A campaign brings together the pieces you already prepared — an approved template and an audience of contacts — and sets when the message goes out. The wizard goes step by step and only lets you move on when the step is complete. Camila is going to build Loja Bem Viver's Black Friday — November campaign, with the promo_black_friday template for the VIP customers group.
Before you start, check: the number is connected in WhatsApp Connection and there is at least one Approved template.
1. Template
In Campaigns, click New campaign. Give it a Campaign name — it is just for you and your team, the contact does not see it — and pick the Approved template. The list only shows approved templates; if it is empty, you see "No approved template available. Create and approve a template first."
The Preview on the side follows every step. Changing the template later clears what you filled in for variables and media.
2. Variables
For each template variable, choose the Source:
- Contact field — Name, Phone or one of your contacts' custom fields (they show by key, such as cidade). Each person gets their own value.
- Fixed value — the same text for everyone, such as 30% or Sunday.
Camila linked {{1}} to Name and {{2}} to the cidade field. The preview shows the message with the data of a real contact from the audience.
A contact that does not have the chosen field gets that part blank — "Free shipping to until Sunday". If not everyone has the field filled in, use a fixed value or put those who have it in a group of their own.
3. Media
It only shows when the template has an image, video or document header. The sample used for approval comes selected; you can keep it, choose another file from the library or click Upload media (JPG/PNG up to 5 MB, MP4 up to 16 MB or PDF up to 100 MB). Media is required in this step.
4. Audience
Tick one or more Groups and, if you like, add Individual contacts through the name or phone search. SendFast puts everything together, sends only once to anyone who shows up in more than one place and leaves out anyone inactive, opted out or marked as having no WhatsApp.
The summary shows, before you send:
- Will be reached — how many people will receive it;
- Suppressed (opt-out) — how many were left out for having asked to leave;
- Available (24h) — how many recipients the number's limit still allows in the last 24 hours;
- notices, such as how many numbers were discarded for not having WhatsApp in previous campaigns.
If the audience is bigger than what is available, the campaign is not blocked: SendFast offers to send in waves. See the Number limit and sending in waves article.
5. Schedule
- Send now — the message goes out as soon as you confirm.
- Schedule — pick the Date and time, at least one hour ahead.
In either case, you can turn on Restrict sending hours and set Start, End, Weekdays and Time zone. When you turn it on, it comes filled with 09:00 to 18:00, every day. Outside that window sends wait for the next opening, with the On hold status. Camila set Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 20:00, so no customer gets a deal in the middle of the night.
6. Review
The last step repeats the audience summary and shows Scheduled for the chosen date or Sends immediately on confirm. The final button is Send now or Schedule, and the confirmation says how many contacts the message goes to. A sent message cannot be undone; a scheduled campaign can be canceled in the list until its time comes.
When you confirm, SendFast checks that the number is connected and that there are eligible recipients. The audience is locked at that moment: anyone who joins the group later does not get this campaign.
Drafts and editing
Save draft is available in every step. Only campaigns in Draft can be edited — click the name in the list to continue where you left off. Once scheduled or sent, the campaign no longer changes; to repeat it with adjustments, use Duplicate.
Who can do what
Members and Admins create, schedule and send campaigns. Only an Admin deletes.
Where to go next
- Number limit and sending in waves — when the audience exceeds the daily limit.
- Follow, pause and resend — statuses, the report and resending to those who did not receive it.
- Templates — create the template the campaign uses.
- Contacts and Groups — prepare the audience.
In short: in New campaign, choose an approved template, link each variable to a contact field or a fixed value, check the media, tick groups and individual contacts while reading the summary, decide between Send now and Schedule with or without a time window, and confirm in Review knowing the audience is locked there.