Campaigns

Overview

Campaigns allow you to send bulk WhatsApp messages to multiple contacts at once. Whether you're sending promotional offers, updates, or notifications, Whatomate handles the delivery efficiently while respecting WhatsApp's rate limits.

Creating a Campaign

1. Select Template

   Choose an approved message template for your campaign.

2. Define Audience

   Select contacts or upload a contact list for targeting.

3. Set Variables

   Configure template variables for personalization.

4. Schedule (Optional)

   Schedule the campaign for a specific date and time.

5. Review & Send

   Review the campaign details and send or schedule it.

Adding Recipients

You can add recipients to your campaign in two ways:

Manual Entry

Add recipients one at a time by entering:

• Phone Number - The recipient's WhatsApp number (with country code)
• Name - Optional display name
• Parameters - Template variable values for personalization

CSV Upload

For bulk imports, upload a CSV file with your recipient data:

1. Prepare Your CSV

   Create a CSV file with columns for phone number, name, and template parameters:

   phone,name,param1,param2
   +1234567890,John Doe,Order #123,December 25
   +0987654321,Jane Smith,Order #456,December 26

   TEXT header parameter: if the template's header has a variable ({{...}}), add a column named header. Meta indexes positional placeholders per component, so header {{1}} and body {{1}} are two distinct values — the reserved column name avoids that collision. The header column always comes before the body parameter columns. For example, a template with header Our {{season}} sale and body Hi {{customer_name}}, use code {{coupon}}:

   phone,name,header,customer_name,coupon
   +1234567890,John Doe,Summer,John,SAVE20
   +0987654321,Jane Smith,Winter,Jane,SAVE15

   The recipient dialog also provides a Download sample CSV link that generates a template with the correct columns for your campaign's template — no manual setup required.

2. Upload and Validate

   The system automatically validates your CSV against the selected template:

   • Checks for required phone number column
   • Validates parameter count matches template requirements
   • Detects duplicate phone numbers
   • Shows validation errors per row

3. Review and Import

   Preview the validation results before importing:

   • View first 50 rows with status indicators
   • See error details for invalid rows
   • Only valid rows will be imported

Tip

CSV Column Names: The system recognizes various column names:

• Phone: phone, phone_number, mobile, number
• Name: name, contact_name, customer_name
• Parameters: param1, param2, etc. or variable1, variable2, etc.

Caution

Duplicate Detection: If the same phone number appears multiple times in your CSV, only the first occurrence will be valid. Subsequent duplicates will be flagged as errors.

Campaign Details

Track your campaign performance with detailed analytics:

Delivery Metrics

Metric	Description
Total	Total number of recipients
Sent	Messages successfully sent
Delivered	Messages delivered to recipients
Read	Messages opened by recipients
Failed	Messages that failed to send

Campaign Status

The campaign itself moves through a lifecycle, shown on the campaign card and detail page:

Status	Meaning
Draft	Created but not yet queued for sending
Scheduled	Set to start at a future date/time
Queued	Handed off to the send queue, waiting for a worker
Processing	Workers are actively sending messages
Paused	Sending temporarily halted; can be resumed or retried
Completed	All recipients processed
Cancelled	Stopped by a user; no further sends
Failed	Campaign could not complete

Status Tracking

Each recipient's message status is tracked individually:

• Pending - Waiting to be sent
• Sent - Sent to WhatsApp servers
• Delivered - Delivered to recipient's device
• Read - Opened by recipient
• Failed - Failed to deliver

Each failed recipient also records a failure reason — the error message returned by WhatsApp (e.g. an invalid number or a template mismatch) — so you can see exactly why a message didn't go out and fix the data before retrying.

Managing a Running Campaign

While a campaign is queued or processing you can pause it to halt sending, then resume it later. A campaign can also be cancelled, which stops it for good.

Retry Failed

On a completed, paused, or failed campaign, use Retry Failed to re-queue every recipient whose message failed. Whatomate resets those recipients back to pending, clears their previous error, and puts the campaign back into processing — recipients that already succeeded are left untouched, so no one is messaged twice.

Campaign Features

Personalization

Use template variables to personalize each message with recipient data.

Scheduling

Schedule campaigns for optimal delivery times.

Rate Limiting

Automatic rate limiting to comply with WhatsApp policies.

Analytics

Real-time tracking of delivery and engagement metrics.

Best Practices

Tip

Timing Matters: Send campaigns during business hours in your recipients' timezone for better engagement.

Caution

Compliance: Only send messages to contacts who have opted in to receive communications. Violating WhatsApp's policies can result in account restrictions.

Tips for Successful Campaigns

1. Segment your audience - Target specific groups for relevant messaging
2. Personalize content - Use variables to make messages feel personal
3. Test first - Send to a small group before full rollout
4. Monitor metrics - Track delivery and adjust strategy accordingly
5. Respect opt-outs - Always honor unsubscribe requests