A WhatsApp broadcast sends one message to many contacts through the official WhatsApp Cloud API. Each contact gets a private one-to-one message from your business, and every reply arrives as a normal conversation in Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Chat or the web inbox, where your AI agent or team answers it. Learn more on the WhatsApp Broadcasts page.
Before You Start
- A connected WhatsApp number (see Setting Up WhatsApp Business). Broadcasts are available on the free trial and the Basic, Pro and Business plans.
- A payment method in WhatsApp Manager. Without one, Meta returns error 141006 and blocks templates and broadcasts.
- At least one approved template, unless you only message contacts who wrote to you in the last 24 hours. See WhatsApp Template Manager and Library.
- Contacts with a phone number and WhatsApp consent. See WhatsApp Consent and Opt-Outs.
Creating a Broadcast
Go to Outbound > Campaigns, click New campaign and choose WhatsApp broadcast. You can also start from Send broadcast on an audience, or Use in broadcast on an approved template. The composer opens with the steps on the left and a phone preview, the Reach panel and Send a test on the right. Your work saves as a draft as you go; give it a name at the top.
Audience
Choose who receives it from the Smart, Lists or Segments tabs, for example Opted in to WhatsApp marketing or 24-hour window open now. Each option shows how many contacts are reachable. See Audiences, Lists and Segments.
From
If you have more than one WhatsApp number, choose the one that sends. Replies come back to that number and route to its inbox, Slack, Teams or Google Chat destination.
Message
Choose Template or Free-form (24h window).
- Template: pick an Approved template. Under Personalization, set each variable to a Contact field (first name, last name, full name, company, email, city or phone) with a fallback such as "there", or to a value that's Same for everyone. Contacts missing a field get the fallback; without one they're skipped. Image, video and document templates ask for the header file (JPG or PNG up to 5 MB, MP4 or PDF up to 16 MB).
- Free-form (24h window): plain text with {first_name}, {full_name} or {company}. It only reaches contacts who messaged you in the last 24 hours, needs no template and works for US numbers. Pair it with the 24-hour window open now audience.
Schedule
Choose Send now or Schedule for later, up to 90 days ahead, in your own time zone. The Send window is on by default (9:00 AM to 8:00 PM) so nobody gets a message in the middle of the night; anyone outside it waits in the queue and gets the message when the window opens. See WhatsApp Sending Limits and Quiet Hours.
Advanced
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Include contacts who messaged you | For Marketing templates, also sends to contacts who started a WhatsApp chat with you but never explicitly opted in (implied consent). Utility templates always include them. |
| Frequency guard | Skips contacts who got another marketing broadcast recently: Off, 12 hours, 24 hours (default), 48 hours or 7 days. Protects your quality rating. |
| SMS fallback for US numbers | Texts US contacts who can't receive Marketing templates and opted in to SMS. Needs Twilio SMS. See US Numbers and SMS Fallback. |
| Skip contacts in an open conversation | On by default for template broadcasts. Doesn't interrupt live chats: contacts with an open WhatsApp chat active in the last 24 hours are skipped. |
| Send speed | Gentle (60/min), Standard (600/min) or Fast (2,400/min). Slower sends spread replies out for your team. Coexistence numbers are capped by Meta at 20 messages per second. |
Check Reach and Send a Test
Review the Reach panel (below). In Send a test, enter your own WhatsApp number to see the real message with your name as the sample contact. You can send up to 15 tests per 10 minutes, and tests aren't counted in reports.
Send or Schedule
Click Send now or Schedule. The confirmation shows how many contacts will get it, the estimated Meta cost and the send window. For templates, tick the box confirming these contacts agreed to receive WhatsApp messages from you and that the message follows WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy.
The Reach Panel
Reach runs the same checks the sender runs, so the numbers you see are the numbers you get. It shows how many contacts will receive the message out of the audience, plus how many more get SMS fallback, and why the rest are skipped:
- Opted out or Unsubscribed or bounced: always skipped.
- No WhatsApp consent: Marketing templates need an opt-in (or "messaged you", if you included it).
- US numbers (Meta marketing pause): Marketing templates to +1 US numbers.
- Messaged recently (frequency guard).
- Missing personalization: a mapped field is empty and has no fallback.
- In an open conversation: when Skip contacts in an open conversation is on.
- 24-hour window closed: free-form messages to contacts who haven't written in 24 hours.
- Invalid or missing phone.
It also shows the Est. Meta cost, your number's Daily limit from Meta, your plan allowance (monthly recipients left, the per-broadcast maximum and the reset date) and how many WhatsApp sends Meta's daily limit leaves for the next 24 hours. If a broadcast is over a limit, Reach explains which one and offers Request a higher limit or Upgrade your plan.
First Large Broadcast Review
Your account's first broadcast over 500 recipients gets a quick manual review before it sends, usually within one business day. The broadcast shows In review and you get an email when it's approved; use Withdraw to pull it back. Later broadcasts within your plan send right away. See WhatsApp Sending Limits and Quiet Hours.
While a Broadcast Is Sending
Broadcasts move through Draft, Scheduled, In review (first large broadcast), Sending, Paused and Sent, or Cancelled. A scheduled broadcast can be edited until it starts, or stopped with Cancel schedule. While sending, a progress bar shows sent and failed counts and you can Pause, Resume or Cancel. If Meta returns an error that affects every message, for example the template was paused, the broadcast stops and shows the reason so you can fix it.
Handling Replies
Replies open a 24-hour customer service window and route like any inbound WhatsApp message: to the sending number's widget, its Teams channel, Slack channel or Google Chat space, and the web inbox. The first time a contact replies, agents see a context line such as ↩ Reply to broadcast “Black Friday” · sent Nov 3, 9:02 AM: “Hi Sarah, Black Friday starts early…”. If the widget has an AI agent, it answers first. A broadcast to 2,000 contacts with a 5% reply rate is 100 conversations, so plan coverage before you send.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many contacts can I send to?
Your plan sets a monthly total and a per-broadcast maximum (Trial 100 and 50, Basic 2,000 and 1,000, Pro 10,000 and 5,000, Business 50,000 and 25,000), and broadcasts also stay under 90% of Meta's daily messaging limit for the number. See WhatsApp Sending Limits and Quiet Hours.
Can I edit a scheduled broadcast?
Yes. Open it from Outbound > Campaigns before it starts, change any step and click Update schedule. Reach updates as you edit.
Why did a contact receive SMS instead of WhatsApp?
SMS fallback was on, the contact has a US number, the template is Marketing, and the contact opted in to SMS. The report marks these recipients with the SMS channel.
Does sending a broadcast cost anything?
Broadcasts are included in your plan. Meta charges per delivered message by category and country, billed to your WhatsApp Business Account with no Social Intents markup. Since October 1, 2026, free-form messages inside the 24-hour window are service messages: each business number gets 1,000 free per month, then a per-country service rate applies. Estimate costs with the WhatsApp pricing calculator.
Why were some contacts skipped even though they're in the audience?
Reach lists each reason. The most common are no consent for a Marketing template, the frequency guard, an open conversation, and US numbers for Marketing templates.