A broadcast sends one message to many customers, with each copy arriving as an ordinary private chat: no visible recipient list, replies coming back one-to-one, nothing marking it as bulk. For a UK business it is the appointment reminder, the price-change notice and the seasonal offer, delivered to the app customers actually open.
Broadcasts also fail more quietly than anything else in WhatsApp, and careless ones get numbers restricted. UK businesses have an advantage here: years of consent-first marketing instinct map exactly onto what keeps WhatsApp broadcasts deliverable. This guide covers the mechanics, the delivery rule that empties most lists, and safe scaling.
How broadcast lists work
A broadcast list is a saved set of recipients. Sending to it delivers a separate one-to-one message to each person, like BCC in email: private and individual, with no shared thread. A group is the opposite: one room where every member sees everyone else, phone numbers included.
Replies arrive in your normal private chat with that customer. Nobody can tell a broadcast from a personally typed message, which is why a well-written one lands like a personal note.
Creating and sending one
- 1
Open broadcast lists
Android: three-dot menu, New broadcast. iPhone: Broadcast lists above Chats, then New list. The Business app is identical.
- 2
Pick up to 256 saved contacts
Only numbers saved in the phone’s contacts can be added. Segment sensibly: regulars, this month’s enquiries, trade customers.
- 3
Send like any chat
The list sits in Chats; text, images, PDFs and voice notes all go out as individual private messages.
- 4
Edit as you go
Open the list, tap its name, add or remove recipients. Lists are reusable.
Lists are created and managed on the phone. WhatsApp Web continues the conversations replies open, but list creation and sends stay in the mobile app.
The save-my-number rule that empties lists
A broadcast is delivered ONLY to recipients who have saved your number in their own contacts. Everyone else silently receives nothing: no error your side, no notice theirs. It is WhatsApp’s built-in spam brake and the number one cause of "my broadcast didn’t arrive".
So the habit matters more than the list: ask customers to save your number, and make it a one-tap action with a QR code at the till or a wa.me link on the invoice and the website. Expect silent non-delivery for everyone who has not.
Related: WhatsApp QR codes and linked devices · How to send links on WhatsApp
Scaling up: Business app, API, or linked-device tools
The free WhatsApp Business app gives the same 256-contact lists plus labels and quick replies; a shop announcing a sale to a few hundred regulars can manage it by hand.
The WhatsApp Business API is the official high-volume lane: pre-approved templates, per-message pricing, a separate dedicated number, no save-my-number requirement. It suits large-scale notification traffic, at per-conversation cost and with an approval process.
In between sit linked-device tools such as Spun, which connect to your existing number the way WhatsApp Web does and add campaigns on top: audience lists you define, no save-my-number requirement, sending deliberately paced within safe limits, and flat monthly pricing in pounds rather than per-message fees. Replies land in a shared team inbox with full history.
Consent-first sending: the UK instinct, applied
- Message people who expect to hear from you. The same opt-in instinct UK businesses apply to email maps directly onto WhatsApp, where the report button enforces it.
- Keep frequency low: a genuinely useful weekly update survives; daily promotions train customers to block, and blocks plus reports are what restrict business numbers.
- Write personally: broadcasts arrive as private messages, so write them like one.
- Honour opt-outs instantly: "Reply STOP to unsubscribe", and actually remove them.
- Pace bulk sends: hundreds of messages in seconds is classic bot behaviour, which is precisely why serious tools build pacing in. No tool, on any lane, can promise immunity for spam.
Related: How to tell if a customer has blocked you on WhatsApp