Broadcast settings

Every setting you fill in when you send a broadcast, what it does, and how to use it well. For the steps in order, see Send a broadcast.

Variables

Each {{1}}, {{2}} in the template needs a value when you send. There are two kinds.

Use fixed values for what belongs to the broadcast: the discount, the date the sale ends, the name of the collection. Use attributes for what belongs to the person: their name, their city, their order number.

Pick an attribute

Click the attribute button next to a variable to see every attribute you can use, or type one yourself.

See Tags and attributes for the full list.

Always add a fallback

A fallback is the value used for a contact who has no value for the attribute. Without one, that contact does not get the message at all.

Write the fallback so the sentence still reads naturally:

A fallback such as customer or N/A reads like a form letter, which is exactly what personalising was meant to avoid.

Variables in buttons

If a URL button ends in a variable, fill it in like any other. Most often it is the end of a link, such as a product or collection path.

Media

If the template's type is IMAGE, VIDEO or FILE, you attach the file for this broadcast. The sample you uploaded when creating the template was only for review.

The text of the template cannot change, so the file has to fit it. An image template approved as "New in this week" can carry a different product photo every week. It cannot become a sale banner without making the text wrong.

Schedule

Scheduling sends the broadcast at a time you pick instead of now. You can schedule up to two months ahead.

1. Turn on Schedule Date & Time.
2. Pick the date, the time and the timezone.
3. Click Schedule Campaign.

Scheduled broadcasts are listed under Scheduled on the Campaigns page, where you can cancel them. See Manage broadcasts.

Consent is checked at send time. A scheduled broadcast looks at each contact's opt-in when it goes out, not when you scheduled it. Anyone who opted out in between is skipped, as they would be from any broadcast. So you can schedule a festive broadcast weeks ahead without worrying about the people who unsubscribe before the day.

When to send. Send when your customers pick up their phones, not when you finish writing. Lunch breaks and evenings usually beat early mornings. A marketing message late at night is the one most likely to get you blocked.

Pick the timezone deliberately. The broadcast goes to everyone at the time you set, in the timezone you pick. If you sell abroad, broadcast to each country separately, scheduled for its own evening.

Schedule launches, not reactions. Scheduling suits sales, launches and festive messages you can plan. A restock alert is worth more the moment the stock arrives.

Retries

A retry sends the broadcast again to contacts whose message failed. You set it up before sending.

1. Turn on Retry Campaign.
2. Add up to three retries. For each, set how long after the original send it goes, up to 24 hours.

Track them on the campaign under Scheduled Retries.

Space the retries out, and make the last one late. Some failures clear in minutes, such as a brief outage at WhatsApp. Others take a day or two. When a person has already had too many marketing messages from other businesses, WhatsApp holds back new ones for 24 to 48 hours. A retry an hour later hits the same wall.

Put your last retry near the 24-hour limit. For anyone still failed after that, resend by hand a day or two later. See Manage broadcasts.

Retries do not help with every failure. A number that is not on WhatsApp fails every time. See Failed messages.