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Create a WhatsApp campaign

With Sendinblue, you can create WhatsApp campaigns to send advertising and information messages to your contacts.

WhatsApp is the most preferred communication channel with more than 2 billion users and potential contacts. By launching a WhatsApp campaign, you can:

  • Get better brand connections and engagement, with instant recognition;
  • Use 1:1 personalized communications, reaching customers where they are;
  • Take advantage of more formats than SMS and better engagement than email or SMS.

Before you start

🛠️ Set up your campaign

To set up your campaign:

  1. In your Sendinblue account, go to Campaigns > WhatsApp.
  2. Click on Create campaign.
    2022-09-22_16-49-47.png
  3. Choose a name for your campaign (up to 60 characters). This name will only be visible to you, not to your recipients.
  4. Choose the type of campaign you will be sending. 
  5. Select the language in which you are going to send your campaign. This setting can be changed later if necessary.
    create-campaign_EN-US.png
    💡 Good to know
    We currently support more than 60 languages.
  6. Click on Begin.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑Select your recipients

💡 Good to know
The WhatsApp Business account you linked to Sendinblue will automatically be added to the From section and used as the sender of your WhatsApp campaign.

To select your recipients:

  1. In the Who are you sending your campaign to? section, click Edit.
  2. Select one or several lists or segments of recipients you want to send your WhatsApp campaign to.
    ❗️ Important
    Make sure that the WHATSAPP attribute of your contacts is filled in. Otherwise, they will not be able to receive your WhatsApp campaign. To learn more, check our dedicated article Create and import your WhatsApp contacts.
    to-step_EN-US.png
  3. Optional: to exclude one or several lists of recipients you don't want to send your WhatsApp campaign to, click on Exclude lists and select the desired list(s) of recipients to exclude.
  4. Click Save.
💡 Good to know
Before sending your campaign, Facebook will check if all your recipients have a valid WhatsApp account.

🖌️ Design your message

Step 1: Select a design option

We offer two options to design your WhatsApp message: you can either reuse a message from an existing campaign by using it as-is or editing it, or you can create your message from scratch. 

In the Design section, click on Edit and select one of the two options to design your message:

Use an existing message Start creating from scratch
  1. Select Use an existing message.
  2. In the drop-down list, select the campaign from which you want to reuse the message.
    mceclip4.png
  3. Click on Open editor.

Step 2: Create your message in the editor

💡 Good to know
If you are reusing a message from an existing campaign, your design will appear locked because it has already been approved by WhatsApp. To edit your message, you will need to unlock it and submit it for approval by WhatsApp again.

Header (Optional)

Toggle the Header option to provide additional information to your contacts. Your header can either be:

  • Text (up to 45 characters).
    ❗️ Important
    New lines, formatting characters, emojis, and asterisks are not allowed in the header. 
    Insert variables to go further in the personalization of your text and replace them with your contacts' attributes when sending the campaign. Click 👤 and, from the Insert a variable pop-up window, choose the attribute you want to use in the Contact attribute drop-down list. In the Value if empty field, enter a default value to insert if your contact's attribute is empty and click Save. For example, if the FIRSTNAME attribute of one of your contacts is Patrick, the FIRSTNAME placeholder will be replaced by Patrick.
    WA_header-variable_EN-US.gif
    ❗️ Important
    Ensure that the maximum number of characters is not exceeded once the variable is replaced by your contact's attributes. If your text header exceeds 60 characters, your campaign won't be sent. We suggest you use short header text to avoid any campaign sending failures.
  • Media. Supported formats are:
    • Images: JPG, JPEG, PNG (5MB)
    • Documents: PDF (100MB)
    • Video: MP4 (16MB)

WA_header_EN-US.gif

Body (Mandatory)

Add text to the body of your message (up to 1,024 characters) and personalize it by using emojis or bold, italics, strikethrough formatting, and variables. 

whatsapp-campaign_body_EN-US.gif

Insert variables to go further in the personalization of your text and replace them with your contacts' attributes when sending the campaign. Click 👤 and, from the Insert a variable pop-up window, choose the attribute you want to use in the Contact attribute drop-down list. In the Value if empty field, enter a default value to insert if your contact's attribute is empty and click Save. For example, if the FIRSTNAME attribute of one of your contacts is Patrick, the FIRSTNAME placeholder will be replaced by Patrick.
wa-campaign_variable-example_EN-US.gif
❗️ Important
To prevent your WhatsApp campaign from being rejected:
- Never add variable parameters at the beginning or end of your body text,
- Never use only variables in the body,
- Never put two variables next to each other, or 
- Never Insert a variable that contains special characters such as #, $, or %.

Buttons (Optional)

Toggle the Buttons option to add up to 2 call-to-action buttons to your WhatsApp message. You can either add a: 

  • Link. Enter the text that contains the link in the Button text field and then enter the URL. 
    ❗️ Important
    Make sure you include a valid URL. A valid URL is a full URL with a domain that belongs to your business and starts with HTTP(S). For example, a valid URL would be https://www.yourdomain.com/en/product/white-shirt. Never use short links (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc.), or direct links to WhatsApp (wa.me) because they are known to obscure the intended link destination. 
  • Call number. Enter the text that contains the phone number in the Button text field and then enter the Phone number.
💡 Good to know
You can add only one type of call-to-action button at a time. For example, you cannot insert two links. 

wa-campaign_insert-buttons_EN-US.gif

✅ Submit your message for approval

💡 Good to know
If you are reusing a message from an existing campaign without editing it, you won't need to submit it again for approval, and you can schedule it to be sent immediately.

WhatsApp reviews all new messages to make sure they comply with WhatsApp's Commerce Policy and Business Policy. To submit your message for approval, click on Submit for approval.

submit-approval_EN-US.png

Most of the time, it will only take a few minutes for WhatsApp AI to approve your message. However, in some cases, WhatsApp will need to manually review your message before approving or rejecting it. This manual review can take up to 24 hours.

Once your message is approved by WhatsApp, you'll receive a notification in Sendinblue, as well as an email.

What happens if my message is rejected by WhatsApp?

If your message is rejected by WhatsApp, your message will appear as "suspended" in Sendinblue. You'll also receive a notification in Sendinblue, as well as an email. The reason for the rejection of your WhatsApp campaign will be stated there.

Taking into account that reason, you'll need to modify your message and submit it for approval again.

📅 Schedule your campaign

❗️ Important
In most cases, the validation of WhatsApp messages is automatic and only takes a few seconds. However, in the case of a manual review by WhatsApp, it could take up to 24 hours. To avoid getting your campaign postponed, we recommend you schedule it to be sent at least 24 hours after submitting it for approval.

To schedule your campaign:

  1. Click on Schedule.
  2. Select the date when you would like your campaign to be sent on.
  3. Select the time when you would like your campaign to be sent on. The time zone is specified below the time.
    mceclip7.png
  4. Once you're done, click on Schedule.

Your campaign will appear as Scheduled on your campaign listing page until it is sent.

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.