How to Send Broadcast Message on WhatsApp?

Back in the day, people and businesses used to communicate via email, but nowadays people are more likely to prefer instant messaging apps like WhatsApp as they can directly connect with brands and get solutions to their queries faster.

But for businesses, it’s not easy to collect contacts from customers, segment customer lists based on their interests, send bulk messages, automate the messaging workflow, and respond to more leads personally. It requires more effort, time, teamwork, and investment.

Considering this problem, WhatsApp launched its Business app and Business API, which come with innovative and advanced features like WhatsApp broadcast.

In this guide, we will cover how to send broadcast message on WhatsApp, its benefits, examples, and more.

You will also learn how the broadcasting feature of Chatix will help you streamline your sales processes for the Shopify store and even more.

What is a WhatsApp broadcast?

Simply put, WhatsApp broadcast is the most useful feature of WhatsApp itself, allowing users to send text messages, images, videos, or other media to a group of recipients at the same time. A broadcast message is sent in groups but appears in individual chats, and recipients can't tell who else is receiving the same message.

This feature is available for free and highly recommended for business purposes because they can send personalized messages in bulk through the WhatsApp Business app or WhatsApp Business API without any fear of being blocked or flagged.

Unfortunately, with little use of abusive words or unsolicited bulk messages, you may get your account banned from the app. According to the statistics, between May and June 2021, WhatsApp banned two million Indian accounts to protect users against spam messages.

Sending the same message to a large audience with just one click makes this feature time-saving, cost-efficient, and more useful for businesses to grow exponentially.

However, it comes with certain limitations, which we’ll discuss throughout this article.

Difference between WhatsApp Group vs. WhatsApp Broadcast

Many people can’t understand the difference between WhatsApp groups and broadcasts, but here we will make it clear.

Both features look almost the same but are used for different purposes. In a WhatsApp group, all members are connected to one common chat where everyone can see the same message as well as other members' names or phone numbers.

Assuming a WhatsApp group In a business context, it looks more promotional and unconventional to engage with customers.

On the other hand, when you send the same message to multiple phone numbers through the broadcast feature, every recipient will get the message privately and will not see that the message is being broadcast to others.

It makes communication more personal and secure for users, resulting in a high retention rate, more sales, and high revenue.

Limitations of sending broadcasts by WhatsApp Business App

Sending a broadcast message to several contacts through WhatsApp Business is a more convenient way for businesses, but certain limitations make this tool unfit for larger companies, including:

• To receive your WhatsApp broadcast messages, recipients must save your business number in their address book.

• You can only add 256 contacts to a single broadcast list and cannot send messages to more than 256 contacts at once, which makes it unhelpful for medium- or large-sized businesses.

• There are some restrictions about the content format you may face; for instance, sending promotional messages is allowed in some regions. Additionally, you can only send content formats like simple texts, images, videos, and documents.

Personalization in messaging becomes challenging while broadcasting the same message because not all customers want spam or cringe messages in their chat.

Therefore, adding personalization to the messaging, like including the customer’s name or product name they purchased before, can show them that you’re talking to them personally.

• You can only check who has received and seen a broadcast message, but you can’t figure out how customers are interacting with your message, such as the click-through rate, bounce rate, engagement, and conversions.

• You can expect no automation in this feature, like scheduling broadcast messages, API or chat automation integration, an advanced analytical dashboard, etc.

• Last but not least, there is no option to import the contact list directly to your WhatsApp Business App, making it difficult and frustrating to add contacts manually.

Remember, this feature is only preferable for local or small businesses. For your broadcast messages to get successfully sent out, you need to have a better platform like Chatix (an app for Shopify) that helps you break all these limits.

Benefits of Broadcast Messages on WhatsApp?

Alright, after looking at some limitations and restrictions of message broadcasting on WhatsApp, it’s important to know its benefits.

1. Add a personal touch.

WhatsApp is an app that is used to talk to our friends and family every single day. Companies need to know that chatting with users should be informal and personal. As we described above, by adding personalization to the broadcast messaging, you automatically build a more personal relationship with your customer.

2. Engage with customers

Sending all essential announcements, product updates, offers, and promotional content materials to your broadcast list can help you stay connected and engaged with your customers. It maintains a good relationship between customers and businesses.

3. Improved retention rate

Customer relationships are like a flywheel; they require effort and time to spin, and once they’re spinning, it’s important to maintain them. If you regularly nurture your contacts and try to retain customers through message broadcasting, reminders, or notifications, chances are you are more likely to get more traffic, sales, and revenue.

4. Maintain privacy and scalability.

Unline WhatsApp groups and messages sent via a broadcast list are received as personal messages in the chatbox, and nobody will have an idea that they are a part of the mass messaging campaign. As a result, there is an improvement in scalability, trust, and privacy.

5. Know user behavior.

Through the message broadcasts feature with analytics, you can learn user behavior like whether they like your offers, their interest, their desire to buy more products, etc. You can also categorize clients based on interests, preferences, or where they are in the sales funnel, ensuring that your broadcasts are as relevant as possible.

How to send Broadcast message on WhatsApp using Business API

Broadcast messages can be sent using both the WhatsApp Business app and the official WhatsApp Business API.

The WhatsApp Business app is a more suitable option for small-sized businesses as it is easy to navigate and free to use.

To make it work, you need to follow the below steps:

• Create your WhatsApp Business account and open it.

• Tap the three dots (...) at the top right corner of the screen.

• Select the New Broadcast option.

• Now you can either search for contacts or add them manually to your broadcast list. Keep in mind that you can’t select more than 256 contacts in the application.

• At the end, tap on the check mark to finalize your broadcast list and make it live.

During this process, you can also edit your list or make some changes, like changing the name of your broadcast list and adding or removing recipients from the broadcast list.

But there are some limitations of the WhatsApp Business app that prevent you from getting the most out of the broadcast tool, like the fact that you can’t connect to a CRM system, which makes engagement and automation complex for businesses.

Moreover, you also won’t get a green tick with your brand name; maybe it will make you disappointed.

No worries at all, to overcome this critical situation. WhatsApp launched its official WhatsApp Business API in 2018, which has changed the game.

It’s like icing on the cake because it helps enterprises and well-established businesses that have a large number of contact lists and a support team that consistently provides support to customers on WhatsApp chat.

If we talk about its interesting features, using the API, you can send broadcasts to 1,000 recipients and even 100,000, or an unlimited number of recipients.

Not only that, but you can also automate messaging workflows, build chatbots, set predefined auto-replies, integrate CRM, and more.

The only disadvantage is that the API doesn't come with an interface, which is why you’ll need the help of a third party who can help you get access to it.

If your business or website is built on Shopify, Chatix is a must-have app for Shopify stores.

Through Chatix, you can automate the messaging workflow and recover abandoned cart amounts by sending notifications, offers, and reminders to customers with a few clicks.

In conclusion, only the business API can help you get the most out of the broadcast campaign and WhatsApp marketing.

✨Read these WhatsApp Business description examples if you want to set a strong first impression with the customer.

How to create a Broadcast list on WhatsApp?

To successfully send a Broadcast message on WhatsApp you need to create a list that includes customer’s contacts. The major benefit of creating a WhatsApp broadcast list is that you can segment your customers and create custom labels where you can organize or categorize clients based on interests and preferences.

Well, the process of creating a WhatsApp broadcast list on your mobile device is not rocket science; simply follow the below steps:

• Open WhatsApp on your iPhone or Android phone and click on the "Chats" tab

• Tap on the "New broadcast" button

• Select the contacts you want to add to your broadcast list by typing the name or scrolling through the contact list.

• If you want to create multiple Broadcast lists, you can also name the list for

• After that, click on the “Create” button to finalize your broadcast list.

Types of WhatsApp broadcast messages with examples

Getting conversions through WhatsApp broadcast messages is part of effective WhatsApp marketing which helps businesses to connect, engage, and build strong relationships with customers.

Now you understand how to send WhatsApp broadcast messages and create a list and it’s time to look at some best examples and what type of Broadcast messages you can send.

We also highlight a thing: before sending messages, WhatsApp needs to approve these templates. So make sure that you’re using variables wisely.

1. New products and collection announcements

Whenever the company launches a new product or collection, it’s important to spread more awareness and reach as many users as possible. With a 98% open rate, WhatsApp is high responding marketing channel for driving more sales.

“Hello [name],

We have just launched our long-awaited [product name].

Be our first 100 customers and Enjoy up to 20% off

CTA >> Order now - Offer to end soon!”

2. Announcement of your milestone

It’s not always for sales; you can also let the audience know the first milestone you achieved through a specific timeline. It feels like you are sharing a journey with your audience.

“Hello [name],

Today, we’re announcing our first milestone!

[Describe what you’ve achieved]

It can’t happen without your help, so thank you for being part of our journey.”

3. Collecting feedback

Getting feedback from users is necessary for all businesses to make certain improvements accordingly. Through the Broadcast feature, you can send feedback-asking messages in bulk to know whether they’re happy with your product and the support you’re offering.

“Hello [name],

It’s been 1 month since you ordered [product name].

We need to know how you feel. Please rate your experience on a scale of 1 (extremely poor) to 5 (exceptional).

Your feedback is valuable to us.”

4. Abandoned cart recovery message

You can get the maximum potential from this unique feature of the WhatsApp Business App by sending reminders, offers, or discount messages to those who left a shopping cart full of items but have not purchased yet.

"Hi [name], you added some of our products to your shopping list. But have you checked out or purchased [item]?

They can come with a special offer! Have a look at the special offer before you finalize your purchase.

5. Notifications and updates

You can send regular notifications or updates such as policy updates, catalog updates, offers, reminders, and more to keep customers engaged with your business.

There are no specific templates; you can create your template, wait for approval, and send it to the user’s chatbox.

6. Sale announcement

Sending WhatsApp broadcast messages to all your contacts at the same time can be the perfect option when you want to aware of audience about your upcoming sales and exciting offers. In this way, you can attract more users and get them back to your store.

"Hello! It’s been a long time since we launched our new offer. Now our [name of promotion] starts in less than 2 days! Get around 50% off on our all products. Are you ready?"

Start your first WhatsApp broadcast campaign through Chatix

WhatsApp broadcast message feature is designed to run result-driven marketing campaigns. To surpass all those restrictions and limitations of the WhatsApp broadcast feature, you need a third-party solution like Chatix. For those who don’t know, Chatix is an app specially designed for Shopify.

With Chatix, businesses can easily send messages to large groups of customers in just a few clicks, customize pre-made message templates, and track their performance and status.

Additionally, Chatix offers advanced features and tools to help businesses easily monitor overall performance, effectively set up messaging campaigns, and enhance the customer support experience.

Want to launch your first WhatsApp broadcast message campaign? Install the Chatix app in your store and experience the power of automation.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I send the same message to multiple contacts on WhatsApp?

Sending the same message to multiple contacts at a time on WhatsApp can be possible through the broadcast feature. You can select the contacts you want to send messages to. For marketing purposes, it’s an efficient tool for you.

2. What is the WhatsApp broadcast limit?

You can only add up to 256 recipients per WhatsApp broadcast list. For more than 256 contacts, you need multiple lists. But with the WhatsApp Business API, you can send unlimited broadcasts; it doesn’t matter if they save your number or not.

3. Can I schedule WhatsApp broadcast messages?

Honestly, WhatsApp itself doesn’t offer a feature for scheduling your broadcast messages. However, you can use third-party tools or business solutions like Chatix to schedule and automate your WhatsApp broadcast messages, making your communications more efficient.

4. How long does it take for WhatsApp to approve the campaign message?

Generally, the messages will be approved by WhatsApp within 48 hours. But you have to consider a few things to prevent being banned from the app like not using flagged words or writing messages that hurt users.

5. How to export a broadcast list to your device?

The following steps will help you download the broadcast list

1. Select the menu button on the top right corner of WhatsApp.

2. Tap on settings, and select chat settings.

3. Select the broadcast lists you want to export to your device

4. Choose the file type to be exported.