How Do You Send WhatsApp Broadcasts Only to Customers Who Opted In?

Short answer: keep each customer's opt-in as a recorded fact — not a guess — and build every broadcast from it. Opt-in is recorded when a customer clearly says yes in the chat, when your team marks it, or when you confirm it for a list you import. A WhatsApp broadcast then goes only to people with a recorded opt-in, whichever audience you pick, and the send skips anyone who has since opted out, sent STOP, or is on your do-not-contact list.

Why opt-in is not optional on WhatsApp

WhatsApp's business messaging policy says you may contact people only if they gave you their number and agreed to hear from you. People who never asked are the ones who block and report a business, and those reports pull down your number's quality rating — which is what WhatsApp uses to decide how many people you may message. Sending only to people who opted in protects the number you depend on.

Where a recorded opt-in comes from

• The customer says yes in the chat. When the agent asks whether they'd like offers and updates and they clearly say yes, it records the opt-in along with their own words. It is never inferred from a friendly conversation or from someone asking about their own order.
• Your team marks it. Per contact in Contacts, for example after a customer agreed in your store.
• You confirm it for an imported list. When you upload a spreadsheet, you can confirm that everyone in it opted in; that confirmation is recorded against the upload, so it is clear who said so and when.

How a consent-gated broadcast works, step by step

1. Choose the audience. The broadcast offers four lists, ordered from safest to riskiest, with the number of people in each shown before you commit. The safest is people who opted in and have messaged your WhatsApp number themselves.
2. Narrow it with tags or groups. "Wholesale buyers", "Pune customers" — segments are applied after consent, never instead of it.
3. Consent decides who receives it. On WhatsApp, only contacts with a recorded opt-in are included, whichever list you chose. Anyone who withdrew is always left out.
4. The send checks again. A broadcast may be scheduled for later, and people opt out in between. When the messages go, anyone who opted out after the list was built is skipped and shown with that reason — as is anyone on your do-not-contact list.
5. Replies reach the agent. Answers come back into the conversation, where the agent replies or hands over to your team in the shared inbox.

STOP, and every other way of saying no

A one-word STOP on WhatsApp is honoured deterministically, before the agent even runs — it doesn't depend on the AI understanding it. A customer who says no in their own words, such as "please don't send me these any more", can tell the agent, which records the withdrawal in the same conversation. Either way they are out of every later broadcast. For sequences, consent is re-checked before every message, so someone who opts out after the first message does not get the second.

The do-not-contact list

Consent is a fact about a contact you know. A do-not-contact list is different: a list of numbers you must never reach, whether they are contacts or not — a complaint, a request made over the phone, a number someone asked you to remove. Paste or upload the numbers and they are skipped at send time, separately from consent.

Opted in, and still not delivered

WhatsApp also limits how many marketing messages each person receives from all businesses combined. When someone has hit that limit, your message is not delivered and you see error 131049 — it is not a consent problem and not a fault in your account. Sending again too soon can keep that person blocked longer, so anyone WhatsApp limited in the last 24 hours is held back from your next marketing broadcast and shown with the reason. Order and booking updates sent as utility templates are not subject to that limit, but they still need the customer's opt-in.

What you need to start

A WhatsApp Business number, approved templates, and your contacts with their opt-in recorded. See WhatsApp broadcasts for audiences and scheduling, WhatsApp automation for sequences, and the shared inbox for handling replies. The telemarketing rules and WhatsApp policies that apply to your business remain your responsibility.