WhatsApp Marketing Strategy: A 90-Day Plan

Most WhatsApp programmes fail because they start with a blast. Here is the order that works.

Month 1 — Foundation

• Connect the Cloud API, complete business verification, add billing.
• Get five templates approved: order update, appointment reminder, welcome, feedback, re-engagement.
• Add opt-in capture everywhere: checkout, lead forms, email footer, packaging QR, store counter.
• Migrate one transactional flow off SMS and measure delivery.

Goal: a green number, a growing consented list, and one live utility flow.

Month 2 — Engagement

• Launch a welcome journey for every new opt-in (day 0 welcome, day 3 value message, day 7 offer).
• Run your first segmented campaign: last-90-day buyers only, one product focus, buttons instead of links.
• Set up a chatbot for the ten most common questions and a shared inbox with SLA timers.
• Start Click-to-WhatsApp ads with a qualification welcome flow.

Goal: measurable reply rates and a functioning inbox operation.

Month 3 — Retention and scale

• Automate abandoned cart, replenishment and win-back sequences.
• Build an RFM segmentation: champions, loyal, at-risk, lapsed — with different frequency caps per segment.
• Add feedback collection and route detractors to a human within an hour.
• Push for the next messaging limit tier by sustaining volume.

Goal: the majority of revenue from automated, triggered messages rather than manual blasts.

Frequency rules that keep you green

• One marketing message per contact per week, maximum.
• Never message a contact who has an open support ticket.
• Suppress non-engagers after 90 days of silence.

Measuring incrementality

Hold out 10% of every automated audience. Compare purchase rate and revenue per contact. Report the delta — that is the number that survives scrutiny in a board meeting.

The content mix

Aim for roughly 70% utility and service, 30% marketing. Counter-intuitively, businesses that send fewer marketing messages earn more from them, because the list stays engaged and the number stays healthy.