How to Use Wati to Send a WhatsApp Broadcast Campaign

The short answer: a first broadcast from Wati to 1,000 opted-in Dutch customers costs $255.50 in marketing messages at Wati's rate card, on top of the Growth plan at $69 a month on monthly billing, and a new number reaches only 250 unique customers in 24 hours until Meta raises its limit (pricing page, rate card, limits article, checked on 26 October 2026). The steps: connect the number, import contacts with their consent, set up the Stop rule, write and submit a marketing template, build the segment with a holdout, schedule inside the limit, let an AI assistant draft the follow-up through Wati's MCP server, then read delivered, read and clicked.

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The job: an offer or a launch goes to the customers who said yes to WhatsApp messages, it arrives on the phone they check most, and you can tell afterwards whether it sold anything. What the product is and costs is in the Wati glossary entry.

Three numbers before the template:

1. The cost of one send. For example, 1,000 contacts x $0.2555 per marketing message to a Dutch number = $255.50, per Wati's rate card. Utility messages cost $0.0900, but they are for order and account updates; the guided campaign article says not to use utility templates for promotions.
2. The consent you already hold. Meta's opt-in guide requires an opt-in that names your business, and Wati's guided setup rules out purchased, scraped, cold and old lists. Your starting list is the customers who ticked a WhatsApp box at checkout or in a form, nobody else.
3. A holdout. For example, hold back 100 of the 1,000, chosen at random, and after seven days compare the share of each group that ordered. That difference, not the read rate, is what the broadcast earned.

What you need

• A Wati account and a Meta business portfolio. The pricing FAQ says there is no setup fee for the API.
• A WhatsApp number. To keep using the WhatsApp Business App on it, ask Wati for Coexistence, which syncs up to six months of chats, per the Coexistence article; otherwise the number's WhatsApp account must be deleted before it connects.
• A CSV of opted-in contacts with phone numbers in international format and the date and source of each opt-in.

Step 1: Connect the number

Use Embedded Signup, which runs inside Wati, per the connection guide. Then check Settings, Channels, Messaging limit to see where Meta has started you. Business verification lifts a new number from 250 to 2,000 unique customers a day, per the limits article, so start it now if the list is larger than 250.

Step 2: Import the contacts with their consent

Upload the CSV and map each column to a contact attribute, adding one for opt-in date and one for opt-in source, per the import article. Wati's opt-in article asks you to keep a record of when and how each customer agreed; the attribute is that record.

Step 3: Set up the Stop rule

Customers opt out by replying STOP, which sets their Allow Campaign attribute to false and stops future campaigns to them, per the opt-out article. Accounts created recently have the Unsubscribe from campaign rule already; older ones build it: when the keyword arrives, set Allow Campaign to false.

Step 4: Write and submit the template

Go to Campaigns, Template Messages, Your Templates, New Template Message, per the template article. Name it with underscores, choose the Marketing category, write the body with {{name}} style variables inside 1,024 characters, add a Visit Website button, which on Pro and Business turns on click tracking, and end with a footer telling people to reply Stop to opt out, as the opt-out article suggests. Submit it from Wati, never from WhatsApp Manager, or it will not appear in your account. Meta's review takes 30 minutes to 24 hours.

Step 5: Build the audience and the holdout

On Growth, the audience is the CSV itself, as in the guided setup, so remove the holdout rows before uploading and keep them in a separate file. On Pro and Business, build a static custom segment from contact attributes, such as opt_in_source = checkout, and check it with Preview Contacts, per the segments article. A static segment keeps its members fixed, which is what a holdout comparison needs.

Step 6: Schedule inside the limit

Plan the send on the Campaign Calendar. A limit is shared by every number in the same business portfolio, so a second number does not double it. If the audience is larger than the limit, split it over days. Before the real send, the guided setup lets you broadcast to yourself by scanning a QR code that adds you as a contact.

Step 7: Draft the follow-up with an AI assistant

Wati's MCP server at https://mcp.wati.io/mcp, or https://eu-mcp.wati.io/mcp on the EU instance, connects Claude or ChatGPT by OAuth on Growth, Pro and Business. Two days after the send, on Pro or Business where custom segments exist, ask it: "From the campaign sent on Tuesday, build a segment of contacts who received it but did not read it, and draft a shorter follow-up template." The agent does the listing and drafting; a person does the deciding. Wati's MCP guidance says actions such as sending messages reach real customers and to review each proposed action before confirming it, so approve the segment and the text, and keep the send itself in Wati where you can see the audience size.

Step 8: Read the results

Campaign Overview shows delivered, read and engagements, and on Pro and Business a funnel with the reasons for failed deliveries, per the analytics article. After seven days, compare the share of the 900 who ordered with the share of the 100.

What Wati's help centre warns about

• Pacing. Meta can slow or pause a new template's delivery, shown as error 132015; Wati stops the campaign and offers a retry with another approved template, per the pacing article.
• Promotions in utility clothing. The guided setup says not to put promotional content in a utility template, and Wati keeps a separate article on utility templates reclassified as marketing.
• Lists nobody agreed to. The guided setup ties consent-based lists to better delivery and fewer account restrictions.
• Deleted templates. A deleted template's name cannot be reused.

What costs nothing, and what adds up

The test send to yourself and the holdout cost nothing, and together they answer whether WhatsApp beats your email for this offer before you scale the list. Watch one allowance: if a reply to the broadcast starts a chatbot or keyword rule, each run uses an automation trigger, Growth includes 1,000 a month, and past that the pricing FAQ says replies fall back to your team or to triggers bought on the Your Plan page, so a broadcast that works also sells Wati an add-on.

FAQ

What do customers' replies cost?

Their messages to you are free. Your answers inside the 24-hour window are service messages: since 1 October 2026 the first 1,000 a month are free and each one after that costs $0.0600 to a Dutch number at Wati's rate card, against $0.05 on Meta's own USD rate card (Meta pricing).

Why did my campaign stop halfway?

Usually pacing: Meta held back a new or unrated template. Retry the failed contacts with another approved template, or let Wati's AI suggest a better version and resubmit it.

Can I message customers who bought but never opted in?

Not as a campaign. Meta requires an opt-in naming your business, and Wati's guided setup excludes cold audiences. Ask them first, at checkout or in your order confirmation.