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    Glossary

    What is WhatsApp broadcast messaging?

    WhatsApp broadcast messaging is sending the same approved template message to many opted-in customers at once through the WhatsApp Business API, with each person receiving it as a private one-to-one chat.

    How it differs from a broadcast list.

    The free WhatsApp Business app has broadcast lists, but they cap at 256 contacts and only reach people who have saved your number in their phone, which quietly means most of your list never receives anything. API broadcasts have neither restriction. They go to any opted-in number up to your messaging limit, and recipients never see each other. Replies come back as ordinary individual conversations.

    The rules that apply.

    Every broadcast is a business-initiated message, so all the usual conditions stack up at once. You need a pre-approved template, in the right category, sent only to customers who have opted in, within your number's daily limit on unique recipients. Marketing broadcasts are rated and priced accordingly. Poorly targeted sends produce blocks, and blocks feed directly into your quality rating within the same week.

    Doing it without damage.

    Segment rather than blast: a message that references something the recipient actually did performs better and gets reported less. Favour genuinely useful updates over promotions. Watch the delivery, read and block numbers on each send and stop early if they look wrong. And staff the aftermath, because a broadcast that works generates replies, and replies inside the session window are free to answer.

    The Voltade take

    We tend to point clients at segmented, transactional sends triggered by something in the CRM rather than at monthly blasts to the whole database. The response rate is better, the cost is lower because more of it qualifies as utility, and the number's quality rating stays where it needs to be.

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