How to Calculate and Maximise WhatsApp Marketing ROI

In this digital era, businesses are feeling the cash crunch to get more bang for their buck through their marketing strategies. This is where resourceful channels like WhatsApp Marketing become pivotal.

But here’s the catch.

Without proper metrics and key performance indicators to measure the marketing ROI, marketers may feel like navigating a ship in a storm without a compass.

An illustrative state of marketing campaigns that run without proper attribution or ROI measurement:

And they cannot just throw the ocean of data in front of stakeholders and try to piece it together. For, it would seem like the marketing ship is swinging aimlessly in a vast ocean filled with a ton of potential.

That’s precisely why the holy grail for all marketing teams is calculating their campaigns’ accurate return on investment (ROI).

Yet, the world of WhatsApp Marketing ROI isn’t as simplistic as it sounds.

In real life, it’s a dynamic concept that can lead to heated debate and confusion amongst marketing leaders and other stakeholders about how to assess the effectiveness of their campaigns most accurately.

When steering the marketing ship amidst these choppy waters of campaign performance tracking, how can you ensure your KPIs are truly meaningful?

And how can you demystify the complexities of ROI calculation?

The beacon lighting the way is a comprehensive understanding of the WhatsApp Marketing metrics. This blog post will walk you through the strategies that industry leaders employ to calculate their WhatsApp marketing ROI and the measures they take to improve it effectively.

What are the KPIs for WhatsApp marketing?

WhatsApp Marketing KPIs are performance measurement tools that are used to evaluate and monitor the efficiency of a WhatsApp Marketing Campaign. These KPIs help marketers optimise and regulate marketing spend. Additionally, WhatsApp Marketing KPIs help businesses keep pace with their lead acquisition goals, marketing strategy, and business objectives.

Why Measure the Efficiency of WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns?

The essentials of marketing wisdom, such as the age-old adage “what can’t be measured can’t be improved”, is relevant even today.

Evaluating the effectiveness of your WhatsApp marketing campaign is more than just a business necessity; it’s an essential knob for driving success, particularly in the current economic climate.

Indeed, while cost-effectiveness and high-quality lead generation are key objectives, a WhatsApp marketing campaign brings much more to the table.

When we rigorously measure the outcomes of a WhatsApp campaign, you as a marketing leader gain crucial insights to answer pivotal questions such as:

  • Which of our initiatives are generating desirable results?
  • Where do our strategies need fine-tuning for better optimisation?
  • How do our efforts fare in comparison to competitors?
  • Are our marketing KPIs on an upward trajectory, or are they dwindling?
  • Could there be a way to optimise spend while reaching a broader customer base?

9 WhatsApp Marketing KPIs You Need to Measure Without Fail

The key to finding the right performance metric is pretty simple. An ideal WhatsApp Marketing KPI is relevant to your marketing goals and simple to track.

While you’re drafting your first set of WhatsApp Marketing KPIs, it can be a bit overwhelming. You could identify KPIs that better serve your needs by better understanding their purpose, industry benchmark, and performance.

Let’s dissect nine major WhatsApp Marketing KPIs to see which metrics can propel your marketing activities on WhatsApp.

Delivery KPIs: Ensure Reach

These KPIs form the cornerstone of your marketing campaign, showing you the campaign’s reach by accurately measuring the number of messages successfully delivered to the target audience.

  • Open Rate
    Most marketers may already be aware that WhatsApp is the platform you need to be most active on, as WhatsApp messages have a 5x higher open rate when compared to traditional marketing channels like email, SMS, and more.
    Benchmark: 85-90%
    Best: 95% and above
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR)
    Click-through rate (CTR) shows the percentage of recipients who engaged with your WhatsApp marketing campaigns or broadcasts by clicking on the links in a message. A higher CTR usually means higher conversions, making this KPI a crucial success component of a campaign.
    Benchmark: 15-25%
    Great: 30% and above
  • Opt-Out Rate
    The opt-out rate is used to gauge the percentage of recipients who decided to stop receiving your WhatsApp messages. If your opt-out rate is high, it may signal a dire need to refine your content, target demographic, or even the frequency of your messages.
    Benchmark: 0.3 – 0.6 %
    Ideal: 0.2% and below

Revenue KPIs: Optimise Spend

These KPIs help assess the financial dynamics and profitability of your marketing campaigns. However, it is imperative to proceed cautiously, as misunderstanding these metrics can result in missed opportunities, overspending, and more.

  • Conversion Rate
    This KPI, perhaps the most important one, tallies the percentage of recipients who completed your desired action(s). Some actions may include submitting WhatsApp Flows, aka Forms, completing a purchase on WhatsApp Shop, or booking a service appointment.
    Benchmark: 30 – 45 %
    Best: 50% and above
  • Revenue Per Conversion
    This specific metric measures the amount of revenue generated from each successful conversion. It’s helpful in understanding the individual value each conversion adds to your campaign and comes in handy when calculating the average order value (AOV) and other associated metrics.
    How do you calculate revenue per conversion (RPC)?
    RPC = Total Revenue / Number of Conversions
  • Return on Campaign Spend (ROCS)
    The ROCS is a crucial indicator of any marketing campaign’s profitability. Primarily, it compares the revenues generated from a specific campaign against the amount spent. A higher ROCS reveals a successful, profitable campaign.
    Benchmark: 5-7x
    Great: 10x
  • Cost per Qualified Lead (CPL)
    By monitoring the cost per lead (CPL) metric, you can calculate your average spend on attracting every qualified lead. This KPI shows how effectively you are using your budget and will be your north star for planning upcoming campaigns.
    How do you calculate cost per lead (CPL)?
    CPL = Total Spend / Number of Leads Generated

Retention KPIs: Keep Customers Happy

While this may not seem like a marketing-focused metric, keeping the customers happy and satisfied in the long run is the entire organisation’s responsibility and not just a team like “Customer Success.”

  • Customer Feedback
    Customer feedback may not be a numeric metric, but it will provide qualitative insights into a marketing campaign. It may include recipients’ comments, complaints, or suggestions, which can help formulate more effective strategies.
    Collect Customer Feedback Effectively with a WhatsApp Chatbot
  • Retention Metrics
    Retention metrics help marketers understand how many customers continue to interact with their messages over time. This metric can indicate customer satisfaction, the effectiveness of marketing strategies, targeting and segmentation accuracy, and more.

How to Measure the Success of WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns in Send.icu

With Send.icu in their marketing arsenal, marketers can embrace the power of unique workflows and integrations to measure their WhatsApp Marketing ROI effortlessly. It has 50+ native integrations and inbuilt dashboards and comes with the flexibility to wrap around any marketing team’s evolving KPI tracking needs.

Send.icu will connect with your existing tech stack seamlessly and help ensure consistency and transparency across the whole campaign performance measurement process.

Automate Payments on WhatsApp with Send.icu
Tracking marketing KPIs has never been this easy with Send.icu’s automated chatbots, interactive dashboards, and extensive line of integrations, you can collect, store, and analyse essential KPIs with minimal human effort.

  • Built-In Analytics
    Some modules in Send.icu, namely bulk broadcast, drip campaigns, and more, offer instant analytics in the form of an overview page. And, these inbuilt analytical insights offer marketers a bird’s eye view of their campaign performance.
  • Native Integrations with the MarTech Stack
    Your marketing campaigns cannot run in a silo. Leads from your WhatsApp Marketing campaigns will be updated seamlessly with your existing tech stack, ranging from CRM to accounting systems, reducing redundancy and eliminating manual intervention.
  • Google Analytics 4 Integration
    With the Send.icu and Google Analytics 4 integration, you can track and optimise your WhatsApp marketing campaigns for better performance. This integration will empower you to sieve out duplicate signups and focus only on quality leads.

Tips to Maximise Your WhatsApp Marketing ROI

So, how do you optimise your WhatsApp Marketing ROI?

The answer lies in the potent capabilities of a WhatsApp Business API solution like Send.icu. Capitalising on its advanced features like user segmentation, AI-powered conversations, and personalisation can refine your marketing efforts.

  • Segment Audience: Create a customized audience list based on past conversations and interests, considering demographics and behaviours.
  • Implement A/B Testing: Experiment with different message elements to optimize campaign effectiveness and improve conversion rates.
  • Automate Engagement: Set up automated conversation flows with message templates and instant responses for a smooth communication experience.
  • Connect with Existing Systems: Access customer data swiftly, avoiding redundant questions and enhancing overall satisfaction.

Amplify Your Marketing ROI Effortlessly

The process of monitoring WhatsApp Marketing KPIs and measuring accurate ROI isn’t always a clear-cut task.

But, when marketing leaders take the time to identify their business needs and understand the nature of KPIs, it is easy to pick not just measure but also improve those KPIs that are in tune with their marketing and business goals.

WhatsApp Automation can help businesses measure KPIs, gain actionable insights, mitigate risks, and increase profitability. Looking for ways to improve the efficiency of your WhatsApp marketing campaigns without making a dent in your IT investments?

Michiel is the visionary co-founder of Send.icu, a cutting-edge platform revolutionizing WhatsApp marketing. With a background in marketing and tech and a passion for leveraging technology to drive business growth, Michiel has spearheaded innovative solutions that blend strategic insight with tech-savvy execution. His expertise in analytics and digital communication has been pivotal in shaping Send.icu into a leading tool for optimizing marketing ROI and enhancing customer engagement. Michiel's commitment to excellence and forward-thinking approach continues to drive Send.icu's mission of transforming digital marketing strategies for businesses worldwide.