Create, Schedule and Send a WhatsApp Campaign

From a new draft to pressing Start: steps, variables, scheduling and pre-send checks

Path: Communication > Mass sending > Campaigns

This page is part of WhatsApp Campaigns. Before you start you need an approved template.

How to create a campaign

1. On the Campaigns tab press New campaign.
2. Type a Campaign name. Your customers never see it.
3. If you have more than one WhatsApp number, choose it in Send from.
4. Choose the Template. Only approved templates of that number are listed.
5. Fill the variables under Personalize the variables (next section). The Message preview shows the result with sample values.
6. In Audience and schedule, choose who receives it. See Audiences and excluded contacts.
7. Optional: set a date and time in Schedule (optional).
8. Press Save draft.

The draft opens on its review screen. Nothing has been sent yet.

How to fill the template variables

For each variable ({{1}}, {{2}}…) choose what fills it:

Option	What the customer receives
Customer name	The contact's name, or the name column of your CSV.
Same text for everyone	The text you type in Text, for example 20%.
Column from my CSV	The value of that person's row in the column whose header you type in CSV column header.

If empty, use is the fallback: the text used when that person has no value, for example "friend" when there is no name. If a customer has no value and there is no fallback, their message is skipped and marked failed with the reason Missing variable.

How to schedule a campaign

Leave Schedule (optional) empty to send as soon as you start the campaign. To send later, choose a date and time in the future; it uses the time zone of the device you are using.

With a date set, the button on the draft reads Schedule campaign and the campaign stays Scheduled until that moment, then starts by itself. You can Stop a scheduled campaign before it starts.

Review the draft and start it

On the draft:

1. If the audience is a CSV, upload it under Upload contacts (.csv).
2. Check Selected, Recipients and Excluded.
3. Tick I confirm these contacts have agreed to receive marketing messages from my business.
4. Look at Pre-send checks. Fix anything that did not pass and press Check again.
5. Press Start campaign (or Schedule campaign). The button stays disabled until every check passes.

While it is a draft you can use Edit draft or Delete draft. Once started, a campaign cannot be edited or deleted; you can only pause, resume or stop it.

Pre-send checks

Check	It passes when
WhatsApp number	Your own WhatsApp number is connected and active.
Template approved	Meta has approved the template.
Template can be used in campaigns	The template belongs to the sending number and has no parts campaigns cannot fill.
Variables mapped	Every variable of the template has something to fill it.
Audience	At least one person can receive the message.
Permission confirmed	You ticked the permission confirmation.
Number quality	Meta rates your number's quality as green (or has not rated it yet). It fails when the rating is medium or low, or when Meta could not be read at that moment; in that case try again shortly.

There is one more check on whether Meta allows your number to start conversations at all. When Meta blocks the number, for example because the WhatsApp Business Account has no payment method, that check fails and shows Meta's own explanation. Fix it in Meta, then press Check again.

After you start

Messages go out little by little. See Daily limits, pauses and stops for how fast a campaign sends and why it can pause, and Campaign results for what each number means.