Sending bulk WhatsApp messages from an Excel spreadsheet can be very useful for businesses and organizations looking to reach their customers or members efficiently. However, many users are unaware that this can be done for free without requiring paid software or subscriptions. In this article, we will explore step-by-step methods to send bulk WhatsApp messages using only Excel and free online tools.
Why Send Bulk WhatsApp Messages?
Here are some of the key benefits of using Excel and free online tools to send bulk WhatsApp messages:
- Reach wider audience – Bulk messaging allows you to reach a larger number of contacts efficiently.
- Personalized communication – You can personalize each message by using Excel formulas and cell references.
- Schedule messages – Online tools allow you to schedule your messages for automated delivery.
- Track status – Some tools provide delivery reports to see which messages were successfully sent.
- It’s free – You only need an Excel spreadsheet and free web-based tools.
- More organized – Storing contacts and messages in a spreadsheet keeps your data organized.
With these benefits, setting up bulk WhatsApp messaging with Excel can improve communication and engagement with your contacts.
Step 1 – Populate Excel Sheet with Contacts
The first step is to add your recipient contacts into an Excel spreadsheet. Each recipient’s phone number will need to be in international format.
Here is an example spreadsheet with phone numbers in Column A:
| +11234567890 |
| +19876543210 |
| +12125551234 |
You can manually enter the numbers, copy-paste from another source, or import contacts from a CSV file. Just ensure numbers are in the correct international format.
Pro Tip: Make sure to include the country code but drop any zeros, dashes, or parentheses from the numbers.
Step 2 – Add Message Content
In the next column (Column B), you can enter the content of the WhatsApp message that will be sent to each recipient.
For a personalized message, you can use Excel formulas to reference each contact’s name from another column. Here’s an example:
| +11234567890 | =CONCATENATE(“Hi “,B2) |
| +19876543210 | =CONCATENATE(“Hi “,B3) |
| +12125551234 | =CONCATENATE(“Hi “,B4) |
Where column B contains the recipient names. This will allow each message to be customized for the recipient.
Step 3 – Select Online WhatsApp Sending Tool
There are a few great free online tools that allow you to import contacts and send bulk WhatsApp messages:
- WhatsWeb – Provides free WhatsApp messaging for up to 300 messages per month. Easy import from Excel.
- Chat-Api – Free tier allows up to 100 monthly messages. Offers API integration.
- WhatsMate – Browser-based tool with free tier up to 100 monthly messages. Easy contacts import.
These tools provide reliable delivery of your WhatsApp messages with deliverability reporting.
For this guide, we will use WhatsWeb, but the overall process is similar across any of these tools.
Step 4 – Import Contacts into WhatsWeb
WhatsWeb provides a simple browser-based interface for sending bulk WhatsApp messages. Here’s how to import your Excel sheet with contacts:
1. Visit https://whatsweb.io/ and sign up for a free account.
2. In the left menu, click ‘Contacts’ and then ‘Import Contacts’. Select the Excel file you prepared.
3. Choose the sheet name and the column with phone numbers. Hit ‘Import’ to upload your contacts.
4. You will see your Excel contacts populated in WhatsWeb’s interface.
Now your recipients are loaded and ready for your WhatsApp messages.
Step 5 – Create WhatsApp Message
With your contacts uploaded, you can now create your WhatsApp message:
1. Click ‘Messages’ in the left menu and select ‘New Message’.
2. Give the message a title and select the ‘Contacts’ group you imported from Excel.
3. In the message text box, you can write a generic message that will be sent to all recipients.
4. To personalize with names or other cell values, click the chain icon to insert Excel reference tokens into the message. For example:
Hi `{{Name}}`, we wanted to let you know that…
5. You can also include web links, images, videos, documents etc. in your WhatsApp message.
6. Once your message is ready, click ‘Submit’ to queue it for sending.
Step 6 – Schedule & Send Messages
The final step is to schedule a time for your bulk WhatsApp message to be sent:
1. Go to the ‘Messages’ page in WhatsWeb to view your pending message.
2. Click on the message title to edit and select your send date/time.
3. Messages can be sent immediately or scheduled in the future.
4. Bulk messages will be throttled to maintain reliability in delivery.
5. Click ‘Update’ to apply your scheduled send date/time.
6. That’s it! WhatsWeb will now automatically send your Excel-powered bulk WhatsApp message per your schedule.
You can come back to view delivery reports to see which messages were successfully sent vs. any failures. Now you can efficiently schedule and automate your WhatsApp outreach directly from Excel.
Troubleshooting Tips
When sending bulk WhatsApp messages, there are a few potential issues to be aware of:
– Verify contacts – Any invalid numbers will result in failed messages. Double check your imported list.
– Check failures – Not all messages may send successfully if recipients have messaging disabled. Review failure reports.
– Avoid spam – Don’t over-message people. Use relevant personalized content.
– Update numbers – If you have outdated numbers, messages will fail. Request updated contacts.
– Review limits – Free tools have limits like 100-300 messages per month. Check your usage.
– Schedule wisely – Spread out large volumes over time to focus on deliverability.
– Followup manually – For any failed automated messages, you can re-try manually via WhatsApp.
With proper testing and monitoring, you can achieve great results sending WhatsApp messages from Excel.
Conclusion
Sending bulk WhatsApp messages from Excel is simple and free using online tools like WhatsWeb. By importing your contacts, creating personalized messages, and scheduling send times, you can automate your WhatsApp communication.
This enables you to easily engage customers, employees, members and other contacts in a more personal and direct way. Plus you save time by managing your outreach directly from Excel rather than manual texting.
With some discipline around your process, this approach allows organizations on a budget to unlock the power of WhatsApp messaging at scale. Just monitor deliverability closely and continue optimizing your contacts, content and scheduling strategy.
Key Takeaways
- Prepare an Excel sheet with contact names, numbers in international format.
- Use Excel formulas to customize messages for each recipient.
- Sign up for a free online service like WhatsWeb to import contacts.
- Create your WhatsApp message with merge tags for personalization.
- Schedule delivery date/time for automated sending.
- Monitor failures, retry manually if needed.
With this approach, anyone can leverage WhatsApp messaging to take their business communication to the next level – all without any cost.