WhatsApp sequences: free text in the 24-hour window, over several numbers
Put WhatsApp steps in the same sequence as your emails. Each step sends its approved template, or your own free text when the person wrote in the last 24 hours. New chats can be spread over several numbers within Meta's daily limits.
PLANSEvery plan
Connects once Meta approves SmartMy's Meta app (App Review); tested with you before go-live. Built and tried on our test systems, not yet with a customer's Meta account.
Why it matters
Most businesses that sell on WhatsApp also follow up by email, and keeping the two apart means the same person is chased twice or forgotten. In SmartMy Marketing one sequence holds both: an email on day one, a WhatsApp message on day three. The person leaves the moment they reply on either. When they wrote in the last 24 hours they get a plain message in your words instead of a template, which reads like a person. New chats are spread over your numbers within Meta's daily limit for each, and nobody without a recorded opt-in gets WhatsApp marketing.
The problem it solves
- Email and WhatsApp follow-ups live in two tools, so the same person gets both on the same day or neither.
- Every follow-up goes as a stiff template, even to someone who wrote to you an hour ago.
- One number opens too many new chats in a day and its quality rating falls.
- Marketing goes out to numbers that never agreed to it.
How it works
- In a sequence or journey, open the WhatsApp tab and choose the WhatsApp Number, or several WhatsApp Numbers.
- Add a Send WhatsApp step and pick its approved template. Optionally type a Message in the 24-Hour Window, with merge fields such as {{first_name}}.
- Mix it with Wait and Send Email steps, for example: email on day 1, WhatsApp on day 3, a last email on day 7.
- Start it. A bar on the sequence counts people Not Opted In to WhatsApp; See Them lists them. They get the emails and other steps, but no WhatsApp.
- When the step runs, a person who wrote in the last 24 hours gets your free text; everyone else gets the template. A reply ends the sequence for them and opens the chat in the inbox.
Everything it does
Steps
- Send WhatsApp with its WhatsApp Template; every WhatsApp step needs one before Start
- Message in the 24-Hour Window: sent instead of the template while the person's window is open; merge fields work
- Sending hours and working days of the sequence apply to WhatsApp steps too
- If / Else can check Opted In on WhatsApp, to send email to the rest
- Scale: A/B versions with other templates; free text in the window is not part of a test
Several numbers
- WhatsApp Numbers: the numbers this sequence sends from in turn; empty uses the one WhatsApp Number
- A person always hears from the same number. A new person goes to the number that opened the fewest new chats in the last 24 hours
- Each number stays within Meta's messaging limit for it (250, 1K, 10K or 100K new chats a day, read from Meta)
- New Chats a Number a Day: your own cap per number (0: Meta's limit only)
- When every number is full, the person waits an hour ("Every WhatsApp number is at today's limit")
Opt-in and the window
- WhatsApp marketing goes only to people whose latest WhatsApp consent with the sequence's Entity is Opted In; the others are skipped and logged
- The Add to a Journey window warns how many of the chosen people have not opted in, before anything is sent
- The 24-hour window: counted from the person's last message to that number
Results
- Each message is kept with its sequence, step and version; delivered and read come from Meta
- A reply or a pressed button is marked on the message it answers
- Number quality and messaging limit are read from Meta; a fall is told to administrators
Who uses it
Marketing UserBuilds sequences with WhatsApp steps and writes the window text.
Marketing AdministratorConnects the numbers and gets the template approved.
Sales teamAnswers the replies in the inbox.
Where you use it
- Web: Marketing > Outreach > Sequences and Marketing > Campaigns > Journeys, WhatsApp tab and Steps
- WhatsApp: the messages reach the person from your number
- Web: replies in Marketing > Inbox
- Not in the phone app: this is done on the web. The SmartMy Marketing app covers chats, contacts, posts, leads and campaigns
What you control
Settings
- WhatsApp Number or WhatsApp Numbers: per sequence
- New Chats a Number a Day: 0 (Meta's limit only)
- Message in the 24-Hour Window: empty (the template always goes)
- Sending hours: 9:00 to 19:00 in the sequence's Time Zone, working days only
Notifications
- WhatsApp Number Quality Fell: when Meta lowers a number's quality rating, to the system administrators of its Entity, in-app and by email, at once
Questions
Do people without an opt-in still get the emails?
Yes. Only the WhatsApp steps are skipped for them, and the skip is logged. The sequence shows how many such people it has.What decides template or free text?
The 24-hour window. If the person wrote to that number in the last 24 hours and the step has window text, the text goes; otherwise the approved template.Can one person get messages from two of my numbers?
No. Once a number has talked to a person, that number is used for them in the sequence.What happens when they reply?
The sequence ends for them (Stop When They Reply), and the chat appears in the inbox for your team. With reply sorting (Growth), the reply also gets a category.Is this in Starter?
WhatsApp steps are in Starter. Starter connects one number; spreading a sequence over several numbers needs the numbers of Growth or Scale.Related features
OUTREACHEmail sequences over many mailboxes, with tracking and one-click unsubscribeCold and warm outreach as plain, personal emails. Each sequence sends from a pool of your mailboxes, a little at a time. It keeps follow-ups in the same thread and stops for a person when they reply. Every email carries an unsubscribe link and the one-click unsubscribe header.OUTREACHWhatsApp templates and Meta's approvalWrite your WhatsApp templates in SmartMy, with parameters, a header and buttons, and send them to Meta for approval from the number. Approved templates are what sequences, journeys, broadcasts and the inbox send outside the 24-hour window.OUTREACHWhatsApp opt-in word, link and QR codeGive each WhatsApp number an opt-in word. Whoever sends it from your QR code, wa.me link or ad is opted in to WhatsApp marketing. Their message is kept as proof, and they get your reply.OUTREACHOutreach results for email and WhatsAppEvery outreach email and WhatsApp message is kept with its sequence, step, version and sender. You see sent, replied, bounced, clicked and read for each one, and where each person stands.CAMPAIGNSJourneys: triggers, waits, If / Else, tags, tasks and goalsAutomate what happens after someone enters. Wait, send an email or WhatsApp message, and branch on a reply or a tag. Tag people, give someone a task, and end at your goal.OUTREACHReplies sorted by AI, and reply rulesEvery reply to a sequence or journey gets a category such as Interested, Not Now or Wrong Person. It is sorted by AI or by the button pressed. Your reply rules then start another sequence, give a tag, set a task or, with CRM, make a lead.
See your inbox and campaigns on it.
Tell us which channels your customers use, how leads reach you and how many people answer them. We will connect a channel with you and run your first journey.