When you first install WhatsApp on your phone, one of the first things it asks you to do is invite a friend or family member to also use WhatsApp. This prompt comes up right after you verify your phone number. WhatsApp wants you to invite someone before you can start using the app.
It’s a growth strategy
The main reason WhatsApp does this is as a growth strategy. WhatsApp relies on its large user base for its success. The more users WhatsApp has, the more useful and engaging the app becomes. By prompting each new user to invite someone else, WhatsApp can grow its user base exponentially through word-of-mouth.
Viral growth is key for any social app like WhatsApp. Since WhatsApp does not spend money on traditional advertising, it needs its own users to spread the word to their own networks. Asking each user to invite a friend is a simple and effective viral growth tactic.
Network effects
Messaging apps exhibit strong network effects – the more users on the platform, the more valuable it becomes. If none of your friends use WhatsApp, it’s not very useful to you. But as more of your contacts join, it becomes exponentially more valuable.
WhatsApp wants to leverage these network effects right from the start. By getting each new user to invite a friend, it kickstarts network effects and makes the app more engaging for the new user. Once a few of your friends are on it, you’re more likely to continue using it.
Drives engagement
Asking new users to invite a friend also helps drive engagement. Once you invite someone, you’re more likely to keep checking WhatsApp to see if they’ve joined. You might bug them to accept your invite. This builds engagement habits from day one.
It also gives the new user someone familiar to chat with right away. Chatting with a friend will be more engaging than an empty contact list. This gets new users hooked onto the app faster.
It’s an easy ask
Inviting someone to WhatsApp is a very easy ask. It takes just a few seconds and only requires knowing someone’s phone number. It’s simple enough that almost no one will refuse.
Compare this to asking new users to post about WhatsApp on social media, rate it on the app store, or take some other involved action. An invite is seamless and frictionless, making it very effective.
Peer pressure
There is an element of positive peer pressure when you invite someone to WhatsApp. Most people don’t want to refuse an invite from a friend or family member. So this puts pressure on them to join so they don’t disappoint you.
Fear of missing out can also kick in. If all your friends are using WhatsApp, you’ll feel left out if you don’t join. WhatsApp cleverly leverages this social pressure to spread by word-of-mouth.
Onboarding funnel
The invite flow is part of WhatsApp’s onboarding funnel. They want to guide new users through a series of simple steps to get them set up on the app. First enter your phone number, then verify it, then invite a friend. This funnel optimizes the setup process.
If WhatsApp simply dumped users onto the messaging screen after signup, fewer people would know what to do next or how to get value from the app. The invite flow gives them an obvious next action and gets their friend network kickstarted.
Contact discovery
The invite process helps WhatsApp discover more of your contacts. As soon as you access your phone’s contacts to select someone to invite, WhatsApp can retrieve those contacts (with your permission). This grows its web of interconnected users.
Your invitees then repeat the process with their own contact lists. This viral contact discovery helps WhatsApp map the connections between users, which aids its growth.
Better experience for friend
Your invitation provides a better onboarding experience for the friend you invite. Joining an app alongside a friend feels more personal and social than joining alone. They will likely have a better first impression of WhatsApp after being invited by you.
They can immediately chat with you instead of hanging around alone. You also provide social proof and endorsement for WhatsApp by inviting them personally.
User feedback
The invite process gives WhatsApp an opportunity to get quick user feedback. After you send an invite, it asks you to optionally tell them why you think your friend will like WhatsApp.
This lets WhatsApp gather simple feedback on what value users see in the product and why they think others will like it. This helps refine onboarding and marketing.
It works
Perhaps most importantly, asking users to invite a friend simply works. This growth tactic has helped WhatsApp quickly gain 1 billion+ users. The company trusts that this deceptively simple tactic will continue fueling its viral growth around the world.
Growth strategies are measured by their results. And given its runaway success, WhatsApp will likely keep asking new users to invite a friend for the foreseeable future.
Conclusion
In summary, WhatsApp asks you to invite someone when you first register because it is an effective growth strategy. Invites tap into social pressure and kickstart friend networks on the app. This leads to word-of-mouth viral growth, which has rocketed WhatsApp to over a billion users.
While initially annoying, the invite prompt optimizes onboarding and gets new users engaged right off the bat. It leverages the power of friend recommendations and personal invites. The invite flow also allows WhatsApp to discover more contacts while gathering user feedback.
Given the runaway success of WhatsApp, this simple growth tactic clearly works very well. The company will likely continue asking new users to invite a friend as one of its core growth strategies.