WhatsApp for Black Friday: a dated plan to be ready to send on 27 November 2026

Black Friday 2026 is Friday 27 November. If you want to send a WhatsApp campaign to your own customers that day, the hard part is not the send. It is connecting a number, getting permission from the people on your list, getting templates approved, and not starting at full volume on a brand-new number. This page puts those steps on a calendar, working back from 27 November.

SendFromChat is an independent product and is not affiliated with Meta or WhatsApp. It runs on Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API, and you keep your own WhatsApp Business account. Meta's rules change; check Meta's current pages before you rely on anything here. The dates below are our suggested margins, not Meta deadlines.

The short version

When	What
Now	Connect your number. Start business verification if you will need more than the starting limit.
Now to Thu 19 Nov	Collect opt-in: a WhatsApp checkbox or link at checkout, on receipts and in email footers.
By Thu 19 Nov	Submit your campaign template and an order-update template.
Mon 23 to Wed 25 Nov	Send small, relevant messages to opted-in customers so a new number does not start cold.
Fri 27 Nov	Send the campaign, paced under your limit.

1. Now: connect a number and check your limit

You need a Meta business portfolio, a phone number you own that is not in use on WhatsApp, and a card on the WhatsApp Business account to send templates. The full list is in what to have ready before you connect a number. In SendFromChat you click Continue with Facebook, pick your number, and it connects in about two minutes.

Then check your messaging limit, because it decides how many people you can start a conversation with in a day. According to Meta's messaging-limits page (read 2 November 2026), newly created business portfolios start at 250 unique people in a moving 24 hours. Verifying your business is one route to 2,000; sending 2,000 delivered template messages in 30 days is the other. Meta's page gives no fixed time for verification, which is why "now" is the date on this step. More in WhatsApp messaging limits.

If your list is larger than your limit, the send does not fail. SendFromChat paces it under your limit and the rest goes out as capacity frees up, so a 5,000-person list on a 250 limit takes days, not an afternoon. Plan for that.

2. Now to 19 November: collect opt-in

No consent, no send. Meta expects permission before you message people on WhatsApp, and people who did not ask for messages block and report, which hurts your number's quality rating. The practical ways to collect it (checkout, a QR code on packaging, a website form) are in WhatsApp opt-in. Two points for Black Friday:

• A customer who opted in for order updates did not opt in to promotions. Say what they will get.
• Do not import a bought or scraped list. When you upload contacts you confirm that everyone agreed to receive messages, and customers who reply STOP are never messaged again until they reply START.

3. By 19 November: templates

A message you start outside a 24-hour conversation needs a pre-approved template. Approval usually takes minutes, though Meta says review can take up to 24 hours, and a rejection costs you a resubmit, so leave days, not hours. A promotion is a marketing template. Do not label it utility to look cheaper: Meta moves or rejects those.

You can write the template yourself or ask your assistant to draft and submit it; SendFromChat checks it against Meta's rules before submitting. Meta's template library has ready-made templates for order and delivery messages in 16 languages (per our docs), which can save time.

Build two: the campaign message, and a plain "your order has shipped" template you will want the week after.

4. 23 to 25 November: warm up a new number

If the number has never sent in bulk, SendFromChat caps its first days at 50, then 100, then 200 people, and from day 4 the cap is your Meta messaging limit. The clock starts on the first bulk send, so do not make 27 November your first bulk send. Send a small, relevant message to your most engaged opted-in customers on 23, 24 and 25 November. Then read the report: who read it, and who could not be reached and why.

5. 27 November: send

Pick the template and the list, look at the preview (real messages for real contacts, and how many go out today), then send or schedule. Keep the message relevant to the segment you chose.

Doing it from Claude, ChatGPT or your own code

Connect SendFromChat as a connector in Claude or ChatGPT, then say "Help me get set up." The assistant checks what is done and guides you through the rest. Prompts that fit this plan:

• "Draft a Black Friday template for my VIP list and submit it."
• "Import this spreadsheet and tell me how many days a send to the whole list will take."
• "Show me a preview of the Black Friday template for five contacts."

Developers can send the same template from their own app with the REST API. Use a test key first: it runs every check a real send would and sends nothing.

curl -X POST https://sendfromchat.com/api/v1/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SFC_TEST_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: bf-2026-ana" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"to":"+14155550132","template":{"name":"black_friday_vip","language":"en_US","variables":["Ana"]}}'

This request follows our REST API reference; we did not run it against a live key for this page. With a test key the response is 200 with "status": "test". With a live key, 202 means accepted, not delivered. For delivery results use webhooks or status tracking.

What it costs

SendFromChat has a 30-day free trial, no card needed: one number and up to 1,000 messages you start. A campaign bigger than that needs a plan (from $19 a month; see pricing). Meta's message charges are separate: Meta bills them to your own WhatsApp Business account at Meta's rates, and SendFromChat does not mark them up.

FAQ

Can I start on Black Friday itself? You can connect and send small messages the same day, but a new portfolio starts at 250 people per 24 hours and a new number is warmed up at 50, 100, then 200 a day. A large list will not all go out that day.

Do I need business verification? Not to start. Verification is one route to the 2,000 limit. Meta gives no fixed time for it, so start early if you will need it.

Can I message my whole email list? Only people who agreed to hear from you on WhatsApp. An email subscription is not WhatsApp consent unless you asked for it.

What if a template is rejected? Meta returns a reason. Fix it and resubmit. That is why the plan submits templates well before the send.

Do replies count against my plan? No. Only messages you start are counted. Replies, auto-replies and incoming messages are free and unlimited on every plan.

Try it

Start the 30-day free trial (no card) and connect your number this week.