How BRAINEFFECT supplemented Black Friday with WhatsApp

Black Friday is now the biggest annual sales event for European brands. In 2023, BRAINEFFECT decided to spread it out to stand out. 

"Messages are getting drowned in inboxes" says Elena Milosheska, CRM Manager, "Everyone can relate to that overwhelming feeling when Black Friday comes. You get a slight panic... So many deals! Should I buy anything??"

BRAINEFFECT is a German brain supplements company that advocates for a more peaceful headspace.

It didn't want to add to the Black Friday chaos, but  ease the pressure for customers. To do this it decided to stretch out the event for the whole month.

An insight into BRAINEFFECT's decision to do Black Month instead of Black Friday

"This isn't just good for customer communications, it's good for us," says Elena. "Doing actions for a month stretches out the revenue period and catches attention earlier than our competitors."

BRAINEFFECT decided to focus on WhatsApp as the centerpiece of its Black Month actions because of its quick success in WhatsApp.

In the September sale, the company achieved a return per conversation (RPC) of €13.1, which is far above the average across our clients of €2. The conversion rate was an impressive 25%. 

"These were amazing results for us. So for Black Friday, we wondered: how can we use charles to create a unique experience?"

BRAINEFFECT created a "Black Month" campaign – spreading out its Black Friday actions over 4 weeks from October to November 24. 

Every week centered around different offers, starting as early as Halloween. While  this capitalized on another big event, it also meant BRAINEFFECT had time to test what did and didn't work – and could adjust the campaign as it evolved.

"1 week we had a free gift, the next we had no gift. We found that 1 campaign didn't work as well as we wanted, so quickly adapted it for the next campaigns. The flexibility of WhatsApp and charles was a big pro for Black Month." 

Elena and her team created a 30-day long automated WhatsApp flow using charles Journeys feature. "This was a big and complicated flow," says Elena. "But it took no time to set up. The possibilities are almost endless."

A peek at the Black Month WhatsApp opt-in flow in charles Journeys in our recent webinar

To create FOMO and hype around a product, the team put together an exclusive VIP presale. "Right away this gathered more than 2,000 recipients into charles, which I was delighted about."

BRAINEFFECT achieved excellent results with its WhatsApp Black Month campaign. 

The total RPC from Black Month was €14.5 per conversation. BRAINEFFECT doubled its subscriber base and 1.2 thousand people went through the flow. 

Elena says, "We reach a very high number of recipients extremely quickly. Our goal in starting to use WhatsApp was to increase our repurchasing rate. We've successfully done this and I’m very happy about results we’re having."

Why did BRAINEFFECT choose the charles WhatsApp marketing platform?

BRAINEFFECT was intrigued by the benchmarks, the presentation and the onboarding. And the fact that charles was aligned with the company's business goals to increase retention, gain a quicker way to communicate with customers, and increase conversion.

After a few weeks on the charles platform, BRAINEFFECT became the biggest user of the WhatsApp automation platform, Journeys.

Journeys is charles' killer feature – a simple way to set up interactive WhatsApp conversations on an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop canvas

"We went all in from the beginning, says Elena. "The Journeys feature especially struck our team. The creativity and possibilities seemed limitless. Plus it's the most intuitive software tool on the planet."

Key to BRAINEFFECT's success on WhatsApp is its integration with Klaviyo. 

"The Klaviyo integration was a lifesaver for us."

Through the charles x Klaviyo integration, BRAINEFFECT uses the segments set up in Klaviyo in the charles platform for targeted WhatsApp campaigns – for example based on product bought, when it was bought and whether or not the customer is a VIP.

Scan to learn more about charles x Klaviyo integration use cases – self-guided in a special WhatsApp flow

The Klaviyo integration also helps email and WhatsApp work seamlessly: "We've seen that you get the most of the Klaviyo integration if you have mobile numbers and email. In our WhatsApp opt-in flow we always ask for people's email address."

See how the Klaviyo and charles (WhatsApp) integration works and the benefits for your business

Elena and her team are very enthusiastic about the possibilities of combining email and WhatsApp marketing communications: "This has opened a whole new ground of creativity for us. Even if you have a storefront, all the flows you can trigger from Klaviyo to WhatsApp, you just get so much creative scope."