How to plan WhatsApp broadcasts and write templates Meta approves: message categories, examples, send timing and what each send costs in India.
A Diwali greeting from a business on WhatsApp is a paid marketing message, not a free hello. This guide explains why, what it costs at three list sizes, who to leave out, why Diwali evening is the worst time to send, and six greeting templates that give customers a reason to reply.
Dhanteras is on Friday 6 November and Diwali on Sunday 8 November, and this is the first Diwali since Meta started billing replies on 1 October. This playbook covers the verified dates, what sells on which day, a four-send plan that shrinks the list each time, the delivery cut-off message that saves the most support load, and a worked budget for an 8,000-contact store.
Navratri runs from 11 October to Dussehra on 20 October, and this year Big Billion Days and the Great Indian Festival open three days before it. It is also the first festive campaign since Meta started billing service replies on 1 October. This playbook covers the three buying waves, where the festival lands hardest by region, the businesses that gain most, a worked cost for 10,000 contacts, and how much to hold back for Diwali.
Most Ganesh Chaturthi campaigns are one message sent on the morning of the festival to the whole list, which is wrong on both timing and audience. The buying happens in five visarjan waves, and this is a regional festival where Karnataka is nearly as big as Maharashtra. Here are the four sends that cover the eleven days, the INR maths on segmenting, and the clash nobody has flagged: visarjan on 25 September falls inside the expected Big Billion Days week.
In India about 95 percent of WhatsApp messages are read within three minutes, whatever hour they arrive. So send time is not an open-rate decision. It decides whether the customer can act, and whether they block you, which quietly controls how many people you are allowed to message at all.
WhatsApp gets 3 to 4 times the review response of email. This guide shows you when to ask, the exact templates to send, a Google-compliant feedback flow, and the rules that keep your number safe.
Twenty ready-to-copy WhatsApp template message examples for 2026, sorted by Meta category, each with a why-it-works note so they pass review and drive replies.
WhatsApp carousel templates let you send up to 10 swipeable product cards in one message, and most Indian D2C brands have not used them yet. Here is what they are, why they beat single-image broadcasts, and how to build your first one.
The Business app fails at scale and bulk senders get banned. The legal path is the WhatsApp Business API. Here is the 6-step 2026 guide to a clean broadcast that keeps your number Green-rated.