Sending a campaign is a decision about what; scheduling it is a decision about when, and when is worth more than most people expect. The same message at 10:30 on a Tuesday and at 11pm on a Saturday gets different read rates, different reply volumes and, if the segment was wrong, a different number of blocks before you can react. Here is how scheduling works on the official platform and how to use it.
What scheduling means on the official platform
- Send later: pick a date and time; the campaign runs then, whether or not anyone is logged in.
- By timezone: “10am local” for every recipient, across countries, from the contact’s country code or a tag.
- In waves: 500 every 20 minutes instead of 5,000 at once, so the inbox can keep up and problems show early.
- Recurring: monthly payment reminders, annual renewals, weekly class schedules, as utility templates.
- Drip: day 0 welcome, day 3 catalogue, day 10 offer, day 30 check-in, each conditional on what happened before.
None of this exists in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business apps, which is why the “schedule” tools built on them are automations of the consumer account, with the ban risk that carries.
When to send, in India
Patterns we see across lists, to be tested against your own:
- Consumer retail: 10 to 11:30 weekday mornings and 6 to 8:30 weekday evenings. Sunday evening is strong.
- B2B and wholesale: 9 to 10 in the morning, when the day’s buying is planned. Rate lists go out before the market opens.
- Education: early evening for parents; mid-morning for students during holidays.
- Food and delivery: 11:30 for lunch, 6:30 for dinner, and a rain-day send whenever it rains.
- Avoid: late night, very early morning, and the middle of any festival day itself; the day before is when the buying happens.
The reliable method is an A/B: same segment, same template, two slots, read the report. See A/B testing WhatsApp templates.
Why waves matter more than the hour
Recurring and triggered sends
Reminders should not be campaigns someone remembers to send. They should be utility templates on a schedule or a trigger:
- Date on the contact: renewal date, due date, appointment time. The platform sends N days before.
- Event from a system: order placed, payment overdue, class rescheduled, via the API or a native Shopify, WooCommerce, Zoho or HubSpot connection.
- Utility pricing: these are utility messages, priced lower than marketing by Meta.
Drip sequences for leads are covered in WhatsApp drip sequences that work.
How to schedule a campaign
What it costs
- Platform: ₹7,999 a year in India, $200 elsewhere. Scheduling, timezone, waves, recurring and drip included.
- Meta’s per-message charge: when the message sends, per 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
Schedule your first real campaign on the free trial. The Bulk WhatsApp Sender Software page covers the platform, and campaign frequency best practice covers how often, which matters as much as when.