Send timed WhatsApp seasonal promos to your café customers with Ferbz

Below is a step‑by‑step walkthrough of creating a timed WhatsApp seasonal broadcast inside Ferbz. Imagine “Mysore Brew Café”, a 30‑seat coffee shop in Mysuru that wants to promote a “Monsoon Masala Chai Latte” from 15 September to 30 September.

1. Log in to the Ferbz dashboard
   Open https://dashboard.ferbz.com/ and enter your credentials. The home screen shows the main navigation bar on the left: Billing, Customers, Automation, Broadcasts, Reminders board, Reports.

2. Navigate to Broadcasts
   Click the Broadcasts icon. The Broadcasts list appears, initially empty for a new account. At the top right you see + New Broadcast.

3. Create a new broadcast
   Press + New Broadcast. A modal opens with three tabs: Audience, Message, Schedule.

4. Select the audience

   • Filter by order recency – Choose “Last order ≤ 30 days”. This pulls in customers who have bought something in the past month, ensuring the promotion reaches active regulars.
   • Add a loyalty‑card filter – Tick “Has loyalty card = Yes”. Mysore Brew uses a paper loyalty card; the CRM already stores this flag.
   • Preview count – The screen shows “1,842 customers selected”.

5. Compose the WhatsApp template
   Ferbz works only with pre‑approved WhatsApp Business API templates. Click Select Template and pick the one named “Seasonal Promo – Text + Image” (already approved for promotional use).

   • Header (image) – Upload a high‑resolution photo of the Monsoon Masala Chai Latte.
   • Body (text) – Fill the placeholders:

     ☔️ Monsoon Special! ☕️  
     Enjoy our Masala Chai Latte at ₹79 (regular ₹99) from 15‑30 Sep.  
     Show this WhatsApp message at the counter to claim the price.  
     Reply STOP to opt‑out.  
     

   • Footer – Keep the default “Thank you for choosing Mysore Brew Café”.

   The template preview shows exactly how the message will appear on the customer’s phone.

6. Set the schedule
   Switch to the Schedule tab. Choose Date = 15 September 2024, Time = 10:00 AM IST. Ferbz will automatically queue the broadcast at that moment, respecting the official WhatsApp sending window (no messages after 9 PM).

7. Confirm credit usage
   At the bottom a small panel tells you the credit cost: 1 credit per customer per send. With 1,842 customers selected, the broadcast will consume 1,842 credits. Your current wallet balance (e.g., 3,500 credits from a ₹799 top‑up) is displayed, so you can confirm you have enough.

8. Save and schedule
   Click Schedule Broadcast. The modal closes and the broadcast appears in the list with status Scheduled – 15 Sep 10:00 AM.

9. Monitor on the Reminders board
   After 10:00 AM on 15 September, go to Reminders board. The broadcast shows as a Reminder entry with three columns: Sent, Delivered, Read. As WhatsApp reports back, the numbers fill in automatically (e.g., Sent = 1,842, Delivered = 1,720, Read = 1,305). Any failures appear in red with a reason (e.g., “Invalid number”).

10. Analyse results in Reports
    After the promotion ends on 30 September, open Reports → Messaging Effectiveness. Choose the date range 15‑30 Sep. The chart displays conversion metrics (if you later tag orders that mention the promo code). You can also export the CSV for further analysis.

11. Iterate for the next season
    Duplicate the broadcast by clicking the three‑dot menu next to the finished entry and selecting Clone. Change the dates, image, and price, and schedule the next seasonal push (e.g., “Diwali Delight” in October).

Full worked example – numbers

• Wallet top‑up: ₹799 = 1,000 credits (done on 1 Sep).
• Broadcast cost: 1,842 credits (Monsoon promo).
• Remaining balance after broadcast: 1,000 – 1,842 = ‑842 → Ferbz automatically blocks further sends until you top‑up again. You add a ₹299 pack (350 credits) on 20 Sep, bringing the balance to ‑492. On 25 Sep you schedule a Diwali broadcast to 2,100 customers (2,100 credits). The system warns you of insufficient credits; you top‑up ₹99 (100 credits) and the broadcast proceeds.

Through these concrete steps, a café owner can move from “hand‑type a WhatsApp group message” to a fully scheduled, credit‑tracked, performance‑visible seasonal broadcast—all inside Ferbz.

Café owners traditionally rely on ad‑hoc WhatsApp groups or manual copy‑paste of phone numbers for promotions. That approach creates three major losses:

1. Time waste – Exporting a CSV from the POS, cleaning numbers, opening WhatsApp, typing the same text for each campaign can easily take 2–3 hours per promotion. With Ferbz, the whole workflow (filter, template, schedule) is completed in under 10 minutes. For Mysore Brew’s 1,842‑customer monsoon promo, the owner saves roughly 150 minutes of manual effort.

2. Revenue leakage – Without a systematic list, owners often miss a segment of regulars (e.g., loyalty‑card holders who haven’t ordered recently). Ferbz’s filter pulls every qualifying customer automatically, increasing reach. In a pilot at a tier‑2 city café, the seasonal broadcast lifted same‑day orders by 12.4 % (from an average of 84 orders per day to 95).

3. No performance visibility – Manual messages give no delivery or read data, so owners cannot know if a promotion was seen. Ferbz records sent / delivered / read counts on the Reminders board and aggregates them in Reports. In the Monsoon example, 1,305 customers read the message (≈ 71 % read rate). The owner can correlate that with a ₹9,800 incremental revenue spike during the promotion window, proving ROI on the credit spend.

Because the broadcast draws credits only when the message is actually sent, there is no hidden subscription cost. The owner spends exactly the number of customers reached, which aligns cost with outcome. Moreover, the same WhatsApp Business API channel ensures compliance with WhatsApp policies, avoiding the risk of account bans that personal‑number workarounds often incur.

Overall, the Broadcasts module turns an irregular, labor‑intensive activity into a repeatable, data‑driven process that preserves regulars, attracts new footfall, and gives a clear picture of promotional effectiveness—exactly the levers needed to combat the “quiet churn” problem that plagues independent cafés.

Ready to replace manual WhatsApp group blasts with a reliable, credit‑based seasonal broadcast system? Sign up for a free trial, top up your wallet, and launch your first promotion in minutes. Visit the dashboard at https://dashboard.ferbz.com/ and explore the Broadcasts tab, or email support@ferbz.com for a quick walkthrough. With Ferbz, your café’s seasonal offers reach the right customers at the right time—every time.