Send WhatsApp broadcasts without getting blocked
Broadcasts get blocked when they reach people who did not expect them. Here is how opt-in, templates, quality and limits work, and how to plan campaigns that customers are glad to receive.
Start with real opt-in
WhatsApp's Business Policy asks you to get a person's permission before you message them on WhatsApp, and to respect requests to stop. Opt-in should be clear: the person knows it is WhatsApp, knows which business is messaging, and knows roughly what they will get. A tick box on your checkout, a website form, a reply to a WhatsApp chat they started, or a sign-up at your counter all work.
Record where each contact came from. In WaKite, tag contacts by source when you import them or when a flow collects them, for example "opt-in: website" or "opt-in: store". Old numbers from an exported phone book, a bought list or a different business are not opt-in, and sending to them is the fastest way to collect blocks and reports.
Templates and their categories
Every broadcast uses a template that Meta has approved. Each template has a category: marketing for offers and news, utility for updates about something the customer already did, such as an order or booking, and authentication for one-time codes. Meta reviews the wording and can change the category if the content does not match, so write it honestly.
Good templates are short, specific and useful. Name your business, say why you are writing, and give one clear action, such as a link button or a quick reply. Variables let you fill in the name, the order number or the date for each contact. Avoid shouting in capitals, vague prize claims and links that hide where they go.
- Marketing: offers, launches, newsletters
- Utility: order, booking and account updates
- Authentication: one-time codes only
- One clear action per message
Protect your quality rating
Meta gives each number a quality rating based on how people react to your messages, especially blocks and reports. A falling rating is a warning: keep it up and your templates or number can be limited. WaKite shows the quality rating and the messaging limit of each number on the accounts page and before you send a campaign.
What lowers quality is predictable. Sending to people who did not opt in, sending too often, sending the same offer again and again, and sending messages that do not match what people signed up for. What keeps it high is just as simple: relevant messages to the right segment, a reason to read, and an easy way to stop.
Understand messaging limits
Messaging limits cap how many different people you can start conversations with, using templates, in a moving 24-hour period. Meta sets them at the business portfolio level, so all the numbers in your portfolio share the same allowance. New accounts start low. The limit rises as you verify your business and keep sending good-quality messages that use a fair share of your current limit.
Plan campaigns around the limit rather than fighting it. Send your most engaged segment first, spread a large list over several days, and do not blast the whole database on day one. In WaKite, campaigns can be scheduled and paced per minute, and when Meta signals a limit the campaign waits and continues instead of failing every message.
Personalise and segment
A broadcast to everyone is rarely the best broadcast. Use tags and folders to pick an audience: people who bought in the last month, people interested in one category, people in one city. A smaller list that cares about the message brings more replies and fewer blocks than a large list that does not.
Fill template variables from the contact's details, such as the name, the city or the last product bought. In WaKite each variable can take a fixed text or a value from the contact, and you can send a test to your own number before the real run. The estimate before sending shows how many contacts will be reached and how many will be skipped.
Timing, frequency and STOP
Send when your customers are awake and not working, which for most consumer audiences means late morning or early evening on weekdays, and avoid late nights. Choose a rhythm, such as one campaign a week or two a month, and keep to it. Watch replies and opt-outs after each campaign; a rise in opt-outs means you are sending too often or to the wrong people.
Make stopping easy, and respect it immediately. In WaKite, a customer who replies STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE or STOP PROMOTIONS is opted out of marketing automatically, and START brings them back. Opted-out contacts are skipped by marketing broadcasts and drips. A flow bot can also offer an opt-out button, so people who prefer tapping to typing can leave too.
Step by step
- 1Check opt-in
Send only to contacts who agreed to hear from you, and tag where that agreement came from.
- 2Write the template
Pick the honest category, write one clear message with variables and a button, and submit it.
- 3Choose the audience
Select a tag, a folder or a list of numbers, and read the estimate of who will be skipped.
- 4Send a test
Send the campaign to your own number and check every variable and link.
- 5Schedule and pace
Schedule a sensible time and a per-minute pace that fits your messaging limit.
- 6Review the results
Check sent, delivered, read, replied, skipped and failed counts, and watch opt-outs.