It is critical to connecting with customers at the right time for profitable customer engagement. Wishing someone a happy birthday and offering them a discount code, or informing them that an item in their cart is out of stock, can mean the difference between them converting or leaving.

However, even if you are speaking to a target audience with similar wants and needs, each customer has a unique timeline. Touchpoints must be timed differently. It is impossible to manage your teams manually.

In that case, message scheduling comes to the rescue. Yes, many businesses are already familiar with email scheduling. But are they as effective as you would like? Try to schedule WhatsApp messages with an open rate of 90% or higher.

The Advantages of WhatsApp Message Scheduling

• Connect with customers more quickly.
• Send personalized messages to the right audience at the appropriate time.
• Set up messages ahead of time to increase productivity.
• Customers will receive important announcements and offers via an organized set of messages.

How to Schedule WhatsApp Messages on Android

Before you start to schedule WhatsApp messages, first you need to install the WhatsApp Message Scheduler app from the Play Store called SKEDit. It's a widely used tool that allows you to schedule SMS, emails, and even phone calls.

Here are the steps to schedule messages on Android:

1. Install and launch the SKEDit app from the Play Store.
2. Sign up with your personal information.
3. After signing in, select WhatsApp from the app menu.
4. In the phone settings, you must now grant the following permissions: Enable Accessibility > SKEDit > Service toggle > Grant Allow. You can now return to the app.
5. To schedule a message, enter the recipient's name, message details, and schedule a date and time. You can even change the frequency of the messages to daily, weekly, and monthly.
6. You can even go back and reconsider your decision before sending a scheduled message. When you select "Ask me before sending," you will be notified before the message is sent.
7. If you have turned off the "Ask me before sending" option, you must also turn off the phone screen lock. You will also be prompted to disable the phone's battery optimization feature.

Caution: While performing this step will automatically send WhatsApp messages, there is a privacy concern. Privacy may be an issue due to the lack of a screen lock. As a result, this may be the least important step.

Also read: How to Use Double/ Dual WhatsApp? Check This Tutorial

How to Schedule WhatsApp Messages on iOS

Scheduling WhatsApp messages on iPhone and iOS devices are more difficult than on Android devices. Apple is more concerned with the privacy of its users, so it does not grant permissions to third-party apps. However, iPhone users can perform this function with the help of Siri shortcuts.

Here are the steps to schedule a WhatsApp message:

1. Download the Shortcuts app from the Apple App Store on your iPhone.
2. Launch the app and select the Automation option near the bottom.
3. Click "create personal automation" after selecting the + icon in the top right corner of your screen.
4. After you've created your automation, click "time of day" to schedule it. Choose a date and time to send WhatsApp messages later. When you've finished this step, click next.
5. Click "Add Action," then type "Text" into the search bar. Select "Text" from the dropdown menu.
6. You must enter message information in the text field. The message could be in any context.
7. After inserting the message, click the + icon to the right of the Text field. A window will appear, prompting you to type "WhatsApp" into the search bar.
8. When the dropdown appears, the user needs to choose "Send Message Through WhatsApp". Select the recipient's name, to whom you want to send a message, and then click Next > Done.
9. The Shortcut application will notify you when the message is scheduled. After clicking the notification, the user will land on the scheduled campaign message window and then you have to click "Send".

Can You Schedule WhatsApp Messages on WhatsApp Business?

You can only schedule 'Away messages,' 'Greeting messages,' or 'Quick replies' messages if you have a WhatsApp Business account. 

• Greeting message: sends messages automatically to users who message you for the first time.
• Away message: sends messages automatically to users who message your WhatsApp account while your status is set to "Away."
• Quick replies: automates messages from users who message you to specific messages or messages containing specific words; while the message can be preset, you must still execute it by typing the command associated with it.

Please keep in mind that those messages cannot be sent on a specific date or time, but are instead automated responses sent whenever you receive a message from a new or existing user. 

Also read: WhatsApp Marketing Benefits and Tips for Applying Them

How to Schedule WhatsApp Messages Using WhatsApp Business API?

Scheduling promotional WhatsApp broadcasts may be very useful for business owners. You can schedule promotions, sales, discounts, and other events with this functionality. When you pair this with a time when customers are more likely to spend (like around Christmas or Thanksgiving), your sales may increase significantly.

Hence, if you are aware that a holiday is approaching, you can arrange a promotional broadcast message to be sent to your customers, offering them a discount or other promotional offer around the holiday. This gives consumers an additional reason to buy your goods or renew their memberships.

But you need the API to use this complex scheduling. To directly interact with the WhatsApp system, however, you do need a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), as the API does not have its interface.

One of the top WhatsApp Business API solution providers, OneTalk by TapTalk.io, can assist you with a ready platform that includes several WhatsApp marketing features. You can schedule or send an unlimited number of broadcast messages from your dashboard using TapTalk.

Let's now examine how to use the OneTalk WhatsApp Business API to schedule messages on WhatsApp.

Schedule Broadcast Using Advanced Broadcast Feature OneTalk

Follow the steps below to schedule promotional WhatsApp broadcasts via the WhatsApp API with OneTalk.

1. Go to https://onetalk.taptalk.io 
2. Enter the email and password provided below.

3. Click the login button.
4. On the Home menu, there is information about the name of the organization and also the email user used to log into the OneTalk Dashboard.
5. Make sure your account is connected to the WSME channel, you can check with the Integration menu.

6. Ensure the WSME channel status is "Authenticated" as shown below.

7. To start sending broadcast messages, enter the "Operational" menu.
8. Then select the "Broadcast Message" menu and can be selected "Immediate Broadcast" or "Broadcast Schedule" after that you can click "New Immediate Message" or "New Scheduled Message".

9. Select the WhatsApp SME channel type.

10. After selecting "Channel Account", select the "Continue" button.
11. Select the Recipient Type according to the contact segment you want to send the message to.
12. To add recipients, there are several options to choose from, including: Add from contact, Import as CSV, and Add Manually.

13. After the contact has been added, select the type of content to be sent with OneTalk. You can send 3 types of messages, namely text, images, and files.
14. Apart from that, you can also make messages more personal to your customers by adding names and other variables.
15. The next step is to preview the message in the Preview Message menu, you can see the form and appearance of the message before it is sent to the recipient.
16. Check the I accept and agree to the terms and conditions button and click Send Message to send the message.
17. After the message is successfully sent, the message status will appear on the Broadcast Message dashboard.
18. To view more detailed information regarding status and broadcast information, click the view button to the right of the status
19. You can get information about how many messages were sent, replied to, not sent, pending, and the reasons if there were messages that weren't sent.
20. To download the report, use the Export button located at the top right of the dashboard.

Aside from sending broadcast messages, with OneTalk WhatsApp Business API can gain additional benefits and functions to increase sales:

• Multiple WhatsApp logins are possible (even on phones and desktops).
• WhatsApp Business green tick verification ensures a trustworthy profile (customers can see your company name even if they do not save your phone number).
• For a higher response rate, use interactive WhatsApp chat buttons.

Why Should You Use TapTalk.io as Your WhatsApp Business Scheduling App?

Modern customer experiences should be brief, completely personalized, and easily delivered via WhatsApp. Because this is how you create relevant touchpoints that encourage prospects and customers to convert. These touchpoints can be achieved by automating WhatsApp messages.

Did you find an answer to your question about how to schedule WhatsApp Business messages? Or would you like to learn more about how to create a great customer experience with relevant touchpoints? 

Sign up today or schedule a live demo to learn more about how OneTalk WhatsApp marketing and omnichannel support capabilities can benefit your business. Get in touch with our agents by clicking here.