WhatsApp is the channel where Black Friday messages get read. In this session, Alessandro Valenti (Head of Customer Success at Zipchat) showed how to use it in three ways: follow-ups that win back conversations that went quiet, one-off campaigns for the sale itself, and always-on Shopify campaigns for abandoned carts and placed orders. Lorena Mendez from the Zipchat team took the questions in the chat.
The recording is above. Below is the written version: the numbers Alessandro shared, the exact setup steps in Zipchat, the three campaign styles with when to use each, and the checklist to run before you send anything. New to WhatsApp? The WhatsApp 101 session from July covers the basics.
Why WhatsApp is your strongest Black Friday channel
The numbers Alessandro shared, across Zipchat merchants:
| Metric | WhatsApp on Zipchat |
|---|
| Delivery rate | About 98% of messages |
| Open rate in this season | 80% to 90% |
| Click rate | More than 50% |
| Revenue per conversation | About 75% higher than the average Zipchat conversation during Black Friday |
| Return on campaigns | About 20 times the cost, Meta fees included |
Compare that with email or SMS and the case makes itself. You do not need a big WhatsApp audience to start: follow-ups work from the first conversation, and the campaigns below scale with the contacts you have.
1. Win back quiet conversations with follow-ups
A shopper writes to you on WhatsApp: “Do you have these sneakers?” The AI answers, and the shopper goes quiet. A follow-up is the message the AI sends after a delay to keep that conversation going.
The shopper wrote first, so Meta does not treat a follow-up as a marketing campaign. You need no marketing consent and pay no Meta marketing fee. On average, about 20% of these abandoned conversations are won back, and the orders that follow have an average order value about 10% higher than other orders Zipchat influences.
Three settings make the difference:
- Delay: one hour. You can pick anything from 1 to 24 hours. One hour converts best: the shopper still has the chat in mind and is still in a buying mood. A longer delay risks waking people up. Someone who writes at 8 pm and gets a follow-up six hours later receives it at 2 am.
- Conditions: product questions only, once in 24 hours. Follow up only when the shopper asked about a product. Someone asking where their order is does not want a sales message an hour later. Add a second condition so no shopper gets more than one follow-up in 24 hours.
- What to say: a question, not “can I still help you?”. Let the AI introduce itself as the shopper’s dedicated sales consultant, with a name if you like, and ask a qualified question based on the chat. For example: “Hi Alessandro, you were asking about the sneakers. Do you still need them? Which size do you wear?” It reads like a person, not a campaign, so people reply, and replies bring sales.
To set it up, go to Campaigns, Follow-ups and click Create campaign, then choose Follow-ups. Name the campaign and pick the channels: WhatsApp, and during this season Instagram and Messenger too (email works as well). Set the delay to one hour, add the two conditions above and write the instructions, for example “Ask the customer if they are still interested in the product, with a qualified question based on what they asked before.” Click Save, then Start sending. The advanced time trigger lets you test how the AI behaves in a real conversation before you go live. More on the channel on the WhatsApp page.
2. Send one-off campaigns that earn their place
When someone opens WhatsApp, they see four to six chats: friends, family, their grandmother. Your message has to earn that spot with a strong offer. Send too many, or the wrong offer, and people block or archive you. That lowers your quality rating with Meta and wastes money, because marketing messages are not cheap.
Meta charges per message, by the country code of the number you send to. In Alessandro’s examples, a marketing message costs about 6.5 euro cents in Italy and about 13 euro cents in Germany and the Netherlands. You also need dedicated marketing consent by law, and for now Meta does not allow WhatsApp marketing messages to US numbers. Alessandro expects Meta to open the US market in 2027.
The strategy he recommends is two campaigns:
- One when the sale starts, so your customers know right away.
- One in the middle of the sale, once you see which products and offers are working.
Three campaign styles for this season
| Style | What it looks like | Best for |
|---|
| Classic | An image, a button to copy the discount code and a button to the promotion or product page | Brands new to WhatsApp marketing with a mid-sized audience. The safe choice, and it works. |
| Consultancy | The AI introduces itself as the brand’s sales consultant, mentions the promotion and asks the shopper questions to find the right product. A link button is optional. | Products that need advice: sizes, compatibility, more complex products |
| Curiosity | A short message that gives almost nothing away and sparks curiosity and a bit of FOMO | Brands with a very loyal WhatsApp audience that already engages, for example with games. Not for price-led brands. |
You can mix them: a classic campaign at the start of the sale and a consultancy or curiosity campaign in the middle.
How to create a one-off campaign
Go to Campaigns, WhatsApp marketing and click Create campaign. Then:
- Name the campaign and choose One-off blast.
- Pick the audience: all the contacts you have in Zipchat, or a segment. Shopify stores can use their Shopify segments; any store can upload a CSV in the Contacts tab.
- Add an opening image and the opening message. You can insert the customer’s first and last name to make it personal.
- Add unsubscribe instructions. Always. Without them Meta is likely to reject the campaign, and your quality rating drops, which makes future campaigns harder to send.
- Add buttons: a quick reply that starts a conversation with the AI, a call to action that opens a page on your site, or a copy code button that puts the discount code on the shopper’s keyboard for checkout.
- Write a prompt for this campaign. Explain the promotion in detail and tell the AI how to handle the shoppers who reply, for example when someone asks for a bigger discount or asks something you do not want to answer yet. It works like a sales consultant briefed for this one campaign.
3. Run always-on campaigns on Shopify
Always-on campaigns send a message automatically when something happens in your Shopify store. They are available only for Shopify stores for now. There are two triggers.
Abandoned cart
Zipchat recovers up to 20% of abandoned carts through WhatsApp. As with follow-ups, the message can come from a dedicated sales consultant and turn into a real conversation about what the shopper needs.
- Send at most one message per customer per day. Alessandro would send only one per abandoned cart at all, or people start blocking you.
- Send it within three hours of the abandoned checkout, while the shopper is still at the computer and in a buying mood, and before they go to sleep.
- You need marketing consent by law.
To set it up, go to Campaigns, WhatsApp marketing, Create campaign, choose Ongoing and pick the Abandoned cart trigger from Shopify. Add the image, the opening message and the delay. Turn on the marketing consent requirement so the message goes only to customers who gave SMS or marketing consent on Shopify. Rules and buttons work like a one-off campaign. These messages can cost less than a one-off campaign, because Meta sometimes classes them as service messages instead of marketing.
Order placed
Every Shopify order is an event Zipchat can use to send a message after a wait you choose. The message is about an order the customer placed, so it is not a marketing conversation: you need no WhatsApp marketing consent, and you pay Meta much less than for a marketing campaign.
What you can build on it:
- Repurchase. For products that run out (creams, shampoos, anything consumable), set the wait to roughly when the customer finishes the product. Ask how they like it. If the answer is positive, offer to reorder, with or without a discount code.
- Cross-sell. A shorter wait, the same logic: ask how things are going, then offer something that goes with it. They bought sneakers; offer socks. Tell the AI in the prompt which products go together.
- Fewer returns and refunds. Ask smart questions after delivery and solve doubts before the customer has to contact you.
- Reviews. When a customer says they like the product, send the review link. A custom skill can collect the review inside Shopify with a provider such as Judge.me.
- Newsletter opt-in. Ask customers to join your other channels.
- Cash on delivery and unpaid orders. Send the message only for cash on delivery orders to ask the customer to confirm before you ship, or only for unpaid orders so the AI helps complete them instead of leaving them in limbo.
To set it up, follow the abandoned cart steps and pick the Order placed trigger instead.
Checklist before you send
- Your contacts are in Zipchat. If not, upload a file in Contacts, Segments. Shopify stores do not need this: create a segment in Shopify and Zipchat imports it.
- You know the cost. Check Meta’s price for marketing messages in the countries of the numbers you will contact, and plan the campaign budget on it.
- A payment method is added in Meta. Without it, campaigns do not go out.
- Your quality rating is high. In WhatsApp Business Manager, open the profile section and your phone number. A low rating causes problems for future campaigns.
Questions merchants asked live
Where does Zipchat get WhatsApp marketing consent from?
From two sources. You can collect consent in your own store, for example with a checkbox at checkout or a Klaviyo popup, and upload that list to Zipchat. Or Zipchat collects it on WhatsApp: the AI asks shoppers who write to you to confirm their marketing consent and stores the yes, or you use a single opt-in and consent is recorded as soon as someone writes to you. Alessandro’s advice is not to rely on one source: let website chat visitors move to WhatsApp, and add a popup that sends to WhatsApp or a consent box on the checkout page.
Will the recording and slides be shared?
Yes. The recording is on this page, and the link, the recording and the slides were sent to everyone who registered.
Frequently asked questions
Why use WhatsApp for Black Friday?
Because the messages get seen. Across Zipchat merchants, about 98% of WhatsApp messages are delivered, 80% to 90% are opened in this season and more than half are clicked. WhatsApp campaigns return about 20 times their cost on average, Meta fees included.
What is a WhatsApp follow-up in Zipchat?
A message the AI sends when a shopper stops replying in a conversation they started. It picks up where the chat stopped, for example by asking which size they need. About 20% of these quiet conversations are won back, with an average order value about 10% higher than other orders Zipchat influences.
No. The shopper wrote first, so Meta does not treat the follow-up as a marketing campaign. You need no marketing consent for it and pay no marketing fee to Meta.
What delay should I set for a follow-up?
One hour. You can choose from 1 to 24 hours, but one hour converts best: the shopper still remembers the chat, and nobody who wrote at 8 pm gets a message at 2 am.
How many WhatsApp marketing campaigns should I send for Black Friday?
Two: one when the sale starts and one in the middle of it, once you know what is selling. Every extra message costs a Meta fee and raises the chance of being blocked or archived.
How much does a WhatsApp marketing message cost?
Meta charges per message, by the country code of the number you send to. In the examples from the session, a marketing message costs about 6.5 euro cents in Italy and about 13 euro cents in Germany and the Netherlands.
Can I send WhatsApp marketing campaigns to US numbers?
Not for now. Meta does not allow WhatsApp marketing messages to US numbers at the moment. Follow-ups and order messages are not marketing campaigns.
Which WhatsApp campaign type should I choose?
The classic campaign (image, copy code button and a link to the offer) is the safe choice for brands new to WhatsApp. The consultancy campaign suits products that need advice on size or compatibility. The curiosity campaign works only for brands with a very loyal audience on WhatsApp.
No. Always-on campaigns triggered by an abandoned cart or a placed order are available only for Shopify stores for now.
How does Zipchat collect WhatsApp marketing consent?
You can import consent you already collect, for example from a checkout checkbox or a Klaviyo popup. Zipchat can also collect it on WhatsApp: the AI asks the shopper to confirm, or a single opt-in records consent as soon as someone writes to you.
Next session: AI Santa Claus
The next session is on Wednesday, 2 December at 5:00 pm CET. Alessandro will share the best tips for Christmas and winter sales, and present the improvements coming to the Zipchat app and dashboard for the season. Register for free on Zoom.
Past sessions on Black Friday, AI search, product page questions, custom skills, WhatsApp and the social media manager are all on the livestreams page.
Hosted by Alessandro Valenti, Head of Customer Success at Zipchat, with Lorena Mendez. Recorded November 11, 2026.
Website chat Turns browsers into buyers on every page. 
WhatsApp Sell on the app your customers read. 
Instagram Answers every DM in seconds. 
Messenger Turns Facebook ad questions into sales. 
Email Answers every email in the same thread. 
