Guides
Send a WhatsApp broadcast
Broadcasts are the easiest thing in the product to get wrong, because the damage is not immediate. A bad send does not bounce; it quietly lowers your quality rating and messaging limit.
Short answer
Build a segment of contacts with recorded marketing consent and pick an approved Marketing template. Run the campaign preflight to catch opt-out and template problems, then send or schedule. Start with your smallest engaged segment, because your messaging limit and quality rating depend on how the first sends land.
Before you start
- An approved Marketing template — Utility templates cannot power broadcasts.
- Contacts with recorded marketing consent — Website opt-in.
- A segment or CSV defining who receives it.
- Enough send allowance left in the cycle — limits.
Step 1 — the audience, not the message#
Decide who receives this before you write a word. A send to the 15% who bought in the last 90 days usually beats a send to everyone, in revenue and in account health.
| Audience source | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Saved segment | The default. Conditions on orders, spend, tags, consent and recency, with a live matching count. |
| Lead score band | When you want the most engaged contacts regardless of order history. |
| CSV upload | Only for lists you can attest consent for. The attestation is recorded against the import. |
| Manual selection | Small, deliberate sends — a VIP group, a restock waitlist. |
Step 2 — build and send#
About 20 minutes
Create the campaign
Campaigns → New. Name it so you will recognise it in a results table later.
Pick one channel
WhatsApp or email, not both in one campaign. To do both, send two campaigns with audiences that do not overlap.
Choose the audience
Pick the segment. The count shown is the number of contacts who will actually receive it.
Pick the Marketing template
Only approved Marketing templates appear. Prefer name-only variables, since order variables render blank for contacts with no orders.
Run preflight
Preflight checks consent coverage and template readiness. It blocks a launch where too many contacts are opted out.
A blocked preflight is doing you a favour. Fix the audience rather than looking for a way around it.
Send or schedule
Sends go out in paced batches, not all at once. That protects your account and your quality rating.
Read the results
Open the campaign row for sent, delivered, read and failed counts. It also shows revenue attributed to the campaign.
Writing one that works#
- Lead with the thing, not the greeting. The first line is all most people read in a notification.
- One call to action. Two links halve both.
- Say who you are. On WhatsApp the sender is a phone number, not a logo. Name your store in the first line.
- Give them an exit. An easy opt-out costs you a few contacts; a block costs you account health.
- Send during waking hours in your customers’ timezone. A 2am notification earns a block.
Check it worked
- Preflight passes with no consent blockers.
- A test send to your own number renders correctly on a phone.
- Variables resolve to real values, not blanks or dashes.
- Delivered count is close to sent — a large gap means bad numbers.
- Opt-outs after the send stay in single digits proportionally.
If a broadcast will not send#
Launch blocked — too many contacts opted out
- Filter Audience by consent and look at who is excluded.
- Remove any purchased or scraped list. There is no safe way to send to one.
- Narrow to a consented segment and send to that instead.
- For order updates, use a journey with a Utility template — no marketing consent needed.
The template you want is not in the list
- It is a Utility template. Broadcasts need the Marketing category.
- It is still pending approval in Meta Manager.
- Use Sync from Meta if it was approved outside TopEdge.
Variables render as blanks or dashes
- The template uses order variables but the segment has contacts with no orders.
- Switch to a name-only template for broad sends.
- Preview against a real contact before launching.
Delivered is far below sent
- Numbers are invalid or not on WhatsApp — clean the list.
- Some recipients have blocked your number.
- If it is widespread, check your quality rating in Meta Business Manager.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need opt-in to send a WhatsApp broadcast?
- Yes. Promotional broadcasts use Marketing templates and require recorded consent from each contact. Transactional order updates are different — they send as Utility templates through journeys and do not need marketing consent.
- Why was my broadcast blocked before sending?
- Preflight blocks a launch when too large a share of the audience has no recorded consent or has opted out. Fix the audience rather than the check: narrow to a consented segment, and remove any list you cannot prove consent for.
- How many WhatsApp broadcasts can I send?
- Two separate limits apply. Your TopEdge plan caps campaign and email sends per billing cycle, and Meta caps how many unique customers you can start conversations with in 24 hours based on your quality rating and business verification.