Send a broadcast

The New broadcast window has three steps: Name and message, Audience and When to send. A preview of the message is on the right.

How do I send a broadcast?

1. Go to Automation → Broadcasts and click New broadcast.
2. Type a Broadcast name, like Diwali offer. Only your team sees it.
3. Choose Approved template or Regular message.
4. For a template, choose it in Template and fill in a Value for {{1}} (and so on) for each variable.
5. Under Audience, pick tags or a saved segment, or leave everything clear to send to every contact.
6. Optionally open Leave some people out.
7. Under When to send, choose Send now or Schedule.
8. Check the count at the bottom: "Reaches N contacts".
9. Click Send broadcast (or Schedule) and confirm.

You'll see "Broadcast is sending" or "Broadcast scheduled". Sending starts straight away and you can watch the progress on the Broadcasts page.

WARNING

Once you confirm "Send … to N contacts now? This can't be undone.", messages start going out. You can cancel to stop the rest, but messages already sent can't be called back.

How do I fill in the template's variables?

For each {{1}}, {{2}} in the template, there's a Value for {{n}} box. You can type:

You type	Each person gets
20%	The same text for everyone: "20%"
{{name}}	Their contact name, like "Priya"
{{phone}}	Their phone number
{{attr.city}}	The value of their City contact field, like "Chennai"

You can mix text and values, like {{name}} ji. Contact fields are set up under Settings → Tags & fields → Contact fields. See Contacts.

Contacts without a name

If a contact has no name saved, {{name}} comes out empty and the message may read oddly ("Hi , your order…") or fail. Before a big broadcast, check your contacts have names, or use a word like there instead of {{name}}.

How do I change the picture, link or coupon for this broadcast?

If the template has a media header, a changing link, a copy-code button or an offer countdown, extra boxes appear after you choose it:

• Header image (or video, document): "Leave as it is to use the template's own file."
• End of the "…" link: leave empty to use the template's value.
• Coupon code: leave empty to use the template's code.
• Offer ends after (hours): leave empty for the template's length.

These apply to this broadcast only. To change the defaults for everything, use Sending values.

How do I send a regular message instead of a template?

1. Click Regular message.
2. Write the Message. You can use {{name}} or {{attr.city}}.
3. Optionally choose Image, Video or Document under Attach a file (optional) and upload it. The message becomes its caption.

A blue note reminds you: "Regular messages only reach people who wrote to you in the last 24 hours. Everyone else is skipped." The count at the bottom shows how many of your audience that is.

How do I choose who gets it?

Under Audience:

• By tags: click one or more tags. Each tag shows how many contacts have it. Picking several tags sends to anyone who has at least one of them. Leave all tags clear to send to every contact.
• Saved segment: appears only if you've saved segments on the Contacts page. Choose one from the list. A segment can combine conditions, like "tagged Lead and in Chennai and messaged in the last 30 days". See Contacts for how to make segments.

How do I leave some people out?

1. Click Leave some people out under the audience.
2. Click the tags of people who should not get it, like Customer or Got Diwali offer.
3. If you have segments, you can also choose one in Leave out a segment.

Anyone with one of those tags, or in that segment, is left out, even if they're in the audience you picked.

Avoid messaging people twice

After a broadcast, tag everyone who got it (from the Contacts page). Next time, leave that tag out.

How do I schedule a broadcast for later?

1. Under When to send, click Schedule.
2. Pick the Date and time. It uses your computer's time.
3. Click Schedule and confirm.

The broadcast shows as Scheduled with its time. At that time KiliChat works out the audience again, so anyone who joined the tag or segment in the meantime is included, and anyone who opted out is skipped.

If you pick a time that has passed, you'll see "The scheduled time is in the past".

How do I send myself a test first?

For templates, there's Send yourself a test under the preview:

1. Type your own WhatsApp number with country code, like 919876543210.
2. Click Test.

You get the message exactly as a customer would, with your variable values filled in. The test number is added to your contacts if it wasn't there already.

What does "Try failed sends once more after 30 minutes" do?

It's ticked by default. If a message fails (for example because of a temporary problem at Meta), KiliChat tries that person once more about 30 minutes later. People skipped for a good reason, like opting out, aren't retried. See Retries and cancelling.

Why is the Send broadcast button greyed out?

• You haven't chosen a template, or written a message.
• The audience reaches 0 contacts. For a regular message, nobody in the audience wrote in the last 24 hours. Try a template instead.
• You have no approved templates yet: "You need an approved template first." See Approval and rejection.

Can I edit, copy or delete a broadcast?

No. Once created, a broadcast can't be edited, copied or deleted, so your history stays accurate. If a scheduled one is wrong, cancel it and make a new one.