This is the whole process, start to finish, for sending bulk WhatsApp messages the way that works in 2026: on the official platform, to people who asked, with a report at the end. Nine steps. The first four happen once; the last five happen every campaign.
Step 1: Choose the number
A number you will keep for years and that is not anyone’s personal WhatsApp. A new SIM or a landline both work on the official platform. If the number is currently on the WhatsApp or Business app, it is migrated to the API during setup and stops working in the app, so make sure nobody needs it there. If it is already on another API provider, it is migrated in one to two working days with the old provider live until the switch.
Step 2: Verify the business with Meta
Meta verifies that a real legal business sits behind the number. You provide registration documents and a website or listing that matches; the provider submits and follows up. This is the slow step, typically two to five working days, and the reason to start before the season rather than during it. Once verified, your business name shows on recipients’ screens and the number is eligible for the green tick.
Step 3: Collect opt-in, and record it
Consent is what makes everything after this legal and what keeps the number’s quality rating green. Collect it where customers already are:
- A QR code on the counter, the bill, the bag or the website, opening a pre-filled message; the reply is the opt-in.
- A checkbox at checkout or on a form.
- A reply to a one-time consent request sent to existing customers.
Record the source and date on each contact. It is the record you show under the DPDP Act, and the column you segment on. Purchased lists are not consent and are the single fastest way to lose the number.
Step 4: Build and approve templates
Marketing and utility messages sent outside a 24-hour service window are templates Meta has approved. Submit three to start: one offer, one reminder, one re-engagement. Each can carry an image, PDF or video header, personalisation variables, and up to three buttons. Approval is usually minutes to hours. See template examples that get approved.
Step 5: Import the list with tags
CSV from Excel or a connected Google Sheet, one row per contact, phone in international format, plus the columns you will message and segment by: name, city, language, last purchase, consent source. Every column becomes a tag. Details in sending a WhatsApp blast from Excel.
Step 6: Build a segment
Not the whole list. A filter on tags: “Mumbai, Hindi, bought in the last 90 days”. A few hundred people with a reason to receive the message beat ten thousand without one, on read rate, reply rate and blocks. Language tags also decide which approved template each person gets.
Step 7: Schedule and send
Pick the template, the segment, the time (by recipient timezone if the list crosses countries), and a wave size if the list is large. The send runs on Meta’s side; no phone or laptop needs to stay on. The platform paces it inside your number’s messaging tier, which starts at 1,000 unique recipients a day and rises to unlimited with healthy quality. See scheduling bulk WhatsApp.
Step 8: Work the replies
Replies land in a shared inbox attached to the contact’s record. A chatbot answers the predictable questions and hands the rest to a person. A campaign that gets replies nobody answers is worse than no campaign, so decide who is on the inbox before you send, not after.
Step 9: Read the report, build the next segment
Delivered, read, replied and clicked per contact and per template. “Read but did not reply” is next week’s segment. A rise in blocks on one segment means that segment did not want that message. Quality rating and messaging tier are on the same screen; watch them rise.
The one-page checklist
- Business number chosen; not a personal WhatsApp.
- Meta business verification submitted (allow 2 to 5 working days).
- Opt-in collection live; source and date recorded per contact.
- Three templates approved.
- List imported with tags.
- First segment built; a few hundred, with a reason.
- Scheduled at a sensible hour, in waves if large.
- Inbox staffed; chatbot on.
- Report read; next segment built from it.
What it costs
- Platform: ₹7,999 a year in India, $200 elsewhere, unlimited agents and contacts, chatbot, inbox, API and onboarding included.
- Meta’s per-message charge: per message by country and category, passed through at cost. Service replies inside the 24-hour window are free today and become billable from 1 October 2026 (details).
Next step
Steps 1 to 4 are done with you on the free trial call, and step 7 happens on it too, to a small real segment. The Bulk WhatsApp Sender Software page covers the platform in full, and sending bulk WhatsApp legally in India covers step 3 in depth.