The complete guide for WhatsApp Broadcast messages for your business in Singapore

With more than 2 billion WhatsApp users around the world, WhatsApp dominates Singapore, with 98% of the people using it as their main messaging app. Apart from the vast user base, here are three simple reasons why you (and your boss) should start converting customers on WhatsApp:

• The average user checks their WhatsApp more than 23 times daily

• WhatsApp processes 100 billion messages every single day

• 80% of all WhatsApp messages are usually read within 5 minutes

With such habits deeply ingrained within users, businesses should use WhatsApp to connect with their customers. WhatsApp messages have become an integral part of customers’ lives, surpassing older communication channels such as email and SMS, and businesses stand a better chance of attracting attention, increasing customer engagement, and ultimately, conversion. This is why sending WhatsApp broadcasts and automating replies are the ultimate trick to your marketing strategy!

What is WhatsApp Broadcast?

WhatsApp Broadcast is a feature that allows you to send bulk messages through  WhatsApp, distributing information to multiple contacts at once. Unlike a group chat, the recipients of the message will receive it as an individual message and they will not be able to see who else received the message.

Undoubtedly, reaching the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time is important, but the key lies in ensuring that the recipients receive the automatic message through a reliable platform. When governments and public organisations need to notify the public urgently, messages are usually relayed by SMS through telco carriers, such as StarHub, Singtel, or M1. However, when it comes to promotional marketing, the focus and methods are different.

What are the features of WhatsApp Broadcast for business on the WhatsApp Business App?

If you’re a small business and want to get started with WhatsApp broadcast quickly, you can use the free WhatsApp Business App for more familiarity, as it has the same user interface as the regular WhatsApp App we use daily. This way, you can discover the advantages of sending WhatsApp broadcast messages and begin experiencing benefits to your business.

Here are some features you can find on the WhatsApp Business App that differ from the normal WhatsApp messaging app:

1. WhatsApp Business Profile

Provides key business information such as your address, business description, email address, and website.

Explore more about getting a green tick verification for your WhatsApp Business account.

2. Labels

Allows you to organise your contacts or chats with labels, so you can easily find them again. Read on to see how should you make good use of labels.

3. Quick replies

Save and reuse messages you frequently send so that you can easily answer common questions in no time.

4. Create a catalogue of products and services for easy browsing

Upload your products with the details and pricing for users to browse through your catalogue at their convenience and share with their friends easily.

Although the WhatsApp Business version has more features than the regular version, when it comes to handling conversations, each business account only allows 1 phone and 4 linked devices on WhatsApp Web to log into the app to reply to customers. That’s not all - any additional or even accidental logins will log out existing users, resulting in loss of unsent messages and workflow bottlenecks.

As such, larger corporations should not just stop at the WhatsApp Business App, but instead, seek out omnichannel messaging platforms to streamline their messaging workflow and send bulk messages through WhatsApp for promotional purposes.

Need to learn more about the free WhatsApp Business App? Read WhatsApp Business: All You Need To Know.

How to broadcast whatsapp messages in Whatsapp Business?

If you are operating a small business with one or two staff members to answer your customers’ queries, you can begin to send bulk messages through WhatsApp using the WhatsApp Business App’s limited broadcast function.

1. Create a WhatsApp Broadcast list

The advantage of creating a Broadcast List on WhatsApp is that you can finely segment your customers and create an unlimited number of WhatsApp Broadcast Lists.

That being said, do note that each list has a WhatsApp Business broadcast limit with a maximum of 256 people added to it. By segmenting your customers into WhatsApp broadcast lists, you can send a message to up to 256 people at once, and the recipients will receive a broadcast message that looks like a personal message from you right in their conversation log with you. However, we strongly recommend that you do not send a large number of messages at once as it might result in your account being blocked.

Account banned by WhatsApp? Find out what to do to retrieve your WhatsApp Business account.

How to create a WhatsApp Broadcast list:

• Tap on “Broadcast List”

• Tap on “New List”

• Select the customers that you want to add to the list

2. Using WhatsApp Labels

Adding labels is a great way to segment your customers in WhatsApp. The best part about WhatsApp’s labels is that they can also be added to individual message bubbles. For example, you can add labels to all positive reviews and view all of them at the same time. This way, you will be able to easily screenshot the reviews and share them on social media! Apart from that, you can also label suggestions from customers and review them all at once to make improvements.

You can also create WhatsApp broadcast lists for specific customers using labels. For example, you can label all customers who have given your business a positive review and add them to a broadcast list to send them a thank you offer. In addition, you can also add labels to customers who have not paid and send them a payment reminder!

Step-by-step: creating broadcast lists from Labels (Android)

• Tap on More Options 

• Select Labels

• Choose the Label you want to create a Broadcast List with

• Tap on More Options and send a WhatsApp broadcast message to customers

• Select the green tick on the bottom right of the page and start drafting your message

Using WhatsApp Broadcast for business on the WhatsApp Business App is free of charge. You do not need to pay to send bulk messages through WhatsApp. However, there are some limitations to sending WhatsApp Broadcast messages on the free App.

Limitations of WhatsApp Business App to broadcast messages

Sadly there are limitations on using WhatsApp Business to do broadcast. Here's some of the limitations:

1. Hard Limits on Recipients

• Broadcast List Cap: A single Broadcast List is limited to a maximum of 256 recipients at one time. If your customer base exceeds this number—which is often the goal for any growing business—you'll need to manage multiple lists, significantly increasing your administrative overhead.

• Forwarding Cap: While you can forward a message outside of a Broadcast List, the standard Forward function is limited to just five recipients per message. Imagine having to copy, paste, and repeat this action hundreds of times for a large customer base.

2. Manual and Time-Consuming Setup

• Contact Requirement: To send a broadcast message to a customer, their phone number must be saved as a contact in your phone's address book, and they must also have saved your business's number in their own contacts. Not meeting this mutual-save requirement means your message will not be delivered via the Broadcast List.

• Individual Forwarding: If you opt to use the simple Forward function instead of a Broadcast List, each message still needs to be forwarded individually, a massive manual hassle for even a moderately sized list of customers.

3. Lack of Personalization

The Broadcast List function sends the exact same message to everyone. If you want to personalize a message—for example, by including the customer's name—you would have to manually edit and send the text to each customer one-by-one, entirely defeating the purpose of a mass communication tool.

4. High Risk of Being Blocked

Massive, untargeted use of the Broadcast feature carries a significant risk. Customers who do not want to receive your messages may report or block your business. A high volume of reports and blocks can lead to WhatsApp temporarily or permanently blocking your number, leaving you uncontactable and resulting in lost leads and a negative impression of your business.

Overcome WhatsApp Broadcast limitations with the WhatsApp Business API

The WhatsApp Business Platform (API) is a powerful communication tool designed for businesses to manage customer conversations, provide support, and conduct transactions at scale. It transforms your ability to send bulk messages by fundamentally changing the rules of engagement:

1. Eliminate Recipient Limits: Unlike the App's strict cap of 256 recipients per list, a WhatsApp Business API solution like SleekFlow is designed for enterprise-level volume, allowing you to send messages to thousands of customers efficiently 

2. Broadcast to Unsaved Contacts: With WhatsApp Business API, you can initiate messages to customers without needing to have their number saved in your phone's contact list—provided you have their explicit opt-in consent, which is a required WhatsApp policy.

3. Achieve Full Personalisation: Say goodbye to sending the exact same generic message. With a WhatsApp Business API solution like SleekFlow, you can utilise Message Templates that allow you to include dynamic placeholders (e.g., {{1}}, {{2}}) to automatically insert a customer's name, order number, tracking details, and more. This enables fully personalised bulk broadcasts without manual editing.

4. Structured Communication to prevent WhatsApp bans: Mass, untargeted broadcasts carry a high risk of being banned by WhatsApp. This is why WhatsApp Business API solutions like SleekFlow enforce the use of pre-approved Message Templates for marketing and notifications, and require mandatory customer opt-ins. This structure significantly reduces spam reports, maintains a high-quality rating for your number, and keeps your communication effective.

5. Enable Advanced Automation and Integration: The WhatsApp Business API allows for deep integration with your existing business systems, such as CRM, marketing automation, and customer support software. This enables automated, trigger-based messaging and efficient management of all customer replies from a single dashboard, which is often provided by a BSP such as SleekFlow.

How to send WhatsApp Broadcast messages with SleekFlow?

Sending a WhatsApp broadcast in SleekFlow is as easy as five steps. We've made it super simple to send broadcasts to your customers across multiple channels.

Sending a WhatsApp broadcast in SleekFlow in five easy steps

1. Prep Your List:

   • Before you broadcast, you need to decide who you're sending the message to.

   • If you haven't done it yet, create a List from your contacts to select your targeted recipients.

2. Start a New Broadcast:

   • Go to the Broadcasts page.

   • Click on the "Send new broadcast" button.

3. Set Up the Basics:

   • Channels: Select WhatsApp as the channel you want your message to go through.

   • Title: Give your broadcast a title for you to identify it later.

   • Recipients: Select the List(s) you created in Step 1.

4. Compose Your Message:

   • Write the content for your message. The system will guide you on each channel's requirements (like max character count for SMS).

   • Customise it! Use Variables (like {{name}}) to automatically insert your recipient's personal details, making it a tailored message.

   • Choose from our pre-approved WhatsApp Templates for your message, or customise your own.

5. Schedule and Send!

   • Decide if you want to Send immediately or Schedule it for a specific date and time.

   • Optionally, you can send a test message to yourself before broadcasting on WhatsApp by clicking "Send a test message".

   • Review the details and click "Send" to launch your campaign!
     

After sending your WhatsApp broadcast message, you may use SleekFlow’s analytics dashboard to track what message was delivered, read, or replied to and monitor your broadcast performance.

If your business is growing fast in Singapore, the WhatsApp Business API and WhatsApp Broadcast function become more essential. Through an official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), such as SleekFlow, you can use the WhatsApp Business Platform to make it faster and easier to publish messages while serving as an integrated Customer Relationship Management system that solves complex problems such as personal data collection.

Advantages of using SleekFlow as a WhatsApp blast software for your business in Singapore

Compared to WhatsApp Broadcast for business on the free app, functions on SleekFlow Campaign will allow you to do more:

Multiple logins and simultaneous conversations on WhatsApp Business

Multiple team members can log in and use the SleekFlow platform to talk to customers using the same corporate WhatsApp number.

Personalise WhatsApp Broadcast messages with variables

Personalise your messages in a jiffy by adding variables such as first name, birthdate, membership points and more.

Test your WhatsApp Broadcast campaign messages

You can send yourself a test message to ensure that the content of your automated messages is showing up correctly before you broadcast it to your customers.

Broadcast WhatsApp messages at scale

When using the official WhatsApp Business API, you can send up to 1000 messages a day by default. However, if you send more than 500 messages within the first week, you can then increase your daily messaging limit to 10,000 messages per day with WhatsApp’s approval. 

Ready to scale? Choose an official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) for your WhatsApp Broadcast needs

To fully unlock the potential of WhatsApp Business messaging and overcome the limitations of the basic App, partnering with an official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) is essential. It's the secure, reliable, and scalable path to large-volume communication.

Choosing a Meta-verified BSP like SleekFlow provides immediate strategic advantages for businesses managing WhatsApp Broadcasts in Singapore and beyond:

Other benefits of SleekFlow as a WhatsApp BSP include:

• Integrate sophisticated AI agents: SleekFlow enables the deployment of advanced AI agents to instantly handle routine customer inquiries, qualify leads, and provide 24/7 support. This frees up your human agents to focus on complex, high-value conversations.

• Security and direct data handling: As a Meta-verified partner, SleekFlow ensures your customer data is handled directly and securely between its platform and WhatsApp's server, providing a trustworthy environment for managing sensitive customer conversations.

• Omnichannel efficiency: Beyond WhatsApp, SleekFlow centralises conversations from channels like Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messages, and Telegram into a single inbox, consolidating your entire customer communication strategy.

Best-in-class support and features: Benefit from easy onboarding and dedicated support from SleekFlow. You'll also be among the first to access WhatsApp's newest features, thanks to our close working relationship with Meta.

Want to outcompete your peers with SleekFlow's help?

Book your personalised demo with SleekFlow today and unlock the potential of seamless communication

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“The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.” -Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup

Summary: using WhatsApp Broadcast for business in Singapore

WhatsApp Broadcast is an amazing feature, especially for online businesses where there is a great need to send a single message to multiple recipients. It can be used to send automated messages, being promo messages to your customers as well as company announcements for your employees and many more. While WhatsApp Broadcast can have so many conveniences, there are also challenges in using one. For instance, there is a high chance you’ll be reported as spam when you overuse this feature. Thus, learning how to utilise WhatsApp Broadcast properly and effectively.