Scheduling WhatsApp Messages

Have you ever found yourself needing to send a scheduled WhatsApp message? Whether your customer is in a different time zone or you simply want them to receive the message in the future, we've got you covered!

Sending scheduled notifications from the ticket sidebar

The ticket sidebar app is now more user-friendly. You'll find five tabs at the bottom. In the "Schedule" tab, you'll see three optional fields:

• Scheduled delivery date: Enter the date of delivery.
• Scheduled delivery time: Specify the time of delivery.
• Time zone: Choose the recipient's time zone.

If you leave these fields blank, your message will be delivered immediately. Remember, it's all or nothing – enter all three fields or none to avoid any errors.

All message delivery dates must be set to a future date. Otherwise, your message will not be delivered.

Sending scheduled messages from the single notification form

You can also schedule notifications directly from the single notification form. Simply fill in the three fields mentioned earlier at the bottom of the form.

It operates just like the sidebar app—just input the delivery date, delivery time, and timezone. If you leave them blank, your notification will be delivered instantly.

Scheduled messages in bulk deliveries

You can specify a delivery date, time, and timezone directly in your Excel or .csv files when bulk uploading. If you want to send a scheduled message, fill the columns' delivery_date, delivery_time and iana_timezone. 

• delivery_date: This is the date of delivery. For CSV, use the format YYYY-MM-DD, and for Excel, use a date cell.
• delivery_time: This is the time of delivery. The format must be HH:MM.
• iana_timezone: Indicate the IANA timezone to be used. You can refer to the list of IANA Zones here (column TZ identifier). Be sure to enter one of those timezones exactly as they appear in the list; otherwise, your message may not be delivered.

You can fill in different delivery dates, times and time zones for every customer in the file. If you leave them blank, the notification will be delivered as soon as possible.

Scheduled messages in triggers, automations and other sources (API)

Tech talk ahead: Feel free to skip this if you're not into the technical details.

You can set a delivery date, time, and timezone as parameters in your requests—whether it's from a Zendesk Webhook, an external source like Zapier, or through custom code.

Simply add the "delivery_date" (YYYY-MM-DD format), "delivery_time" (HH:MM format), and "iana_timezone" (see IANA Time Zones) POST parameters to your request. Remember, it's an all-or-nothing deal—specify all three or none. See the image below for an example:

More information about the other parameters in the request and about how to set a Zendesk trigger here. Find the technical API documentation here.

Some things to keep in mind

• Make sure that the dates you enter are always future dates
• Remember to include all 3 parameters or none. None means immediate delivery.
• Make sure that the date and time formats are correct, and that the time zone is included in the IANA Time Zones List (column TZ identifier).
• When sending messages in bulk, allocate a reasonable delivery time of at least 2 hours. This ensures that the messages reach their destinations at the intended time.