‍Learn how to schedule WhatsApp messages for business and why it is important. 

As you start to use WhatsApp for marketing your sales and discounts, and engaging customers in a continual way, the importance of timeliness increases. Being able to send the right message at the right time requires more than just setting up customer segments and WhatsApp automation workflows. It requires you to schedule WhatsApp messages using the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business API. 

In this article, we’re going to talk all about what, why and how to schedule WhatsApp messages for your business. 

What does it mean to schedule WhatsApp messages? 

Typically, whenever an ecommerce business requires promoting their upcoming sale or an ongoing discount, they push out a WhatsApp broadcast to their list of subscribers and customers. But when you schedule a WhatsApp message, it essentially means you’re pre-planning these campaigns and setting them up to go out at a certain day and time to the different segments of your WhatsApp list. 

Why should you schedule WhatsApp messages? 

Similar to automation, scheduling WhatsApp messages to be sent to your WhatsApp list, comes with a set of benefits: 

• It ensures the promotions go out just in time to give consumers a reaction period to act on it; for instance, on upcoming flash sales 
• It ensures the right message reaches the right st of customers at the right time; the time at which they are more likely to engage with the message 
• It ensures there is no hit and miss type of errors when sending out WhatsApp broadcasts in a hurry; making your message campaigns more effective 
• It ensures you have the time to plan your WhatsApp message campaigns to cater to the entire customer lifecycle - acquisition, engagement, retention and loyalty 
• It ensures your WhatsApp campaigns continue running even when you start to focus your marketing efforts on another channel 

Recommended read: What is the best time to send WhatsApp broadcasts?

What should you schedule WhatsApp messages for? 

There is no one set way of using WhatsApp messages and the automations enabled by the WhatsApp Business API. This is why we believe you can leverage WhatsApp message scheduling to serve different business goals and objectives. Here are some type of messages we personally recommend setting up using a WhatsApp Business API solution provider like QuickReply.ai: 

1. Subscription order alerts 

If you’re running a subscription model business, it is important to keep your subscribers in the loop. After you acquire their subscription, make sure you schedule WhatsApp messages to go out in the durations their next order is due for delivery. This helps them stay in the loop, ensuring that they can plan out when and how to receive the order in case they’re traveling or are not available. By doing this, you also give them buffer time to reschedule their delivery or ask for specific customizations/ edits in the subscription, improving the experience you offer as a brand. 

2. Order payment reminders 

Another thing we recommend to schedule WhatsApp messages for, are payment reminders. If you offer buy now, pay later or pay in EMIs kind of functions on the orders placed with you, this one is important. With the help of the WhatsApp Business API, you can set up scheduled order payment reminders to stay on top of the consumer’s minds and also ensure you get paid in a timely manner without having to chase for payments manually. 

3. Abandoned cart reminders 

Despite all measures, ecommerce businesses experience cart abandonment rates as high as 80% in some industries. This is where the importance to schedule WhatsApp messages for cart recovery comes into play as these need to be sent out at the right time to ensure the consumer is not losing interest. With WhatsApp Business API solutions like QuickReply.ai, you can schedule a series of messages for abandoned cart recovery. 

4. Membership renewals 

A rising ecommerce business model, keeping consumers engaged with benefits can be harder than subscriptions. This is why you should schedule WhatsApp messages to send out membership renewal alerts, starting from at least a week prior to the date of expiry. These messages should reinforce the benefits offered, how the consumer gets value out of the same or how they have used them over the last membership period. 

5. Downtimes and updates 

If your store undergoes maintenance at set intervals or gets updated at a certain period every month, we recommend you to schedule WhatsApp messages to notify them of the same. This is important for changes in your policies as well - delivery, shipping, returns, refunds, etc; letting consumers know when the changes are effective from. These type of messages ensure your customers remain up-to-date with anything that affects their shopping experience with your brand. 

6. Availability 

We also recommend you to schedule WhatsApp messages to share your availability with online shoppers. In case they reach out to you for customer support or shopping experience, they need to be notified of when you’d be available to answer them. This can be done by setting up away messages on the WhatsApp Business app. 

Recommended read: Types of WhatsApp messages your Shopify store needs to send to get more sales 

How to schedule WhatsApp messages on the WhatsApp Business app? 

The good thing about the WhatsApp Business app is the functionality to set up basic scheduling of messages. All you need to do, is follow the steps below: 

• Open the WhatsApp business app 
• Tap and go to Settings 
• Select Business Tools 
• Tap and choose ‘Select Away Message’ 
• Turn the toggle on 
• Type in the WhatsApp message in the text field 
• Tap Schedule  
• Pick a custom schedule for your message 

It is important to note that the WhatsApp Business app comes with very limited WhatsApp scheduling options. For instance, all the use cases we listed above for scheduling, do not get catered to with the basic options available on the app. This is where you will need access to the WhatsApp Business API. 

Note: You can schedule WhatsApp messages on Android and iPhone following the steps above on the mobile application of the messaging platform.  

How to schedule WhatsApp messages using the WhatsApp Business API? 

Now WhatsApp Business API gives you access to a number of advanced features and capabilities. Using a solution like QuickReply.ai, you get to send and schedule WhatsApp messages at a much larger scale, and to address wider use cases to address business objectives and goals - it helps you tap into your CRM to access different segments of customers. 

To schedule WhatsApp messages using the WhatsApp Business API, you will need to sign up for a solution provider like QuickReply.ai. 

Here are some of the benefits of scheduling WhatsApp messages using QuickReply.ai: 

• No-code set up and easy to get started with 
• Pre-built and customizable WhatsApp automation workflows 
• Schedule WhatsApp messages using customizable WhatsApp templates 
• Integrations with tools for marketing, CRM, support and more 
• Shared inbox to manage responses on scheduled WhatsApp messages 
• WhatsApp broadcast set up for upto 100k recipients
• Multi-agent access to manage consumer conversations at scale 
• Powerful analytics on the performance and engagement received on scheduled messages 

Ready to get started? Install the QuickReply.ai app for WhatsApp marketing on your Shopify store today.  

Do you need to schedule WhatsApp messages? 

If you ask us, conversational commerce is all about sending the right messages at the right time. This brings the focus on having the capability to trigger broadcasts, order and payment reminders and similar messages in a timely manner; irrespective of how big your WhatsApp list is. 

That is why it is important to schedule WhatsApp messages. 

Scheduling WhatsApp messages alone can be limited in terms of how you make use of customer data and implement journeys. To ensure you’re not just sending out messages at the right time, but providing the right nudge for consumers to make purchases, we recommend implementing pre, during and post-purchase WhatsApp automation workflows. 

A WhatsApp Business API solution provider like QuickReply.ai comes with 40+ pre-built and customizable ecommerce automation workflows. From subscription and membership reminders to order payment reminders, cart recovery and others, there is a workflow to leverage WhatsApp chatbots in an intelligent way. 

Businesses using QuickReply.ai to schedule WhatsApp messages in automation workflows, have seen positive results over a period of time. This includes achieving the following numbers: 

• 60% increase in net sales 
• 57% increase in abandoned cart recovery 
• 47% improvement in customer engagement 

Want to know how leading Shopify and Shopify Plus brands use WhatsApp scheduling and automations? Read the success stories and strategies here. 

Ready to schedule WhatsApp messages? 

Book a demo of QuickReply.ai today. 

Frequently asked questions 

Can we schedule a message on WhatsApp? 

WhatsApp currently does not offer scheduling messages on personal and individual accounts. Depending on your business goals and objectives, if you make use of the WhatsApp Business app or the WhatsApp Business API, you can schedule WhatsApp messages. 

Is WhatsApp scheduler safe? 

There are a number of free, online WhatsApp scheduling tools available on the internet. But as a business, you need to follow all the rules and regulations set up by Meta and use a more reliable solution to schedule WhatsApp messages. This is where a WhatsApp Business API solution provider like QuickReply.ai comes into play. 

What is the best app to schedule WhatsApp messages? 

The best solution to schedule WhatsApp messages is one that makes use of the official WhatsApp Business API, comes with pre-built automation workflows for different business goals, objectives and stages of the buyer journey, and WhatsApp templates that make setting up the message easier. QuickReply.ai is one of the best apps for WhatsApp automation and scheduling, used by thousands of Shopify and Shopify Plus brands across the globe.