WhatsApp Reachability

Learn how MoEngage determines WhatsApp reachability, review the parameters that affect it, and find solutions to convert unreachable users to reachable.

WhatsApp reachability provides the number of reachable users via the WhatsApp channel in a segment. WhatsApp reachability number is required to decide whether to choose WhatsApp channel for sending a campaign if your goal is to reach users via the best performing channels.

This article explains how the reachability of the WhatsApp channel is derived. This article also lists the parameters considered to calculate reachability for users reachable via WhatsApp. There is a list of reasons why the users could not be reachable via WhatsApp channel and potential solutions to convert the non-reachable users to reachable users.

User reachability - WhatsApp Campaign

WhatsApp campaign allows marketers to reach users via WhatsApp and the reachable users count shows the number of users that are eligible to receive WhatsApp on their registered phone number.

How is user reachability calculated for WhatsApp campaigns?

WhatsApp reachability calculation is derived based on below conditions:

Mobile Number (String) should exist for the user to be reachable. There is no mobile number format validation used for reachability calculation in Segmentation/Recent queries. In addition to Mobile number presence, the WhatsApp subscription status should be True. Both of these conditions will be used to derive user reachability for WhatsApp channel.

Mobile Number attribute should be stored as a string data type for proper functioning

But before sending the WhatsApp campaign, the system validates the mobile number, the country code, and the format.

Here is how you can look at the Mobile number presence in the user profile:

If WhatsApp subscription status is True, then the user will be considered reachable otherwise the user will be considered non-reachable. You can find the WhatsApp subscription status in the user profile as show below:

There could be a difference in the reachable user count on the “Create segment” page and “WhatsApp campaign” page because segmentation only checks if user data and user permission to receive campaign is present, it does not do mobile number validation and consider control group while calculating reachable users.

How to analyse and find reasons for users’ non-reachability?

Step 1: Go to Analyse and select “Users” to do the user analysis

Step 2: Select the user property present in the User Properties section (Mobile number (Standard) or WhatsApp Subscription Status)

Step 3: Below in the User Analysis Options select Analysis type as “Distribution” and click Apply button

Step 4: Analyse the generated graph and look at the reasons for non-reachability for WhatsApp channel along with the user count

Potential solutions to solve users’ non-reachability problems

Non-reachability reasons	What could be a potential solution to solve this?
Incorrect user data/mobile number not present Denotes if the user’s mobile number in MoEngage is incorrect/mobile number not present (Incorrect mobile number validation does not happen while calculating reachable users in segmentation, the check happens just before sending the WhatsApp campaign)	You can create a segment of these users and run a campaign using outbound or inbound channels like InApps, Push, Email, etc. Here, using the CTA you can redirect them to their user profile on your app or a landing page and ask them to correctly input their mobile number.
Subscription status Denotes the WhatsApp subscription status of users. (This will be applicable if user has opted out from receiving WhatsApp messages by typing keywords like stop, opt-out, etc)	Users not reachable because of opt-out WhatsApp subscription cannot opt-in back by typing “Start, Resume” similar to SMS channel. Targeting the users via any outbound or inbound channel will not lead to users opt-in to WhatsApp communication. Client needs to use the appropriate WhatsApp subscription API/use file upload to change the WhatsApp subscription status manually for the specific users.

Note: Above solutions are some of the potential solutions, which may or may not result in the expected result/success.

Example:

If you want to target the non-reachable users via WhatsApp channel due to mobile number not present, you can do it in this way:

Step 1: Select the reason on the chart, for example: Mobile number - Empty

Step 2: Create a segment or take action by choosing a Specific channel and Delivery type to target the email unsubscribed users

Step 3: Configure the content in the campaigns page

Similarly, you can target users with more conditions e.g. users who have the mobile number present in the user profile but opted out of WhatsApp subscription.