How to send WhatsApp broadcasts (without getting your number banned)

Tens of thousands of Indian businesses lose their WhatsApp Business numbers every month to permanent bans. Almost all are avoidable. Here is the playbook for broadcast at scale without getting de-platformed.

Step 1: Get opt-in before you ever broadcast

Capture explicit opt-in: a website checkbox, a SMS reply 'YES', a verbal yes recorded by your sales team. Store the timestamp and the source. Without opt-in records, even one customer complaint can ban your number.

Step 2: Use WhatsApp Business API, not the Business App

The free Business App caps broadcast lists at 256 contacts AND auto-bans numbers that broadcast to people who don't have you saved. For any broadcast above 100 recipients, use the WhatsApp Business API.

Step 3: Get your message templates approved

All outbound marketing on the API must use Meta-approved templates. Submit your template (e.g. 'Hi {{1}}, our Diwali offer 30% off ends in 48 hours. Reply YES for catalog.'), wait 4-24 hours for approval, then send. Don't try clever workarounds — Meta detects them.

Step 4: Rate-limit per recipient

Don't send the same template to the same customer more than once per week. Aggressive frequency triggers customer Block (the single highest cause of API ban).

Step 5: Segment lists, never blast everyone

If you have 50,000 contacts, sending the same broadcast to all 50,000 is the fastest path to ban. Segment by recency, interest, language, geography. Each segment gets a relevant template. Higher conversion AND lower ban risk.

Step 6: Watch the Quality Rating in WhatsApp Manager

Green = good. Yellow = warning. Red = restricted. If you drop to yellow, immediately reduce frequency and audit content. Red = paused; recovery takes weeks.

Frequently asked questions