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Campaigns are how you reach a large group of contacts at once with a single templated message. You define the audience, pick an approved template, fill in variable values, and schedule the send — Switchbord handles the rest, including eligibility filtering and delivery tracking.

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How campaigns work

A campaign ties three things together: a template, an audience, and a send time. When the scheduled time arrives, Switchbord works through the recipient list in order, submitting each message to Meta and recording the result.
Campaigns require a pre-approved WhatsApp template. You cannot send freeform messages to a campaign audience. If you don’t have an approved template yet, see the Templates guide first.

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Audience snapshots

When you create a campaign, Switchbord takes a snapshot of the contacts that match your targeting criteria at that moment. The campaign sends to that fixed list — even if contacts are added, removed, or change attributes before the send time. This is intentional. Snapshots give you a precise, auditable record of who was targeted and when. If you need a fresher audience, cancel the campaign and recreate it closer to your intended send time.

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Eligibility filtering

Switchbord automatically filters the snapshot before queuing any messages. Contacts are excluded if:
  • Their subscriber status is unsubscribed or blocked (opted out)
  • Their phone number is not in valid E.164 format
Filtered-out contacts appear in the campaign report as Skipped with a reason. They are never charged against your Meta messaging quota.

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Creating a campaign

1

Open Campaigns

Navigate to Campaigns in the sidebar and click New campaign.
2

Name the campaign

Give the campaign a descriptive internal name. This name is not sent to contacts — it’s for your own reference in reports.
3

Select a template

Choose an approved template from the dropdown. A preview of the template renders below the selector.
4

Fill in variable values

If the template contains body placeholders like {{1}} or {{2}}, enter the values to use for this campaign. You can type a static value or map a placeholder to a contact attribute (such as first_name) so each recipient gets a personalized value.
5

Define the audience

Use the audience builder to filter contacts by tags, custom attributes, or other criteria. The estimated audience size updates as you add filters. Switchbord locks in the snapshot when you save the campaign.
6

Schedule the send

Choose Send now to start immediately after saving, or pick a future date and time. Times are stored in UTC — verify the displayed time matches your intended local time before confirming.
7

Review and save

Review the template preview, audience size, and send time. Click Create campaign to save. The snapshot is taken at this point.

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Scheduling

Campaigns can start immediately or at a future date and time. There is no limit on how far in the future you can schedule a campaign.
Schedule campaigns during off-peak hours when your target audience is most likely to engage. WhatsApp delivery is near-instant, but response rates vary by time of day.

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Rate limits and queuing

Meta enforces throughput limits per WhatsApp Business Account (WABA). Switchbord respects these limits and queues messages in batches rather than submitting them all at once. Standard WABA accounts are subject to Meta’s default throughput. If your account has been upgraded through Meta’s quality tier program, the effective throughput is higher. Either way, Switchbord manages the queue automatically — you don’t need to configure anything.
Large campaigns to tens of thousands of contacts may take several minutes to fully deliver, even at maximum throughput. The campaign report shows real-time progress.

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Delivery tracking

Once a campaign starts, you can watch delivery progress in real time from the campaign detail view. Each recipient moves through these states:
StatusMeaning
QueuedMessage is waiting to be submitted to Meta
SentMessage has been accepted by Meta
DeliveredMeta confirmed delivery to the device
FailedMessage could not be delivered; reason is recorded
SkippedContact was filtered out before queuing
Click any status row to see the full delivery log for that recipient.
Campaigns cannot be edited after they start sending. If you need to make a change — different template, updated variable values, or revised audience — cancel the campaign and create a new one. Campaigns that have not yet started can be cancelled from the campaign detail view.