In the expansion of cross-border business, enterprises often fall into the dilemma of "wanting to reach but failing to target accurately": WhatsApp messages sent to overseas users either fall on deaf ears (mostly invalid accounts) or reach users without generating conversions (non-target groups), wasting a great deal of time and costs. WhatsApp Number Screening is precisely the key tool to solve this pain point—it can accurately identify activated and active WhatsApp accounts, eliminating invalid communication from the source. More importantly, WhatsApp Number Screening is not a single screening function; when combined with ITG Global Screening, it can also integrate multi-dimensional data such as user region, behavior, and needs, enabling enterprises to shift from "blind delivery" to "precision positioning." This allows enterprises to easily lock in active users in target markets and inject efficient momentum into cross-border marketing.
I. Core Pain Points of Cross-Border Marketing: Why Is It Difficult to Locate Active Users?
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High Proportion of Invalid Accounts, Active Users "Hidden Deep"
In the overseas number databases acquired by overseas enterprises, there are generally 30%-50% invalid accounts, including those not activated on WhatsApp, cancelled, or long-term dormant accounts. Statistics from a cross-border e-commerce enterprise targeting the Middle East market show that among its 100,000 numbers to be marketed, only 38,000 are active WhatsApp accounts, and the rest are invalid numbers. The promotional information previously sent to these invalid numbers not only failed to generate conversions but also wasted nearly 30,000 yuan in SMS costs.
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Vague User Portraits, Activity ≠ Demand
Even if active WhatsApp users are found, marketing will still fail if their real needs cannot be matched. For example, promoting high-end business software to the active "student group" in the European market—even if users check messages frequently, they will not make purchases. Instead, they may block the enterprise account due to irrelevant information interference, affecting subsequent reach.
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Fragmented Cross-Border Data, Precision Limited by "Information Silos"
The user data acquired by enterprises is often scattered across different channels (such as e-commerce platform orders, social media follows, and ad click records), making it impossible to integrate and analyze the correlation between user activity and needs. For instance, knowing that a user has made a purchase on an e-commerce platform (having demand) but being unsure whether they are an active WhatsApp user (whether they can be reached) leads to positioning gaps.
II. Core Capabilities of WhatsApp Number Screening: From "Identifying Activity" to "Locking in Demands"
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Real-Time Verification of Account Status, Accurate Identification of Active Users
By connecting to official WhatsApp interfaces, WhatsApp Number Screening can real-time determine the activation status and activity of accounts corresponding to numbers: marking accounts that are "activated and logged in ≥ 5 times in the past 30 days" as active, those "activated but not logged in for 90 days" as dormant, and those "not activated or cancelled" as invalid. A cross-border educational institution used this function to screen 42,000 active accounts from 80,000 Southeast Asian numbers, and the reach rate of subsequent course promotion messages increased from 22% to 88%.
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Basic Dimension Screening, Narrowing Down Target Market Scope
In addition to account status, WhatsApp Number Screening supports screening by basic dimensions such as region, language, and device type, helping enterprises focus on core markets. For example, when promoting a localized e-commerce App to users in "Indonesia, Southeast Asia, using Indonesian, and Android devices," WhatsApp Number Screening is used to locate this group first before sending messages, increasing the download conversion rate by 2.5 times compared to random delivery.
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Lightweight Operation, Lowering Technical Threshold
No professional technical team is required. WhatsApp Number Screening provides a visual operation interface. Enterprises only need to upload the number database and check the screening conditions (such as "active accounts + Indonesian region"), and screening can be completed within 1-2 hours. Small and medium-sized overseas enterprises can quickly locate active users without additional technical investment.
III. Collaborating with ITG Global Screening: Further Enhancing the Precision of WhatsApp Number Screening
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Integrating Multi-Source Data to Complete User "Demand Portraits"
ITG Global Screening can connect enterprise internal CRM data and third-party compliant data sources (such as user consumption records, browsing tracks, and interest tags) to supplement the "behavioral dimension" for WhatsApp Number Screening. For example, after a cross-border beauty brand found "active users aged 30-40 in Europe" through WhatsApp Number Screening, it used ITG Global Screening to add conditions such as "purchased skincare products in the past 3 months and followed 'natural ingredients' topics." The conversion rate of product recommendations for the finally screened user group increased by 45%, far exceeding the effect of single screening.
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Dynamically Tracking Activity to Ensure Positioning Timeliness
User activity changes over time (e.g., a user was previously active but no longer pays attention to relevant content due to changed needs). ITG Global Screening can real-time capture the latest user behavior data (such as "whether they browsed the enterprise official website in the past 7 days" and "whether they replied to WhatsApp messages") and synchronize it to the WhatsApp Number Screening system to update the active user list. A cross-border tourism platform used this function to update active users who "recently searched for 'European tourism'" before holidays and sent exclusive route discounts, with consultation volume exceeding 3,000 within 3 days.
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Compliance Verification to Avoid Cross-Border Risks
Regulations on user data usage vary greatly across countries (such as the EU's GDPR and Brazil's General Data Protection Law). ITG Global Screening has built-in compliance templates for more than 20 regions worldwide, which can automatically verify whether the WhatsApp Number Screening process is compliant: for screening in the EU market, the system will check whether users have agreed to receive WhatsApp marketing information; for cross-border data transmission, it will confirm whether it meets the local "adequacy decision" requirements. An overseas social App collaborated with both tools when expanding into the EU market, with no compliance complaints and successful passage of inspections by local regulatory authorities.
IV. Practical Cases: Application Effects of WhatsApp Number Screening + ITG Global Screening
Case 1: Cross-Border E-Commerce Enterprise (Target Market: Malaysia, Southeast Asia)
- Pain Points: Previously, when sending new product messages to Malaysian users, the reach rate was only 25% and the conversion rate was less than 1%. It was impossible to determine whether the problem was invalid accounts or mismatched needs.
- Used WhatsApp Number Screening to filter "accounts in Malaysia, activated and active ≥ 4 times in the past 30 days," obtaining 58,000 active users from 120,000 numbers;
- With the help of ITG Global Screening, added conditions such as "browsed home goods on e-commerce platforms in the past 2 months and had a consumption budget of 500-1,000 yuan," further refining to 23,000 target users;
- Sent "limited-time 20% off for new home goods" messages to the screened users, with attached purchase links.
- Results: The message reach rate reached 91%, the conversion rate increased to 6.2%, the monthly sales of home goods increased by 800,000 yuan, and marketing costs were reduced by 55%.
Case 2: Cross-Border SaaS Enterprise (Target Market: Germany, Europe)
- Pain Points: When promoting enterprise collaboration software, although it reached a large number of active WhatsApp users, the consultation volume was low. The core problem was failing to locate "enterprise users with collaboration needs."
- Used WhatsApp Number Screening to filter "accounts in Germany, active ≥ 5 times in the past 30 days," obtaining 35,000 active users;
- Used ITG Global Screening to add conditions such as "enterprise size of 50-200 employees and searched for 'enterprise collaboration tools' in the past month," refining to 12,000 target users;
- Sent software promotion messages of "14-day free trial + exclusive enterprise discounts" to the target users.
- Results: The user consultation volume increased by 3 times, the trial conversion rate reached 28%, and the number of paid customers increased by 150, far exceeding the previous promotion effect.
V. Practical Suggestions for Enterprises Using WhatsApp Number Screening
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Hierarchical Screening to Avoid User Loss Due to "Over-Precision"
First, use WhatsApp Number Screening to locate "active accounts + core markets," then gradually add demand dimensions with ITG Global Screening. Avoid setting too many conditions at once, which may result in too few target users. For example, first screen "active users in the United States," then add "cross-border shopping needs," and finally superimpose "consumption budget" to gradually narrow the scope.
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Optimizing Screening Strategies by Combining WhatsApp Interaction Data
Regularly analyze the interaction of screened users (such as message open rate, response rate, and link click rate). If the interaction rate of users in a certain dimension is low (e.g., the response rate of users following "high-end digital products" is only 5%), adjust that dimension in the next screening or supplement more precise demand tags through ITG Global Screening.
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Adapting to Different Market Characteristics to Customize Screening Rules
User activity characteristics vary across markets: users in Southeast Asia are more active in the evening, while users in Europe pay more attention to data privacy. Enterprises can adjust the "active time period" screening condition in WhatsApp Number Screening for target markets and strengthen compliance verification with ITG Global Screening to improve screening adaptability.
VI. Conclusion
For overseas enterprises, precisely locating active users in target markets is a prerequisite for successful cross-border marketing, and WhatsApp Number Screening is exactly the core tool to achieve this goal—it solves the basic problem of "being unable to find active users," and collaboration with ITG Global Screening further addresses the in-depth pain point of "being unable to find active users with needs." In the context of increasingly fierce cross-border competition, mastering the usage of WhatsApp Number Screening and combining it with professional tools to achieve "precision positioning + compliant operation" will help enterprises bid farewell to "ineffective internal competition" in cross-border marketing and achieve efficient growth in target markets.
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