Moema Vianna
Product Marketing Manager
About the client
How ALDI France Cut WhatsApp Acquisition Costs by 66% with 360Pilot
Grocery retailer turns WhatsApp into a high-performing subscriber acquisition channel, achieving 66% lower costs and a 4.3% conversion rate.
The Challenge
Reducing Acquisition Costs and Overcoming Technical Barriers
ALDI France has been using 360Dialog to send weekly offer leaflets via WhatsApp while steadily growing their audience. Initial Meta Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA) campaigns successfully generated subscribers but at costs that exceeded industry benchmarks.
A major limitation was the lack of optimization capabilities due to Conversions API (CAPI) unavailability in Europe, preventing automated CTWA optimization and making budget use less efficient. Without full-funnel visibility, campaign optimization relied on guesswork, slowing growth and keeping subscriber acquisition costs high.
The combination of technical limitations, infrastructure constraints, and elevated costs made it essential to adopt a solution that could track the entire journey and unlock data-driven decision-making.
The Solution
Three-Phase Optimization Strategy Powered by 360Pilot
Between November 2024 and April 2025, ALDI France, supported by its agency Wavemaker, implemented a performance-driven acquisition strategy centered on 360Pilot's full-funnel measurement capabilities.
Creative Strategy Optimization Based on Performance Data:
Campaign v1 (Nov–Dec 2024): Baseline measurement showed limited creative variety, with identical formats leading to high frequency and audience fatigue.
Campaign v2 (Jan–Feb 2025): Introduced lookalike audiences, varied formats, and product-focused creatives. 360Pilot identified top-performing variations.
Campaign v3 (Mar–Apr 2025): Adopted a weekly creative refresh approach, introducing at least two new creatives per week in line with promotional cycles. Creative frequency dropped from 4.47 to 1.38 average exposures per user.
Conversion Funnel Tracking and Performance Analysis:
Measured the complete path from ad impression → click → WhatsApp conversation → subscription.
Identified that weekend campaigns had significantly higher costs, while catalogue-format ads delivered 2.1x higher engagement rates (4.45% CTR) compared to single static formats (2.12% CTR).
Used funnel insights to focus on changes that directly improved subscription conversions.
Media Timing Optimization Based on Cost Efficiency:
Found that Monday–Thursday campaigns outperformed weekends, with the lowest CPA on Mondays.
Concentrated budget on peak engagement hours between 12:00–21:00 UTC.
Used scheduling adjustments to maintain reach while maximizing cost efficiency.
The results
66% Lower Cost per Subscriber and Higher Conversions
Over three campaign iterations, ALDI France achieved:
66% decrease in cost per subscriber, establishing WhatsApp as a cost-effective acquisition channel.
Click-through rate growth from 0.9% to 4.0%, showing improved ad relevance.
4.3% subscription conversion rate, more than double the retail industry benchmark.
These results transformed WhatsApp from a static communication channel into a proven performance marketing tool.
