Instructions and tips for WhatsApp Business Broadcast messages — and the benefits of WhatsApp API newsletters in comparison

What are WhatsApp broadcast messages?

A WhatsApp broadcast message is a message that is sent by a single WhatsApp user to multiple phone numbers at the same time. Although it looks like you're communicating in a group to you as an author, recipients can't see that the same message was sent to multiple users. Recipients receive the message in a private chat just like a normal direct message. WhatsApp broadcast messages are therefore a good way to reach a large number of contacts quickly and easily. WhatsApp Broadcast was originally a feature intended only for consumers. It is now also integrated into WhatsApp Business and is therefore available to companies.

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How to send broadcast messages with WhatsApp Business

Sending broadcast messages is easy and can be done with just a few clicks in the WhatsApp Business app:

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1. Open the WhatsApp Business app menu

2. Select “New Broadcast”

3. Create a new list of recipients or select an existing broadcast list

4. Compose a message

5. Send the WhatsApp broadcast message

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In contrast to WhatsApp groups, recipients receive broadcast messages in individual chats. Broadcast recipients therefore have no information about other people in the respective broadcast list. Only authors see a small speaker icon in the message. Broadcast messages cannot be sent in the WhatsApp Web web application and in the WhatsApp desktop app.

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WhatsApp Business Broadcasting Use Cases

As already described, WhatsApp broadcasts were originally developed for private individuals and were therefore intended for birthday invitations, wedding invitations and Christmas or birthday greetings to acquaintances.

‍ Companies can use WhatsApp broadcast messages for customer communication and as newsletter marketing. But be careful: This violates both the WhatsApp Business Terms of Service as well as against the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In many industries, the focus is on a number of products and services at certain times due to the season. Make your customers aware of this. Depending on which sector you work in, remind you, for example, of summer sales, a tire change in spring and autumn, or promotions about Black Friday and xmas. You can also advertise new products in the classic way. Or draw the attention of your customers when popular and formerly sold-out products are now available again.

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Even if you want to make operational information public, you can do that with WhatsApp Broadcast. Your customers will always be informed during company holidays, Sunday sales and other irregular opening hours. Or you wish your customers a merry Christmas and a happy new year in December.

As you can see, WhatsApp broadcasts are very versatile. Why they are still not recommended and what alternatives are available is explained in the following section.

Reading tip: How to optimize the conversion rate and prevent recipients from unsubscribing from the newsletter is explained in our Articles about WhatsApp marketing described.

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For legal and technical reasons, WhatsApp broadcasts are not suitable for companies

‍ Even though the broadcast function is available in the WhatsApp Business app, it is not suitable for sending a WhatsApp newsletter to your customers, for example. There are various reasons for this, both legal and technical. ‍

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Technical limitations of WhatsApp broadcasts

The broadcast function in the WhatsApp business app has some limitations that restrict use in companies. For example, the number of contacts to whom a broadcast message can be sent is limited to 256 contacts per broadcast list. To add contacts to a broadcast list, they must first be saved in your contact book. Broadcast messages are also only delivered if the recipients have also saved them in their contact book. Otherwise, the message simply won't be delivered. You can also not evaluate your WhatsApp broadcast campaigns in any way. This means you don't get the data you need about your campaign to analyze its benefits and optimization options.

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Legal limitations of WhatsApp broadcasts: GDPR

‍ On the legal side, too, there are a few reasons why WhatsApp broadcast messages are not eligible as WhatsApp newsletters. This is primarily due to the fact that you must use the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app to send broadcast messages. Both are not complete GDPR-compliant. In addition, the WhatsApp terms of use also do not provide for WhatsApp to be used in this way for online marketing. It says: “Our products are not intended for bulk or automated messaging.” However, there is no really clear answer to the question of whether sending newsletters via the broadcast function is allowed, at least by WhatsApp.

With regard to the General Data Protection Regulation, there are several points in which the use of WhatsApp broadcasts in online marketing is not compatible with it. First, in the standard version of WhatsApp, there is no Order processing contract (AV contract) concluded. Second, the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app accesses all contact details on the user's device. Personal and business contacts cannot be cleanly separated. This also makes it possible for WhatsApp to access contacts who don't even use WhatsApp themselves. Third, the unencrypted cloud backups of WhatsApp chats pose a GDPR problem. Even though all WhatsApp chats — and therefore also the broadcast messages — are end-to-end encrypted, this protection does not apply to cloud backups. You must also obtain an appropriate marketing opt-in from every user to whom you want to send marketing messages. However, the WhatsApp Business app does not let you automate this process, nor does it offer integrated opt-in management. Manually, it is a difficult and often lengthy task to obtain and manage customer opt-ins.

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This is the right way: Send WhatsApp newsletters in compliance with the GDPR via the API

‍ Of course, there is also a way that you as a company Sending WhatsApp newsletters for marketing purposes Can. Includes all features such as automatic opt-in management and comprehensive analyses. And it's all 100% GDPR. How does that work? With the WhatsApp Business API WhatsApp provides companies with a separate interface to integrate WhatsApp into corporate communications in conjunction with a WhatsApp business partner.

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The benefits of WhatsApp newsletters via the API are manifold. In addition to complying with the legal framework (GDPR), you prevent your WhatsApp Business account from being suspended by Meta. This can happen quickly if the WhatsApp terms of use are violated, such as through mass WhatsApp broadcast messages to customers. WhatsApp newsletters via API, on the other hand, reach 100% of your customers — regardless of whether the recipients have saved your phone number in the contact book or not. In addition, as described above, you can send messages to an unlimited number of recipients and not just to 256 contacts as with WhatsApp Broadcast. WhatsApp newsletters can also be fully automated. You can therefore automatically send order confirmations, invoices, birthday greetings, personalized product recommendations, shipping confirmations and a number of other messages to your customers and automatically insert the customer's name and other information using message templates. This allows you to increase customer satisfaction, revenue, and customer lifetime value.

Reading tip: In our article”How to WhatsApp newsletter — How companies can start their own WhatsApp marketing campaigns“Find out all the details about WhatsApp newsletters

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WhatsApp newsletter with hellomateo

hellomateo offers a comprehensive WhatsApp marketing service. The service portfolio ranges from setting up the WhatsApp API to individual tips for collecting opt-ins, maintaining customer data and creating newsletters to in-depth analyses. A comprehensive service that is individually tailored to your company.

The hellomateo software also offers customizable message templates that can be used to create WhatsApp newsletters with just a few clicks. By hellomateos central inbox, in which customer inquiries from various communication channels can be centrally bundled and processed efficiently, it is child's play with hellomateo to optimize customer communication. Furthermore, the integration of numerous other tools into our software solution reduces your workload in customer service. With hellomateo, customer communication and marketing can Be 100% GDPR-compliant.‍

• ‍Central user interface: hellomateo combines WhatsApp Business Platform, email, Instagram, SMS and Facebook Messenger in one central inbox. The intuitive user interface includes various tools for efficient customer communication and saves you valuable working time.
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• integrations: With hellomateo, you can use WhatsApp in integrate over 6,000 software programs and fully automated Customer trips create with invitations, order confirmations, shipping information, invoices, and reminders.
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• Newsletter marketing: Send GDPR-compliant Newsletter via WhatsApp Or SMS and benefit from opening rates of over 95%.‍
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• Assessment management: hellomateo can Automatically request online reviews from your customers, which boosts your Google ranking and trust in your company.
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• ‍Data Protection: hellomateo meets all German and European Data protection requirements and offers end-to-end encryption for secure customer communication.
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• scalability: Our software is suitable for Businesses of all sizes And can be extended indefinitely depending on the package.‍
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• ‍Various AI features: Our AI agent Can automatically answer customer inquiries in chat, answer calls, help with the formulation of messages and much more.

Just arrange a free consultationTo find out all the details With hellomateo and the WhatsApp newsletter, your company is entering the new marketing era.