A strategy is a short document that decides what you will send, to whom, why, and how you will know it worked. It fits on a page. This guide walks through writing one for WhatsApp, section by section, so the campaigns that follow have a reason to exist.
Read alongside this guide: WhatsApp marketing software and Waki plans and pricing.
Key takeaways
- One measurable goal with its baseline.
- Segments defined by consent and attributes, not by whoever is in the spreadsheet.
- A message plan of triggers, templates and owners, mostly utility and automated.
- Named people, a response promise and a monthly review with a decision date.
Goal
Pick one measurable objective for the next few months: fewer missed appointments, faster first replies to enquiries, more repeat orders from existing customers, lower call volume about order status. One goal keeps the message plan honest. Write the baseline next to it.
Audience and consent
Describe who you will message and how each group gave consent. List the segments you can build from your contact attributes: new enquiries, buyers in the last few months, lapsed customers, by city, by language. Note which groups have marketing consent and which only have transactional consent.
Message plan
For each moment in the customer’s journey that deserves a message, write one line: the trigger, the message, the template category and who sends it.
- Opt-in: welcome and confirmation, utility, automated.
- Enquiry: first reply within minutes, then a person, flow plus agent.
- Purchase or booking: confirmation and reminders, utility, automated from your systems.
- After purchase: one feedback question, utility, automated.
- Occasional: offers to marketing opt-ins, marketing, scheduled campaign.
Automation and team
Decide what runs without a person and who answers everything else. Name the people in the inbox, the hours they cover and the response time you promise. Write down how the handover from a flow to a person works and who reviews unanswered conversations each week.
Tools and setup
The official Meta API through a platform, Business Verification completed, templates written and approved, contacts imported with consent attributes, and the integrations that trigger messages from your store, booking tool or CRM through webhooks, Pabbly Connect or Google Sheets. Note the plan you need and its cost including GST.
Measurement and review
Choose the handful of numbers that reflect the goal: replies and clicks per campaign, response time, conversions by tracked link or code, opt-outs. Review them monthly, change one thing at a time, and set a date on which you will decide whether the strategy continues, changes or stops.
Next steps
Conclusion
Write the page, run the plan, read the replies, revise the page. A strategy that stays close to the inbox keeps WhatsApp useful to customers, which is the only kind that works.