1. Before You Begin: The Essential Pre-Bulk Campaign Checklist
A successful bulk campaign always starts with good preparation. Before you launch any marketing messages, it's crucial to ensure the following three areas are in order. Taking a few moments to verify these points can save you from failed campaigns and protect your brand's reputation.
1.1. Your WhatsApp Account Health
Your WhatsApp Business Account's health status directly affects your ability to send a bulk marketing campaign. Here are the critical components to check:
Sufficient Daily Sending Limit: WhatsApp limits how many unique customers you can message in a 24-hour period, based on levels. If your customer list for the bulk campaign exceeds your daily limit, the bulk campaign message to customers beyond that limit will fail. Check your limit to ensure your entire list can be reached.
Level 0: Up to 250 unique customers.
Level 1: Up to 1,000 unique customers.
Level 2: Up to 10,000 unique customers.
Level 3: Up to 100,000 unique customers.
Level 4: Unlimited customers.
=> How to check the tier limit: from the dashboard, locate the WhatsApp number card, and you will be able to see your tier limit.
Tip: If your tier limit is 1k and you would like to send a bulk campaign to 5k customers. Then you need to divide your list into small batches of 900 customers per day, leave the 100 for automations messages. You can schedule the campaigns to run over a couple of days until you finish your list.
Valid Payment Method: Marketing messages are a paid service charged by Meta. You must have a valid payment method linked to your Facebook Business Manager account to cover these costs. If your payment method fails, or if you have unpaid invoices for either BusinessChat or WhatsApp, your new campaigns will be blocked. Ensure you have enough funds on the card for the campaign so it doesn’t fail if funds are insufficient. Each marketing message costs 0.17 Hallalah.
1.2. A Prepared Customer List
Targeting the right audience is the key to a high-impact bulk campaign. You have two primary methods for selecting your customer list in Business Chat:
Using Existing Segments: You can send your campaign to "All Customers" or another pre-defined group that already exists within your Business Chat account.
Uploading a Custom List: For more precise targeting, you should first filter and export a customer list from your e-commerce platform (like Salla, Zid, or Shopify) or even export your data from BusinessChat and filter it as you wish. You can then upload this list as a CSV file directly into the Business Chat campaign setup when you start launching the campaign, or you can upload it upfront to the Contacts section of the platform. This is the recommended method for targeted campaigns, as Business Chat does not currently offer advanced customer filtering within the platform itself. All specific segmentation must be done on your e-commerce platform first.
Once your checklist is complete, you've built a solid foundation for success. Now, let's move on to the practical steps of launching your bulk campaign.
2. Create a WhatsApp Message Template
Before launching a bulk campaign, ensure your message template has been submitted to WhatsApp for approval with the "usage type" set to "Marketing." This approval process can take from minutes to 24 hours. Remember to sync your WhatsApp numbers within the BusinessChat settings to fetch the latest approval status for all your templates.
There are three template types you can use in your marketing campaign based on your needs.
2.1 Standard Marketing Templates
This is the most common and versatile bulk campaign type, perfect for promotions, new product announcements, and special offers. It supports rich media like images, videos, or PDF documents to make your message more engaging.
To create this standard marketing template, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Avatar profile picture at the bottom of the page on your BusinessChat account
Choose “Settings” and then click “ WhatsApp templates.”
Click the blue button that says” create a new template.”
From the window that appears, click “Usage” and choose “ Marketing.”
From the templates that will appear, choose one, and you will be able to edit it in the next step.
Give a name to your template; it has to be in English
Choose the header type if you want to send an image or a video. Simply click the media type, and you will be able to upload it later. You cannot upload the media in this step.
Edit the body of the template with your desired text. You can use custom fields to personalize your message, like using the customer name custom field. Simply click the custom field icon and choose the field you want to add.
Choose the button type, choose CTA, which is the button that will transfer your customer to your website. Add the button text and your website URL.
Click the next step at the top of the page.
Upload the image or video you want
Add a fallback value for your custom fields. The fallback value is what the system inserts by default instead of the customer name, for example, if it wasn’t able to detect a customer name.
Finally, click Submit templates.
2.2 Standard Marketing Templates with Quick Reply buttons
This template is useful if you want to give multiple options to your customers in your bulk campaign, like a link to visit the website, an option to submit a custom order through a form, and an option to talk to customer service representatives.
You can follow the same steps from earlier to create this temple. The only difference is that when you choose the buttons to add to the template, click the quick reply buttons instead of a CTA button. You can add up to 3 buttons, give each a distinct name, and later, during the campaign launch stage, specify the reply you want to send to your customers when they click any button.
2.3 Multi-product Marketing Templates
The Multi-product template allows you to showcase multiple products directly within the bulk campaign message, making it easier to engage customers and drive sales through bulk messaging campaigns.
To create this standard marketing template, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Avatar profile picture at the bottom of the page on your BusinessChat account
Choose “Settings” and then click “ WhatsApp templates.”
Click the blue button that says” create a new template.”
From the window that appears, click “Usage” and choose “ Marketing Multi-product.”
From the templates that will appear, choose one, and you will be able to edit it in the next step.
Give a name to your template; it has to be in English
Edit the body of the template with your desired text. You can use custom fields to personalize your message, like using the customer name custom field. Simply click the custom field icon and choose the field you want to add.
Add the button text, and the URL will be added automatically later.
Click the next step at the top of the page.
Define the number of products you want to add to the template. You can add up to 5 products, and the minimum is 3. At this step, you only confirm the number of products; you will be able to select which products you want to add later.
Add a fallback value for your custom fields. The fallback value is what the system inserts by default instead of the customer name, for example, if it wasn’t able to detect a customer name.
Finally, click Submit templates.
3. Launch a bulk campaign Type 1: Standard Marketing bulk Campaign (with Media)
To launch a bulk campaign using a standard marketing template, follow these steps:
Navigate to Campaigns: From your Business Chat dashboard, go to the "Bulk Marketing Campaigns" tab and click "Create New Campaign."
Name Your Campaign: Give your campaign a clear, descriptive name and click "Start Campaign Setup."
Select Your Audience: Choose your target customer list. You can either select to send to all contacts on the platform, or choose an existing group or choose "Upload a list of customers with detailed information" to upload the CSV file you prepared earlier. If you upload a CSV, you will need to select the column containing the phone numbers and specify the country code. Refer to this section for more info on audiences: What's the difference between Sending to all contacts and sending to a specific group.
Choose Your Template: Select the pre-approved standard marketing template you want to use for this campaign. You will have to upload the media to the template here again.
Click Send a test message to see how the template will appear. Add your phone number and click send. Wait a few seconds and check your phone. Note: if you didn’t receive the test message, it could be due to a Meta error, like withholding marketing messages if you’ve already received other messages the same day. You can try another number.
(Optional) Activate Smart Sending: It is highly recommended to enable the "Smart Sending" option. This feature prevents the message from being sent to any customer who has already received a marketing message from you in the last 5 days, which helps reduce spam complaints. As a marketer, your goal is to build relationships, not burn out your audience. Using Smart Sending is a key discipline for maintaining a healthy customer list and improving long-term engagement.
Schedule Your Campaign: Choose to "Send Immediately" to launch the campaign right away, or select "Schedule for a Later Time" to pick a future date and time for it to go out.
Launch: Click the final button to send or schedule your campaign. You're all set!
Mastering the standard media campaign is a huge step. Next, we'll briefly cover a specialized template designed to showcase multiple products at once.
3. Launch a bulk campaign Type 2: Multi-Product bulk Campaign
Business Chat supports a specialized "Marketing-Multi-Product" template type, ideal for showcasing multiple items from your store in a single, convenient message. The launch process for a multi-product campaign follows the same general steps outlined in Section 3 above.
The only difference is that when you choose this template, you will be prompted to choose the products you want to add to your campaign. Select from the drop-down that will appear once you select the multi-product template.
Note: all information related to the products is synced directly from your ecommerce platform. If you want to change something, you will have to change it from the product description itself on the ecommerce platform.
(Optional) Activate Smart Sending: It is highly recommended to enable the "Smart Sending" option. This feature prevents the message from being sent to any customer who has already received a marketing message from you in the last 5 days, which helps reduce spam complaints. As a marketer, your goal is to build relationships, not burn out your audience. Using Smart Sending is a key discipline for maintaining a healthy customer list and improving long-term engagement.
4. Launch a bulk campaign Type 3: Interactive bulk Campaign (with Buttons)
This bulk campaign type is designed to boost customer engagement by including clickable buttons that prompt different responses.
The launch process for an interactive bulk campaign with quick reply buttons follows the same general steps outlined in Section 3 above. However, there’s an extra step.
The Unique Launch Step: Assigning a Bot
When you select a template that includes quick reply buttons during the campaign setup process, a new step will appear.
You must assign a custom chatbot to handle the incoming replies. This is the key to the interactive experience. When a customer clicks one of the quick reply buttons, this designated bot will provide an automated, instantaneous response, guiding the customer through a conversation, answering their question, or directing them to the right place. You can write the text for each button on the page that opens in the setup.
(Optional) Activate Smart Sending: It is highly recommended to enable the "Smart Sending" option. This feature prevents the message from being sent to any customer who has already received a marketing message from you in the last 5 days, which helps reduce spam complaints. As a marketer, your goal is to build relationships, not burn out your audience. Using Smart Sending is a key discipline for maintaining a healthy customer list and improving long-term engagement.
5. Launch a bulk Campaign Type 4: with dynamic content
A bulk campaign with dynamic content lets you further personalize your message. The template for this bulk campaign can be a standard marketing template with quick reply or CTA buttons, or a multi-product template. The only significant difference is the custom data you want to add.
Follow these steps:
Create the template: When designing your template, insert variables where you want dynamic text (e.g., "Hello {{1}}, here is your discount code {{2}}").
Prepare the Customer Data (CSV): You need a file containing the specific data for each customer. When you’re preparing your contacts list, ensure the file has clear column headers. You need a column for phone numbers and separate columns for each variable you used in your template (e.g., "Customer Name" and "Coupon Code").
Launching the Campaign, following the same steps from section 4.
Configure Dynamic Content: Select the Template: Choose the marketing template you prepared earlier. And Map Variables: You will see the custom fields (e.g., custom field 1). Click on the field, and a list of your CSV headers will appear under "Choose from CSV file." Select the column header that matches the custom field (e.g., map custom field 1 to the "First Name" column). Repeat this for all variables in your message.
Fallback Values: Enter a "fallback value" for each variable. This text will be used if a specific customer's row in the CSV is empty for that data point.
Review and Send: You can choose to send the campaign immediately or schedule it for a later time.
6. After the Launch: Understanding Your bulk Campaign's Performance
Once your bulk campaign has been sent, BusinessChat provides detailed reports to help you track its success and understand its impact. To view a report, navigate to the "Bulk Marketing Campaigns" page and click on the specific campaign you want to analyze.
6.1. Key bulk Campaign Metrics
The campaign report page displays several important metrics. These are good to understand the general performance of the bulk campaign at a glance.
Here’s what they mean:
Metric | What It Means |
Total | The total number of customers you targeted in the campaign. |
Delivered | The number of customers who successfully received your message. |
Read | The number of customers who opened and read your message on WhatsApp. |
Clicked | The number of customers who clicked a "Call to Action" button (e.g., a website link) in your message. |
Replied To | The number of customers who replied to your message. |
Failed | The number of messages that were not delivered. You can find specific reasons in the exported customer report. |
Conversion Rate | The percentage of successfully delivered messages that resulted in a purchase attributed to the campaign. It is calculated as: (Orders attributed to campaign ÷ Successful deliveries) x 100%. |
Revenue | The total revenue from purchases attributed to this campaign. |
6.2. Exporting Detailed Reports for bulk campaigns
For a deeper dive into your campaign's data, you can export two different types of reports.
Revenue Report: Use this report to see the specific orders that are attributed to your campaign. It includes valuable details like customer numbers, order dates, and the total value of each purchase. Note: The report includes order values in USD.
Contacts Report: Use this to see the delivery status for every single customer you targeted. This report is essential for troubleshooting, as it provides the specific reason for any failed messages, helping you clean your list and improve future campaigns.
Note: The bulk campaign report will continue to be updated within 5 days, which is the attribution period. To get the final results, it’s best that you download the reports for analysis after 5 days from campaign launch.
7. Retargeting contacts with failed delivery from a bulk campaing
When analyzing the reports of your launched bulk campaigns, you might want to send a new campaign to target those who didn't buy from the previous campaign or those who didn't receive the bulk campaign message for any reason. Follow these steps to do that:
Export the previous sent campaign report
Filter your data, like those who didn't buy fromt he previous bulk campaign or those who didn't receive the campaign all together.
Paste the filtered contacts in a new CSV sheet and upload them again to the BusinessChat platform.
Launch a new bulk campaign and specify the audience list to the uploaded filtered data.
=> If you want to send the new bulk campaign to the contacts that didn't receive the previous bulk campaign only, then the easier option is to launch a new bulk campaign to the same database you used in your previous and simply activate the Smart Sending feature when you're about to launch.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You cannot filter contacts directly from the campaign page or when launching a camapgin. All filtration need to be done manually on an excel sheet.
7. Best Practices for High-Impact bulk Campaigns
To ensure your campaigns are successful and well-received by your customers, always keep these best practices in mind.
Target Wisely: Start with customers who have previously engaged with your brand or opted in to receive messages. Never use purchased lists, as this can harm your quality rating. For huge campaigns, it's a smart strategy to test your message and offer on a small segment of your audience first before sending it to everyone.
Divide your contacts list and A/B test the bulk campaign: if you are sending it to a large database, it’s best to send in smaller batches of 1k or so to understand and analyze customers’ reactions and improve. If you notice low read rates, for example, it might be wise to switch to more engaging content.
Craft a Compelling Message: Keep your text concise, clear, and easy to understand. While the character limit is 1024, shorter is almost always better. Your message should include a clear, attractive, and time-sensitive offer, such as a discount code, to create a sense of urgency and encourage immediate action.
Monitor Your Account Status: Always check your WhatsApp number's quality rating before sending a bulk campaign. Avoid sending if your rating is "Medium" or "Low" to prevent further damage to your sender reputation. Finally, double-check that your payment methods are up to date to prevent interruptions.
8. FAQs
Whats is the difference between Call to Action Buttons and Quick Reply buttons?
Call to Action Buttons: These buttons direct the user to perform an action outside of the chat. You can have up to two "Call to Action" buttons, which can be configured to either visit a website or call a phone number. These actions do not require an automated bot to function.
Quick Reply Buttons: These buttons are designed to get an immediate response from the customer within the chat, making it easy for them to interact with your message.
2. What are the Media dimensions?
To ensure your media attachments are delivered correctly and look great, follow these technical specifications.
Media Type | Recommended Dimensions/Format | Max File Size | Important Note |
Image | 1125 x 600 pixels (JPEG or PNG) | 5 MB | Images with a different aspect ratio will be cropped. |
Video | MPEG4 (.mp4) | 16 MB | Ensure the video is engaging and short. |
File | PDF only | 100 MB | Useful for brochures, invoices, or guides. |
3. Can I download the contacts who abandoned their carts from Businesschat during a specific period?
You cannot filter the contacts data directly on BusinessChat. The easiest way to filter your contacts based on who abandoned their carts or another filter like who made an order during a specific period, is to export the report from your ecommerce platform. Once you export your report, uplaod it to your Businesschat account and use it in your new Bulk campaings.
4. What's the difference between Sending to all contacts and sending to a specific group ?
Here are the different ways available to choose which audience to send a bulk campaign to:
Send to All contacts: If you click send to all contacts, you will send your bulk campaign to all the contacts available on your BusinessChat account. Be careful of your tier limit and budget if you want to choose this option. Important: you can exclude a certain group when choosing this option, by clicking on the button that says “Exclude contacts in (optional)”, the campaign will be sent to all contacts except those in the group you define here.
Send to a group or segment: You can target audiences based on groups you have previously created and saved within the platform. If you choose this option, you will need to fill in these options: “The contacts must be in” and choose “All of“ or “Any of”, then select the group from the next dropdown button.
Important: If you choose “All of”, you will send the campaign only to contacts who are found in all the groups you chose. If you choose “Any of,” It will send to contacts found in either of the groups you chose.
=> You can use the exclude feature here as well. However, pay attention that the Exclude contacts feature in the bulk campaign only excludes contacts found in a group on the platform. It’s not based on dynamic filters like the contact attribute.
3. Send to contacts with dynamic content: if you select this option, you need to upload the prepared contacts CSV file.