A broadcast is one message sent to many customers at once: a sale, a restock, a new collection, an Eid timetable. On WhatsApp it is also the easiest way to lose a phone number's good standing. Customers who did not expect the message report it, WhatsApp lowers the number's quality, and sending gets slower or stops. The shops that keep using broadcasts for years are the ones that treat the list, the template and the timing as seriously as the offer.
This guide walks through the whole path in Karobar: building a contact list, getting a template approved, checking who will really receive the message, sending now or later, and reading the results. It also covers opt-outs, daily sending limits and Meta's message charges. The rules come from WhatsApp, so the thinking applies in any tool, but the steps and screens described are Karobar's.
Why a broadcast needs a template
WhatsApp lets a business send ordinary messages only while the customer service window is open, which is 24 hours from the customer's last message. A broadcast goes to people who have not written to you today, so almost every recipient is outside that window. The only thing you can send them is an approved message template.
Templates are written in Karobar and submitted to Meta for review. A new template starts as pending and cannot be used until it is approved. If Meta pauses or rejects a template, Karobar will not send it, so you need to fix the wording and submit a new one. The full explanation of the window and of templates is in the 24-hour window guide.
Build a contact list that people agreed to
Karobar keeps contacts in phonebooks. A phonebook is a named list, such as "Lahore customers" or "Eid shoppers", and a broadcast is always sent to one phonebook. You can fill it in three ways:
- Import a CSV file. Each row needs a mobile number. Numbers that cannot be turned into a real international number are reported back to you after the import instead of failing later at Meta, and numbers already in the phonebook are skipped.
- Add people one at a time. Useful for a new customer you have just spoken to.
- Add from your chats. Pick the people you have already talked to, or add all your WhatsApp chats in one go.
Each contact also carries an opted in mark and an opted out mark. In a CSV file you can add an opted-in column and fill it with yes, true or 1 for people who agreed to hear from you. Karobar records when and how each person opted in.
By default, Karobar sends a WhatsApp broadcast only to contacts who are marked as opted in. That is a setting on your account, and it is a good one to leave on. A list bought from someone else, or numbers copied from a group, is the fastest way to a low quality rating.
Create the broadcast step by step
- Choose the WhatsApp number. If you have connected more than one, pick the one customers know.
- Name the broadcast and pick an approved template. The name is only for you, so use something you will recognise in the list later, such as "Eid sale reminder".
- Pick the phonebook. Karobar will not create a broadcast for an empty phonebook or one with no usable numbers.
- Fill in the template's blanks. If the template says "Hi {{1}}", you can point that blank at a contact's name so each person is greeted by their own name, or you can type a fixed value such as the name of the sale.
- Check the preview. See the section below. This is where you find out who will really receive the message.
- Send a test to yourself. Karobar can send one message to your own phone so you can read it as a customer would.
- Choose when it goes. Pick a date and time to schedule it, or send it straight away.
Until a broadcast has started sending, you can still edit it. You can also duplicate an old broadcast to send the same thing again to today's audience, which saves rebuilding a regular reminder from scratch.
The preview: who actually gets it
Before you create a broadcast, Karobar shows what it would do. People in a phonebook are not always people you can message, and the preview tells you how many are left out and why, instead of leaving you to wonder why 1,000 contacts became 940.
| What the preview reports | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not opted in | The contact was never marked as agreeing to messages | Collect consent, then mark them as opted in |
| Opted out | The contact asked to stop, or you marked them | Leave them out; do not re-add them by hand |
| Duplicates | The same number appears more than once | Nothing; they receive one message |
| No usable number | The row has no valid phone number | Fix the number in the phonebook |
| Estimated cost | What Meta is expected to charge, based on each recipient's country | Check it before you confirm |
| Allowance left today | How many more people your number may start conversations with in the current 24 hours | Split a large list across days if needed |
The preview also shows what the first recipient would read, with their name and details filled in, so a broken blank is easy to spot.
Opt-outs happen automatically
Customers rarely hunt for an unsubscribe link. They reply with a word. On WhatsApp, Karobar reads these words and applies them for you:
- Opt out: stop, unsubscribe, cancel, quit, end, stop all, optout, opt out.
- Opt back in: start, unstop, subscribe, optin, opt in.
When someone opts out, they get a short confirmation, and they are marked as opted out in your phonebooks. When a broadcast runs, those numbers are checked again at the moment of sending, so a person who opts out between the time you schedule a campaign and the time it goes will not receive it. A broadcast message that mentions "Reply STOP to opt out" makes the habit obvious to customers.
Daily limits and number quality
Meta puts a ceiling on how many different people a business number may start conversations with in a rolling 24 hours. New numbers begin with a low ceiling, and Meta raises it in steps as the number sends good quality messages. Karobar reads your number's tier from Meta and counts what the number has already sent in the last 24 hours across all of your broadcasts.
- When the ceiling is reached, the broadcast stops with a "limit reached" status instead of failing messages one by one. You can resume it once there is allowance again.
- When quality is medium, Karobar keeps sending but slower, because blasting from a struggling number is what turns a warning into a restriction.
- When a number is shared with the WhatsApp Business app, Meta caps its speed at a fixed rate, so a large broadcast takes longer to finish.
- While a broadcast is running, you can pause it, resume it, or cancel it.
Reading the results
Each broadcast has a report that counts recipients by status. For every person, WhatsApp tells Karobar what happened to the message:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Waiting its turn to be sent |
| Sent | WhatsApp accepted the message |
| Delivered | It reached the customer's phone |
| Read | The customer opened it |
| Failed | It did not go; the reason is recorded |
Read counts depend on the customer's own read receipts setting, so a missing "read" does not mean a message was ignored. For failed messages, Karobar groups the reasons into plain wording, and you can download the recipient list as a CSV file. Retry failed sends again to people whose failure could be temporary. Numbers that are not on WhatsApp are not retried, because they will fail again.
An analytics card shows deliveries per day and which templates get read most, so you can see which wording your customers respond to.
What happens when customers reply
A reply to a broadcast opens a fresh 24-hour window, and the chat lands in the same unified inbox as every other conversation. From that moment you can answer in your own words. Keyword auto replies can handle the first questions, such as price and delivery, and Karobar AI can write a draft that a person reads and sends. See inbox auto replies for how those are set up.
Plan for it. A broadcast that goes out at 8 pm with nobody online to answer wastes the warmest minutes of the campaign. Schedule for a time when someone can reply.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Sending to everyone in the phonebook. Only opted-in contacts should receive marketing. The preview will show how many are skipped, and that number is a signal, not a nuisance.
- Ignoring a "stop". Opt-out words are handled for you, but if you also keep a separate spreadsheet, update it too.
- One long, promotional template for every occasion. Short, specific templates are approved faster and read more often.
- Skipping the test message. A wrong blank or a broken link is much cheaper to find on your own phone.
- Scheduling at an hour nobody can reply. Customers who answer a broadcast expect an answer.
- Resending to people who did not read it. Repeating the same message to the same list is what makes customers report a number.
Sources
Facts about other companies and platforms come from their own pages, checked on the dates shown. Plans and prices change; check the source before you decide.