome offers, exclusive discounts, and free shipping. Win them over now, and you could turn these new shoppers into loyal fans.
#2 Loyal customers
Say hello to your store's VIPs—the regulars who practically keep your cash register ringing. For BFCM, it’s time to give them the star treatment with loyalty bonuses that’ll make them smile or affiliate discounts that turn them into your personal hype team.
#3 Email-fatigued customers
Looking to refresh your email list and re-engage customers who’ve gone silent? Your BFCM campaigns are the perfect opportunity to win them back. WhatsApp could be the perfect channel to send them personalized deals and big discounts based on their previous purchases or their website activity. It’s time to highlight their wishlist items at unbeatable prices and bring them back.
Step 4: Plan your message and engagement sequences (Pre-BFCM and during BFCM)
Now that you've got your campaign blueprint and customer segments sorted, it's time to compose your messaging. Let's break this into two:
Pre-BFCM campaign
This is when you get customers to opt into your WhatsApp list through social posts, ads, email newsletters, referrals, and other touchpoints.
Engage the customers even before the launch by dropping offer sneak-peeks, providing unique access to the SALE, and engaging them with trivia quizzes and videos to build interest.
The idea is to warm up the customers before the event so they can pick their products quickly and complete purchases before items are sold out.
During-BFCM campaign
Launch your campaigns and constantly track them
Based on advanced filters of customer activities eg. opened and clicked on specific product over the BFCM campaign or as seen in other recent browsing, focus on creating new and personalized offers for each segment
As soon as Black Friday is over, optimize for Cyber Monday
Offer live customer support available to answer customers’ queries about payment failure, returns, and refunds
Step 5: Launch the campaigns and analyze performance
Think of yourself like a detective, gathering clues to figure out what’s working and what’s not in your BFCM WhatsApp campaigns. Remember, the holiday season is more of a marathon than a sprint. With Christmas and New Year just around the corner, you’ve got to keep the momentum going. Treat each campaign as a warm-up for the next, fine-tuning your approach and getting better with every round.
Most WhatsApp business solution providers, marketing automation tools, and customer engagement platforms come with built-in analytics. To truly gauge your campaign's performance, keep a keen eye on these key metrics:
Message open rates (aka "Did they even look at it?")
Replies (the digital equivalent of "They're talking back!")
Unsubscribes (the dreaded "It's not you, it's me" of marketing)
Other customer actions (the "What did they do next?" of the digital world)
Armed with these insights, you'll be ready to create irresistible WhatsApp campaigns . And by the time New Year's rolls around, you might just be celebrating more than the ball drop!
Conclusion
Your campaign is only as strong as the tools in your tech stack. A top-tier WhatsApp marketing solution should offer:
Easy, multimedia, multi-step campaigns
Quick WhatsApp template approval
Real-time personalization, and hands-free automation
Compliance features to keep the legal team off your back (and your campaigns on track)
Accurate and accessible analytics that doesn’t need a data expert to interpret
Desperate times call for desperate Google/Chat GPT searches, right? "Best Shopify apps for sales." "How to increase online sales fast." "AI tools for ecommerce growth."
Been there. Done that. Installed way too many apps. But here's what nobody tells you while you're doom-scrolling through Shopify app reviews at 2 AM—that magical online sales-boosting app you're searching for? It doesn't exist. Because if it did, Jeff Bezos would've bought (or built!) it yesterday, and we (fellow eCommerce store owners) would all be retired in Bali by now. Growing a Shopify store and increasing online sales isn’t easy—we get it. While everyone’s out chasing the next “revolutionary” tool/trend (looking at you, DeepSeek), the real revenue drivers are probably hiding in plain sight—right there inside your customer data. After working with Shopify stores like yours (shoutout to Cybele, who recovered almost 25% of their abandoned carts with WhatsApp automation), we’ve cracked the code on what actually moves the needle. Ready to stop app-hopping and start actually growing your sales by using what you already have? Here are four fixes that will get you there!
The Painful Truth: You're probably losing about 70% of your potential sales to cart abandonment. That's not just a statistic—it's real money walking out of your digital door. And looking for yet another Shopify app for abandoned cart recovery isn't going to fix it if you're not getting the fundamentals right.
The Quick Fix: Everyone knows you need multi-channel recovery that hits the sweet spot between "Hey, did you forget something?" and "PLEASE COME BACK!" But here's the reality—most recovery apps are a one-trick pony. They either do email OR WhatsApp, not both. And don't even get us started on personalizing offers based on cart value—that usually means toggling between three different dashboards while praying your apps talk to each other.
Enter ZEPIC: This is where we come in. With ZEPIC's automated Flows, you can: Launch WhatsApp recovery messages (with 95% open rates!) Set up perfectly timed email sequences (or vice versa) Create personalized recovery offers not just on cart value but based on your customer’s behavior/preferences Track and optimize everything from one dashboard
Fix #2: Reactivate past customers today
The Painful Truth: You're probably losing about 70% of your potential sales to cart abandonment. That's not just a statistic—it's real money walking out of your digital door. And looking for yet another Shopify app for abandoned cart recovery isn't going to fix it if you're not getting the fundamentals right.
The Quick Fix: Everyone knows you need multi-channel recovery that hits the sweet spot between "Hey, did you forget something?" and "PLEASE COME BACK!" But here's the reality—most recovery apps are a one-trick pony. They either do email OR WhatsApp, not both. And don't even get us started on personalizing offers based on cart value—that usually means toggling between three different dashboards while praying your apps talk to each other.
Enter ZEPIC: This is where we come in. With ZEPIC's automated Flows, you can: Launch WhatsApp recovery messages (with 95% open rates!) Set up perfectly timed email sequences (or vice versa) Create personalized recovery offers not just on cart value but based on your customer’s behavior/preferences Track and optimize everything from one dashboard
Offering light at the end of the tunnel is Google’s Privacy Sandbox which seeks to ‘create a thriving web ecosystem that is respectful of users and private by default’. Like the name suggests, your Chrome browser will take the role of a ‘privacy sandbox’ that holds all your data (visits, interests, actions etc) disclosing these to other websites and platforms only with your explicit permission. If not yet, we recommend testing your websites, audience relevance and advertising attribution with Chrome’s trial of the Privacy Sandbox.
Top 3 impacts of the third-party cookie phase-out
Who’s impacted
How
What next
Digital advertising and acquisition teams
Lack of cookie data results in drastic fall in website traffic and conversion rate
Review all cookie-based audience acquisition. Sign up for Chrome’s trial of the Privacy Sandbox
Digital Customer Experience
Customers are not served relevant, personalised experiences: on the web, over social channels and communication media
Multiply efforts to collect first-party customer data. Implement a Customer Data Platform
Security, Privacy and Compliance teams
Increased scrutiny from regulators and questions from customers about data storage and usage
Review current cookie and communication consent management, ensure to align with latest privacy regulations
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