WhatsApp for event marketing: where it beats email
Open rates on WhatsApp make email look broken. That is also the reason it goes wrong faster. Where we use it, and the rules we do not bend.
What it is good at
Time-critical messages to people who already bought. Stage times, door changes, weather calls, last-minute transport information. Email is where those messages go to be read the next morning, which is too late.
It is also the better channel for a short, personal exchange - a guest asking whether the ticket is transferable gets a reply in a minute instead of a ticket number.
What it is bad at
Acquisition. Nobody wants a promotional message from an event they have not bought into. The channel that feels personal is exactly the one where an unwanted message feels like an intrusion, and the block is permanent.
Long content. If it needs a scroll, it needs an email or a page.
The rules we do not bend
Opt-in has to be explicit and separate. A checkout tick for "order updates" is not consent for marketing. Under Swiss data protection rules and the platform terms, getting this wrong is both a legal and an account risk.
Every message names the event and offers a way out. A recipient should never have to work out who is writing.
Frequency stays low. For a single event we send at most three: confirmation, the practical message before the day, and one follow-up afterwards.
Where it sits in the funnel
Paid media brings people in, the shop converts them, and WhatsApp keeps the ones who bought informed. Used that way it lifts the experience without touching acquisition. Used the other way round it burns a list you cannot rebuild.
Setting it up without losing the list
Use the official Business API through a provider, not a phone in a drawer. Personal accounts get blocked for bulk sending, and when that happens you lose the number and every conversation on it.
Message templates need approval before you can send them outside a 24-hour window, so the practical messages - door times, transport, weather - have to be written and submitted before the event week, not during it.
Who owns the data
Keep the list somewhere you control and treat the messaging provider as a channel, not as your database. Providers change terms and prices, and a list you cannot export is not yours.
Same for consent records. Store when and how each number opted in. If anyone ever asks - a customer or a regulator - the answer has to be findable in a minute.
Can we send event promotions on WhatsApp?
Only to people who explicitly opted in to marketing messages, separately from an order confirmation. Otherwise it is both a legal problem and a fast way to lose the number.
How many messages per event are too many?
For a single event we stay at three: confirmation, the practical message shortly before, and one follow-up.