Academy › Build › WhatsApp and customers
Before you write the message, decide who you're not going to send it to
The lesson ends with the criteria set: recent buyers in, unrelated contacts out, and your base list ready before you write a single word of the message.
By Yodai · Published September 6, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026
You've got your business's WhatsApp list on your phone: two hundred, five hundred, a thousand numbers. You're about to send your first broadcast, and you assume the hard part is writing the message. It's not. The hard part is deciding who on that list you're not going to send it to.
Sending to everyone looks like the safe choice: the more people who get it, the better your odds of a sale. The opposite happens. WhatsApp suspends accounts it decides are breaking the rules, for example by spamming, and the first person to mark a message as spam or block you is someone with no recent relationship with you. The more contacts without that relationship you add to your first batch, the closer you get to that point.
WhatsApp tracks the messages people mark as spam, not how many contacts you have saved
Who bought isn't the same as who should get it
Imagine you sell hair color products, and your list has three kinds of contacts side by side: someone who bought hair dye a month ago, someone who asked about a treatment's price eight months ago and never wrote back, and someone who left their number in an Instagram giveaway and has never bought anything. All three are saved in your WhatsApp Business. None of them carries the same weight.
The first one knows your business and is expecting to hear from you: that's the one who opens the message. The second one might remember you or might not remember you at all, and that's exactly the problem, because it's only a fifty-fifty risk. The third one has no relationship with you at all, just a number left on a form. If they don't have your number saved, the broadcast won't even reach them: according to WhatsApp's help center, broadcast lists only reach people who have your number in their contacts. And if it does reach them without them remembering you, they're among the first to mark it as spam. On top of that, WhatsApp Business's messaging policy only lets you write to people who gave you their number and agreed to let you message them on WhatsApp; someone messaging you once doesn't count as permission.
This doesn't change based on the type of business. An auto shop sending a tire-check reminder has the same problem with someone who asked for a quote a year ago and never followed up.
The criteria for building the first batch
Your first broadcast should include anyone who bought something in the category you're about to promote within the last few months; four months is a good starting point, not a hard rule. If people buy from you often, shorten it; if they buy once a year, stretch it out. Past that window, the relationship cools off and the contact starts acting like a cold one, even if they bought from you at some point.
Left out of the first broadcast: anyone who asked about a price once and hasn't written back in over six months, anyone who left their number in a giveaway or a form without ever buying, and anyone who at some point told you don't send me any more messages. That last exclusion has no exceptions: once someone opts out, they're off every list, even if they buy again through another channel.
Send it to everyone, or send it to those who've bought
- Reaches more numbers at once
- Includes contacts who haven't had any relationship with you in months
- Reaches fewer numbers in this first batch
- Every contact recognizes your business when they see the message
- The open rate goes up
- Fewer blocks and fewer spam warnings on your next broadcasts
Which one do I pick: For your first broadcast, always choose the short list of recent buyers. Only expand to other contacts once they've agreed to receive your messages on WhatsApp, and once you've sent several broadcasts without blocks or spam warnings.
How to get your list ready for the first broadcast
- 1Check your purchase history
Flag anyone who bought something related to what you're about to announce in the last four months. That group is your starting point. - 2Remove anyone who asked to stop
If someone ever told you not to message them again, that number comes off every list, no exceptions. - 3Remove inquiries with no purchase
Anyone who asked about a price once and never bought or wrote back again doesn't belong in the first batch, even if you've had their number saved for a while. - 4What's left is your list
It's not the full contact list on your phone. It's the list of people who have a real reason to open the message. That's the one you use today.
- Criteria decided: in goes anyone who recently bought something related, out goes anyone who only asked or has never bought
- Ruled out numbers with no real relationship: giveaways, random forms, anyone who asked to stop hearing from you
- Learned what WhatsApp tracks, messages marked as spam, and why it doesn't come down to how many contacts you have
- Base list ready for the first campaign, before writing a single word of the message
- Next: how many groups to make within that list, and by what criteria
Test yourself
Answer before opening each one. If one gives you trouble, go back to the section that explains it.
1. Your salon is launching a new hair color. On your list, you have someone who bought color two months ago and someone who asked about pricing eight months ago and never wrote back. Who goes in the first campaign?
Only the first one. They fall within the four-month window with a related purchase; the second one is more than six months out with no related purchase, so they're left out of this round.
2. Someone left their number in a storefront giveaway three weeks ago and has never bought anything. Do they make the first campaign because they're a recent contact?
No. How recent the record is doesn't replace a purchase relationship: with no related purchase, that number stays out even if they signed up this very week.
3. A customer asked a year ago that you stop messaging them, but just bought something in-store last week. Do you include them in the campaign?
Not automatically. The opt-out stays in place unless they ask to start receiving messages again: buying through another channel doesn't cancel the exclusion on its own.
With that clean list, the next step is splitting those people into groups, and the temptation is to open a separate bucket for every product you sell. That's exactly what you'll avoid in the next lesson: how many buckets you actually need, and by what criteria.
NextThree buckets, not thirty: how many lists to make and by what criteria