Broadcasts Overview
Understand how broadcasts work in Bugalou — send bulk WhatsApp and SMS messages to reach your customers at scale.
What Are Broadcasts?
Broadcasts in Bugalou let you send messages to multiple customers at once. Whether it's a WhatsApp order update to hundreds of customers, a marketing promotion, or an SMS notification — broadcasts help you communicate at scale. Broadcasts are available on Pro and Enterprise plans.
Supported Channels
- WhatsApp — Send approved template messages via the WhatsApp Business API
- SMS — Send text messages via Twilio
How Broadcasts Work
Bugalou has a dedicated Broadcast Wizard that guides you through 4 steps:
- Channel — Choose WhatsApp or SMS
- Content — Select a sender, schedule, and configure your message (WhatsApp template or SMS text)
- Audience — Target all contacts, contacts with specific tags, or contacts in a lifecycle stage
- Review & Send — Preview everything and send or schedule your broadcast
Key Features
- Sender selection — Choose which WhatsApp phone number or Twilio number to send from
- Scheduling — Send now or schedule for a specific date and time
- Audience targeting — Filter by tags, lifecycle stage, or send to all contacts
- Opt-in filtering — Only contacts who are opted in for the selected channel receive the broadcast
- Inline template creation — Create WhatsApp templates directly in the wizard with a live preview
- Rich templates — Add headers (image, video, document), footers, and buttons (Quick Reply, URL, Phone)
- Progress tracking — Monitor sent, delivered, read, and failed counts in real-time
- Inbox integration — Every broadcast message appears in the recipient's conversation in your team inbox with a purple "Broadcast" label and megaphone icon
- International phone validation — Only contacts with phone numbers in international format (starting with
+) are included
Opt-in & Opt-out
Bugalou has a built-in opt-in/opt-out system for broadcast compliance. Only contacts who are opted in for WhatsApp or SMS will receive broadcasts on that channel.
How Contacts Get Opted In
- Automatic on first message — When a customer sends you a WhatsApp message or SMS for the first time, they are automatically opted in (customer-initiated = implicit consent)
- Webshop orders — Contacts created from WooCommerce or Lightspeed orders are automatically opted in for WhatsApp
- CSV import — You can set opt-in status via
WhatsApp_Opt_InandSMS_Opt_Incolumns - Manual toggle — Toggle opt-in per contact in the contact edit form
- Bulk opt-in — Select multiple contacts in the contacts table and click "WhatsApp Opt-in" or "SMS Opt-in"
- START keyword — Customer sends START or Inschrijven to opt back in
How Contacts Opt Out
- STOP keyword — Customer sends STOP, Uitschrijven, Afmelden, Unsubscribe, or similar phrases. Bugalou automatically processes the opt-out and sends a confirmation message.
- Manual toggle — You can manually opt out a contact in the edit form
Contacts who have explicitly opted out (sent STOP) will not be automatically re-opted in, even if they send new messages. They must send START to re-subscribe.
Inbox Integration
When a broadcast is sent, Bugalou creates a message record for each recipient in their conversation. This means:
- The broadcast message appears in each contact's conversation in the team inbox
- A purple "Broadcast" label with a megaphone icon is displayed on the message bubble, so your team can distinguish bulk messages from regular conversations
- For WhatsApp broadcasts, the actual template body text is shown (e.g. "Hi, we have a special offer for you!") — not just the template name
- If the contact didn't have an existing conversation, one is automatically created
- Your team can reply directly to any contact from the inbox to continue the conversation after the broadcast
WhatsApp vs SMS Broadcasts
| Feature | SMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Message type | Approved templates only | Free text (up to 1600 chars) |
| Media support | Images, videos, documents in header | Text only |
| Buttons | Quick Reply, URL, Phone | Not available |
| Cost | Meta conversation fees | Twilio SMS fees |
| Approval required | Yes (Meta reviews templates) | No |
| Delivery rate | Very high (99%+) | High (95%+) |
Getting Started
Go to Dashboard → Broadcasts and click "+ New Broadcast" to open the wizard. Make sure you have at least one channel connected (WhatsApp or Twilio) in Settings → Channels.