Broadcasts

Broadcasts let you send the same message to a large audience at once. Use them for announcements, promotions, or important updates.

Broadcasts are available on Growth and Pro plans.

Creating a broadcast

1. Open OonoBox → Broadcasts.
2. Click Create broadcast.
3. Set the audience (which contacts to send to).
4. Choose your template (broadcasts require an approved template).
5. Fill in any template variables.
6. Review, then send now or schedule it for later.

Audience

You send to a segment. Segments come in three kinds:

• All contacts — Every contact in your workspace.
• Saved query — A dynamic filter by tags, channel, marketing opt-in, and how recently a contact was active.
• Uploaded list — A CSV of phone numbers you import as a one-off list.

The preview shows how many recipients will receive the message before you send.

Templates

Always use an approved WhatsApp template for broadcasts. This ensures:

• Meta allows the message (some promotional messages are rejected if sent as free text).
• Compliance with WhatsApp business policies.
• Delivery to customers who may be outside the 24-hour window.

If a template is not yet approved, you can submit it first, then create the broadcast once approved.

Pacing and safety

OonoBox paces broadcasts to avoid overwhelming Meta's infrastructure and to respect customer experience:

• Messages are spread over several minutes or hours (depending on audience size).
• Sending respects each number's WhatsApp messaging limit, so large broadcasts go out in batches.
• Contacts who have opted out are skipped, and bad numbers are reported as failed.

You can't set a custom pace — OonoBox automatically handles it.

Scheduling

You can send a broadcast right away, or schedule it for a future date and time. Set a send time when you create the broadcast and it moves to a Scheduled state; OonoBox sends it automatically when that time arrives.

Monitoring delivery

Once a broadcast is sent:

1. Go to Broadcasts → History.
2. Click the broadcast to see details.
3. View delivery status for each recipient:
   • Queued
   • Delivered
   • Read
   • Replied
   • Failed (with reason)

Failed messages are logged but not retried automatically. You can inspect the failure reason (invalid number, number not on WhatsApp, etc.) and take action.

Opt-outs

If a customer replies with "STOP" (or "UNSUBSCRIBE"), they're automatically marked as opted out of marketing and won't receive future broadcasts.

To opt someone out manually, open their contact and change their marketing consent. Opted-out contacts are skipped when a broadcast is sent.

Cost and limits

Broadcasts are a Growth and Pro feature, and both of those plans include unlimited conversations. There's no per-broadcast charge and no cap on how many you send within your plan.

Best practices

Use templates — Never send broadcasts as free text. Meta may reject or delay delivery.

Test first — Send a small broadcast to a few test numbers before rolling out to your full audience.

Segment wisely — Sending irrelevant messages damages trust. Segment by customer interest if possible.

Timing matters — Avoid sending at off-hours. Pick a time when customers are likely to be online.

Monitor delivery — Check the history afterward. If many messages fail, investigate why (invalid numbers, opt-outs, etc.).

Troubleshooting

"Template not approved" — Approve the template in Settings first, then retry.

"Audience is empty" — Your segment or filter matched no customers. Check the conditions.

"Broadcast stuck in pending" — Large broadcasts take time to send (paced over minutes or hours). Check back in a bit.

"High failure rate" — Verify phone numbers are valid and in international format (e.g. +263771234567). Remove invalid numbers and retry.