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Campaign Audiences, CSV Lists and Excluded Contacts

Choose who receives a WhatsApp campaign, and who never does​

Path: Communication > Mass sending

Every campaign has an audience: the people it will be sent to. You choose it in the Audience and schedule section when you create the campaign. This page is part of WhatsApp Campaigns.

Two ways to add your contacts​

Under Add your contacts you choose one:

  • My WhatsApp contacts: people who already have a WhatsApp conversation with the number that sends the campaign.
  • Upload a CSV: your own list of phone numbers.

My WhatsApp contacts​

Pick a group under Choose an audience:

OptionWho is included
Everyone who has messaged this numberAll your WhatsApp contacts on that number.
Active in the last few daysContacts whose last message to you is within the number of days you type in Active in the last … days (30 by default).
Messaged you but did not buyContacts who wrote to you and have no order that is confirmed, shipping, delivered or completed.

Only contacts of the sending number are included. Contacts from Instagram, Facebook or another of your WhatsApp numbers are not.

The list is not fixed while the campaign is a draft: the counts you see are calculated at that moment. The audience is fixed when you press Start campaign.

Upload a CSV​

Choose Upload a CSV and press Save draft. The file is uploaded on the next screen, under Upload contacts (.csv).

Rules for the file:

  • CSV format, UTF-8, up to 2 MB and up to 10,000 rows.
  • It must have a phone column. The header must be one of: phone, phone_number, telefono, teléfono, whatsapp, number, numero, número or mobile.
  • A name column is optional. Its header must be name, nombre, full_name or customer_name.
  • Any other column is kept. You can use it to fill a template variable by typing its header (see variables).
  • For numbers written without the country code and +, choose the country in Default country for numbers without +.

After the upload you see a summary: rows, valid, excluded and invalid. Repeated numbers count once. Invalid numbers and people who opted out stay in the list as Excluded, with the reason, so you can see why.

Uploading another file replaces the previous one and clears the permission confirmation.

People in your CSV do not need to have written to you before. When their message is sent, a conversation is created for them in Messages.

Selected, Recipients and Excluded​

The draft shows three numbers:

  • Selected: everyone the audience matched.
  • Recipients: the people who will actually get the message.
  • Excluded: people left out, for example because they opted out, the number is invalid, or a skip option applied.

If Recipients is 0, the campaign cannot start.

Skip options​

  • Skip people who already got a campaign: leaves out anyone another campaign or sequence of your business already sent to. Use it to avoid sending the same person another campaign too soon. They appear as excluded with the reason Already got a campaign.
  • Skip people who wrote in the last 24 hours: appears on campaigns created from a Leads stage (see Campaigns and the Leads pipeline). During the 24 hours after a customer's last message you can simply reply to them in Messages without a template, so the campaign leaves them out. It is checked again right before each message is sent.

Confirming permission​

Before a campaign can start you must tick I confirm these contacts have agreed to receive marketing messages from my business. on the draft. ReadyChatAI records the date and time.

WhatsApp requires that the people you message agreed to hear from your business. You are responsible for that agreement; ReadyChatAI cannot verify it for you.

Changing the audience or the sending number removes the confirmation, and you tick it again.

Excluded contacts: the do-not-market list​

Path: Communication > Mass sending > Excluded contacts

People on the Do-not-market list never get a campaign or sequence from your business. Use it for family or friends who share your WhatsApp, or anyone who asked you not to send promotions.

To add people: type or paste phone numbers in Phone numbers (one per line, or comma-separated), choose the Country for numbers without +, and press Add numbers.

Each entry shows how it got there:

  • Added by you: you can take it off with Remove.
  • Replied STOP: the customer opted out. You cannot remove it; only the customer can undo it.

Being on this list only blocks campaigns. The person can still write to you and your AI agent still answers.

What happens when a customer replies STOP​

If a customer sends your number a message that is only the word STOP, they are excluded from every future campaign of your business, and from campaigns that are already sending. The same happens with: unsubscribe, cancel, end, quit, stopall, stop promotions, detener promociones, no más promociones and baja.

If they later send START or UNSTOP, they can receive campaigns again. That only undoes their own STOP; it does not take them off the list if you added them yourself.

Your AI agent keeps answering those messages normally.