Starting from April 1, 2025, WhatsApp (Meta) has decided to temporarily pause the delivery of any marketing template messages to customers with US phone numbers (+1 calling code and US area codes). Learn more

What is a WhatsApp Campaign?

 Prerequisites 

1. You need to have a WhatsApp business account and dedicated phone numbers to use the WhatsApp business API. You'll receive an authentication code to the dedicated number to verify the number in our platform.
   
2. You need to have created a personal Facebook account (linked to your business email) to send WhatsApp campaigns.
   
3. You need to have a valid website for your business, and you'll need to have a legal name and an address for your business that can be displayed in campaigns if required.
   
4. You need to integrate your WhatsApp business account with Zoho Marketing Automation and add numbers.
   
5. Draft your WhatsApp templates beforehand. You can send a WhatsApp campaign only after Meta approves it.

 Create WhatsApp campaign 

Add basic details 

1. From the navigation toolbar, click Marketing Campaigns, then click WhatsApp.
   
   
2. Click Create.
   
   
3. Enter the name of the campaign.
   
4. Click Save and proceed.
   
   

Add the recipients   

We pick up phone numbers from the Mobile Number field before we qualify them. Ensure that your phone numbers are in that field and in the correct format (phone numbers preceded by the country code).

1. Click Configure under the To section.
   
2. Choose from list, segment, tags, or set custom criteria.
   
   
3. Select the respective item based on the option you've chosen in the previous step. If you've chosen custom criteria, then define a criteria.
   
4. Click Save.
   
1. You can exclude contacts from the chosen recipients so they don't receive your WhatsApp campaigns. To do so, enable the Exclude Contacts toggle.
   
2. Choose to exclude contacts based on the list, segment, or campaign they have received.
   
   
5.  Click Save.

Configure Sender details 

1. Click Configure under the From section.
   
   
2. Select sender details if you've already configured them under Settings. If you haven't configured sender details, click Add phone label and numbers.
   
3. Add the phone label and select the approved business WhatsApp number you've configured in your WhatsApp business account.
   
4. Choose from one of the registered WhatsApp numbers and click Save.
   
   

Phone label is used for identification within Zoho Marketing Automation. You can give your display name value for the phone label to easily identify the registered numbers.

Configure content template

Add content using an existing content template

1. If you've already added reviewed WhatsApp templates, click Choose template.
   
   
2. Hover over the template you wish to choose, and click Choose. Once you choose the template, you can make changes to it in the Message Builder section. There can be three scenarios:
   
1. If you choose an approved template and make no changes to it. This campaign can be sent to the contacts immediately.
   
2. If you choose an approved template, and you want to make changes. Then, you need to clone it and make the changes to the cloned version. The cloned campaign content template must be sent again for review.
   
3. If you choose a template that is not reviewed or approved. The campaign content template must be sent for review.
   
4. If you want to create a template on the go, name the template, choose a language and then draft the template.
   
   

Add content by creating a new content template 

1. Under Content section in the Configuration page, click Choose Template, and then Create New.
   
   
2. Enter a name for your template, select the language, choose the folder where it has to saved and click Proceed.
   
   

Header 

Points to remember while framing header content
Video:

1. The supported formats are mp4 and 3gpp.
   
2. H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec formats are supported.
   
3. Video can have a single or no audio stream.
   
4. Maximum size is 15 MB.
   
5. You can upload one video file.
   

Image:

1. The supported formats are jpg, jpeg, and png.
   
2. The image should be 8 bit, RGB or RGBA formats.
   
3. Maximum size is 15 MB.
   
4. You can upload one image file.
   

Text:

1. Maximum of 60 characters (including the link)
   
2. Maximum number of placeholders is 1
   
3. Placeholder must be separated with space before and after.
   
4. Content can't contain new lines, formatting characters, emojis, or asterisk.

PDF:

1. The supported format is pdf.
   
2. Maximum size is 20 MB
   
3. Maximum number of document is 1
   

Body

Points to remember while framing body content

1. Maximum of 1024 characters (including placeholder values)
   
2. Content can have a maximum of 800 characters as text
3. Maximum of 10 placeholders
   
4. Placeholders must be separated with space in between them.
   
5. Content cannot contain characters like '< , >' and '{ , }'.
   
6. Content cannot have more than 10 placeholders.
   
7. A space has to be added between two placeholders.
   

A new content template will need the approval from WhatsApp before it can be sent.

 Footer  

Points to remember while framing footer content:

1. Maximum of 60 characters (including the link)
   
2. No placeholders or multiple lines of content
   
3. No emojis or special characters
   
4. Please insist the recipient type STOP in English if they want to be unsubscribed from WhatsApp messages.
   

 Button 

Three quick replies or a combination of URL and call number action can be configured in a template.

Points to remember while creating a button:

Call number:

1. Maximum of 20 characters
   
2. No placeholders allowed
   

URL:

1. Maximum of 20 characters
   
2. URL must be valid and start with http or https
   
3. Maximum of 1 placeholder
   

 Quick reply:

1. Maximum of 20 characters
   
2. No placeholders allowed
   
3. Message cannot be repeated

 Send or schedule campaign 

1. Click Save and review after configuring sender details, recipient details, and content.
   
   
2. Click Launch after the review.
   
3. You can choose from two scheduling options:
   
1. Send immediately: The campaign will be sent as soon as the launch button is clicked.
   
2. Schedule: Schedule the date and time for launching the campaign. You can also set the time zone of the recipient.
   
4. Click Save.
   
   

Note:

1. As per WhatsApp guidelines, you can only send campaigns to a limited number of contacts based on your tier. You can check your current tier details in Settings->Marketing Channels->WhatsApp->the respective phone number detail view.
   

1. As of now, you cannot view the replies your contacts sent you on Zoho Marketing Automation. However, you can use WhatsApp's Click to chat feature to directly communicate with the contacts who've replied to you. Learn more
   

Related help documents

1. Best practices for WhatsApp campaign
   
2. How to apply for WhatsApp green tick verification