Broadcasts
Send approved WhatsApp and Messenger templates to your contacts with per-recipient delivery and reply tracking
Broadcasts#
Broadcasts live in Outbound in the sidebar. A broadcast sends one approved message template to a chosen audience of your contacts — a payment reminder, a class-suspension notice, a delivery advisory — with every recipient's outcome recorded: sent, delivered, read, replied, failed, or skipped with the reason.
Replies land back in your normal inbox, where your agent answers them like any other customer message.
A broadcast is one send to many people, or an auto-send rule for people who later match a filter. It is not a Workflow reminder inside one customer's conversation, and it is not a CRM next step.
What each channel can do#
| Messenger | ||
|---|---|---|
| Who you can reach | Any contact with a usable phone number | Only people who have already messaged your Page |
| Reminders and announcements | Yes | Yes |
| Promotions and win-back | Yes, with the customer's marketing opt-in | No. Messenger sends utility templates only |
| Message charges | Billed by Meta to your WhatsApp Business account | Follows Meta's current Messenger utility pricing |
These limits come from Meta, not AlonChat. Messenger has no sanctioned way to message someone who never messaged your Page, and no marketing path. Sending promos through utility templates can get a Page's messaging revoked.
Templates#
Outside Meta's 24-hour reply window, messages must use a pre-approved template. Outbound → Templates shows every template on each connected account and its review status.
| Way to get a template | What happens |
|---|---|
| Write your own | In Outbound → Templates, choose a reminder, announcement, promotion, or win-back. Use numbered variables like {{1}}, give one example per variable, and submit |
| Install default reminders | From a Workflow's If the reminder falls after 24 hours settings, Install default reminder templates submits payment, booking, and order reminders. They show up after Meta approves them, usually within a day |
A submitted template appears in the library when Meta returns it. That is not the same as it already being approved. Changing copy or placeholders creates a new version for review. Values for existing placeholders are filled per recipient when you send. Hide from AlonChat removes a template from new selections without changing Meta or existing sends.
Approved templates from this library can be selected by a broadcast or by a Workflow reminder outside the 24-hour window. On WhatsApp, a marketing template still needs the customer's marketing opt-in. Messenger stays on utility templates. Authentication templates need a separate OTP integration and are not broadcast messages. A Workflow reminder is only for something the customer already started, such as a pending payment, booking, or order.
Sending a broadcast#
Outbound → New broadcast has six steps:
| Step | What you decide |
|---|---|
| Channel | WhatsApp or Messenger, the connected account, and the purpose |
| Audience | Filter by tags or recent contact, or pick people. The live count shows who will receive it and who is skipped |
| Template | An approved template that fits the purpose |
| Variables | Map each variable to a name, contact field, saved attribute, or fixed text. A missing required value blocks that contact |
| Delivery | Send once now or later, or Auto-send when matched on a filtered audience. Choose whether to wait out quiet hours |
| Review | Check the summary and send a test to your own WhatsApp number, or to a Messenger conversation you pick |
Skip reasons include unreachable on the channel, asked to stop, no marketing opt-in, or already messaged inside the frequency window. Auto-send always waits 24 hours after any AlonChat message to that person, and it rechecks a filtered audience hourly.
An urgent notice can be set to send during quiet hours. Broadcasts send at a steady pace rather than all at once. Each plan has a per-broadcast recipient limit, shown before you send. If the audience is over that limit, narrow it or upgrade before it can go out.
Outbound → Automations lists auto-send rules after you review and activate them. You can pause, resume, or cancel a rule there. Creating the audience and template still happens in the broadcast flow.
After sending#
Outbound → Broadcasts keeps every broadcast with its delivery breakdown. Open one to see each recipient's status and timestamps, including who replied within three days of receiving it.
If Meta pauses a template mid-send, the broadcast pauses with the unsent recipients preserved, you're alerted, and Resume continues where it stopped once the template is available again. Pausing is not the same as those people having received the message.
Good practice#
- Broadcast to people who expect to hear from you: enrolled parents, active customers, buyers with pending orders.
- Keep announcements factual. On Messenger, anything that reads as a promo risks the Page's messaging access.
- Use the test send before the audience goes out.
- For one customer's reminder, use a Workflow follow-up. Broadcasts are for many people, or for contacts who later match a saved filter.