With over 2.44 billion users and 100 billion messages processed daily, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. It has also become an essential tool for communication for many businesses. In such cases, and often in the case of personal use as well, we send out the same message to a large group of people. Previously, users had only the option of making WhatsApp groups, but it wasn’t the most efficient option.
To help with that, WhatsApp introduced a new feature, the broadcast lists. This enables you to send out a single message to a large group of people without having to make a group. The message appears as a direct message to the receiver, but the sender sees it as a group message.
Broadcasting to your contacts
To broadcast a message, you first need to make a Broadcast List. Ensure that all contacts in a Broadcast List are saved in your device’s address book. You can only select up to 256 contacts per Broadcast List. This feature works for both Android and iOS.
The feature sounds a lot like a group chat, but it works in an entirely different manner. When you send a message to your broadcast list, everyone receives it as a personal message in their inbox. At this point, the message that you’ve is only visible to you in the broadcast list chat, like this:
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Image: Rabeeta Abbas / TechAcute
When the recipient replies back, the message shows as a direct message on your Chats tab. When you reply back, only they will receive the reply. Simply put, the WhatsApp Broadcast Lists help you initiate conversations with a large group of people using the same message and only one click. No one in the broadcast list can see or participate in the conversation you have with those who respond back. It’s a one-to-many communication system, similar to the Instagram Broadcast Channels. Also, unlike groups, only those who have added you to their Contacts can be added to the Broadcast list, and vice versa.
Today, an average WhatsApp user opens the app more than 23 times daily, and 80% of all sent messages are read within 5 minutes. Considering the stats, the WhatsApp broadcast list can prove to be an excellent tool for businesses that want to retarget existing customers.
Photo credits: The feature image is owned by Meta and has been provided for press usage. The photo within the body of the article has been taken by the author for TechAcute.
