What is a WhatsApp broadcast?

The definition in two minutes

A broadcast is the same message sent to several customers at once. Each customer receives it as a personal message, in their conversation with the business. They do not see the other recipients, and their reply goes to the business alone.

It is not a group. In a group, everyone sees everyone’s messages.

With the WhatsApp Business API, a broadcast is a marketing message template sent separately to each recipient. People also call it a campaign.

How it works

• The message is a Meta-approved template. When its aim is promotional, it falls under the marketing category. Outside the 24-hour window, a template is the only message you can send.
• The API sends each message to a single recipient: the software repeats the send for the whole list.
• Each customer must have opted in. Meta requires it before a template is sent.
• Meta charges for each marketing message delivered, by the recipient’s country. A message that is not delivered is not charged.
• If the customer replies, a 24-hour window opens and you can answer freely.

• WhatsApp consent: rules and wording →
• Template categories explained →
• What is free and what is paid →

The Meta rules that apply

The messaging limit

Meta limits how many different customers your business portfolio can message outside the service window in a rolling 24 hours: 250 for a newly created business portfolio, then 2,000, 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited. A list larger than the limit has to be spread over several days.

Frequency capping

Meta can limit how many marketing templates a single person receives, from all businesses combined. A capped message is neither delivered nor charged.

The customer stopping marketing messages

A person can stop a specific business’s marketing messages from within WhatsApp. Meta then no longer delivers them.

Message quality

If customers block or report your messages and quality stays low for a long time, Meta can limit your sending.

Delivery in batches

For a portfolio that has sent few templates so far, Meta can hold back part of a large send and deliver it in batches, looking at customer feedback before each batch. This is being rolled out gradually.

• Messaging limits explained →
• WhatsApp Business number quality →

App broadcast list or API send

The word covers two things. In the WhatsApp Business app, a broadcast list sends a message to contacts picked by hand. With the API, a broadcast is an approved template sent to an audience whose opt-in is on record.

If you keep the app on the same number through coexistence, Meta turns broadcast lists off there: you cannot create new ones, and existing lists become read-only.

• Broadcast list or campaign: the comparison →
• Coexistence with WYP.chat →
• App or API: the comparison →

Example

Illustrative case: a bakery prepares a marketing template for the return of its galettes. It sends it to the customers who agreed to hear about its new products. Each one receives it in their own conversation, and the bakery replies to those who write back. It does not write to anyone who sent STOP.

Frequently asked questions