The owner of a sports shop spends a Sunday evening working on his newsletter. Two hours polishing the text, photographing the new running shoes, formatting everything neatly. Monday morning the email goes out to his whole list. And then? A few opens, two clicks, and not one customer who mentions it in the shop.
The frustration makes sense, but the explanation is simple. The email is not bad; it just never gets seen. Between invoices, order confirmations and the daily promotional emails from the big chains, a local shop’s newsletter has almost no chance of being noticed. Many inboxes also file it automatically into a promotions tab that some people never open.
Now the contrast. The same content sent as a WhatsApp message lands on the phone’s lock screen, between a message from a best friend and the family chat. WhatsApp messages reach an open rate of 98%. That is the difference between sending and reaching.
Where the huge gap comes from
The open rate is no accident; it follows from the way we use the two channels. For many people the email inbox has turned into a workplace and a filing cabinet, a place full of obligations that gets tidied when there is time. WhatsApp, by contrast, is the channel for the people who matter. When a WhatsApp message arrives, people look at it, usually within minutes.
Then there is the sheer volume. In an average inbox you compete with dozens of other senders for attention every day. In your customer’s WhatsApp chat list you are often the only business in sight. Less competition, more trust, more attention. The maths really is that simple.
Opening is only the start
An open on its own does not pay the rent; what happens next is what counts. Here too, WhatsApp plays to its strength as a two-way channel. Hardly anyone replies to an email; the barrier feels high, almost formal. Replying to a WhatsApp message is the most natural thing in the world: a “yes please”, a quick question, a thumbs up.
For you as a business, that means a one-way broadcast turns into a conversation, and conversations turn into sales, bookings and appointments. The newsletter stops being a monologue. The statistics show you in black and white how your messages are doing, and you quickly see what your customers actually care about.
It is not how many people you send to that counts. It is how many really read what you sent.
A worked example
Picture two scenarios with the same list of 200 contacts. Scenario one, the email: only part of the list opens it at all, a smaller part reads as far as the offer, and in the end a handful respond. Scenario two, the WhatsApp message: at a 98% open rate, practically all 200 contacts see your message. Even if only one in ten replies, that still gives you 20 real responses. Questions, bookings, visits.
This is deliberately a simplified thought experiment, not a guarantee of results. But it shows which lever matters most. Before you fiddle with subject lines, discount levels or images, solve the basic problem first: making sure your message gets seen at all.
Why email is not dead
An honest comparison has to include this: email still has its place. For long content, detailed quotes with attachments or formal communication, it remains the right tool. Nobody wants to read a three-page price list as a WhatsApp message.
WhatsApp’s strength lies elsewhere: short, relevant, timely messages to people who already know you. The new weekly offer, the appointment reminder, the heads-up about Saturday’s promotion. Exactly the kind of message local businesses want to get in front of their customers. So the smart strategy is not either-or. It is the right message on the right channel.
How to use the 98% without squandering it
A high open rate is trust paid in advance, and trust can be spent. Three rules keep your channel valuable. First: only send to people who have agreed through double opt-in. SmartChat has that built in, GDPR-compliant by default. Second: every message needs real value for the person receiving it; otherwise it should not go out. Third: go easy on frequency. One strong message a week beats daily noise.
Stick to those rules and you have a channel any marketing department would envy: a direct line to customers who genuinely read what you send.
The bottom line
The 98% open rate is not a marketing trick. It is the logical result of where your customers put their attention today. Get your messages there and you win the most important fight in marketing, the one for visibility. With the WhatsApp newsletter from SmartChat you are up and running in under 60 seconds, and the plans are laid out clearly on the pricing page.