WhatsApp is a more personal channel than email, and the block rate rises much faster with frequency.
How long a sequence should be
Email sequences of eight or ten messages are normal because email is cheap and easy to ignore. WhatsApp is neither. Every message is charged, and every irrelevant one raises the chance of a block that costs you quality rating.
Three to five messages covers the case where a genuinely interested buyer went quiet, without crossing into pestering.
Spacing that works
Widening the gaps matters. Constant-interval sequences feel automated; widening ones feel like someone remembering to follow up.
- Message 1: within an hour of the trigger, while it is still current
- Message 2: one day later, a short nudge with something new
- Message 3: three to four days later, address the likely objection
- Message 4: about a week later, a final check-in with an easy exit
- Optional message 5: two to three weeks later, a genuine reason to reopen
Exit conditions are not optional
The fastest way to make a drip campaign do damage is to let it keep running after the customer has responded. A reply, a purchase, a stage change or a tag should all end it.
Opt-out should end everything, not just the current sequence, and that suppression should apply across every number on the account.
What each message should carry
Repeating "just following up" four times is what makes people block. Each message needs a reason to exist: new information, a different angle, an objection addressed, or a genuine deadline.
Vary the format too. A carousel on the first message, a plain question on the third, and a limited-time offer on the last reads far less mechanical than four identical text templates.
Measure per step, not per campaign
- Reply rate for each step, which shows where the sequence dies
- Opt-out rate per step, which shows where it overstays
- Conversion attributed to the step that preceded it
- Cost per reply, since every step is charged