Launch Seasonal WhatsApp Broadcasts Quickly with Ferbz

Below is a step‑by‑step walkthrough that shows exactly how a typical Canadian shop—let’s call it Maple Mart in Calgary—creates and sends a seasonal broadcast for its “Back‑to‑School Stationery” promotion. The description follows the real navigation labels inside Ferbz.

1. Log into the Ferbz Dashboard
   Open your browser, go to https://dashboard.ferbz.com/, and sign in with your credentials. You land on the main overview page that shows today’s orders, credit balance, and a quick snapshot of recent reminders.

2. Navigate to the Broadcasts Tab
   On the left‑hand navigation bar, click Broadcasts. The Broadcasts screen displays three sections: Create New Broadcast, Scheduled Broadcasts, and History.

3. Start a New Broadcast
   Press the + New Broadcast button at the top‑right of the screen. A modal window opens with fields for Name, Message Type, Audience, Schedule, and Template.

4. Name the Campaign
   In the Name field type Back‑to‑School Stationery 2024. Naming conventions help you locate the broadcast later in the History tab.

5. Choose Message Type – WhatsApp
   From the dropdown, select WhatsApp. Ferbz automatically knows to route the message through the official WhatsApp Business API; no QR code or personal number is involved.

6. Select an Existing Template or Create a New One
   Click Choose Template. Ferbz shows any WhatsApp‑approved templates you have saved. For this example, select Template #3 – Promotion which contains placeholders for {customer_name} and {offer}. If you need a new layout, click Create New Template, design the message using the visual editor, and save it for future use.

7. Define the Audience
   Click Filter Customers. A filter builder appears with fields that map directly to the Customers CRM: Last Order Date, Purchase Category, Province, Tags, etc.

   • Set Purchase Category = Stationery.
   • Set Last Order Date = within the past 90 days (this captures active shoppers).
   • Set Province = Alberta (optional, if you want to limit to local customers).
   • Add a tag filter “BackToSchool2024” if you have previously tagged interested shoppers.
     After applying the filters, Ferbz shows a preview count: 342 customers match the criteria.

8. Schedule the Broadcast
   You can send immediately or pick a future date/time. For a back‑to‑school push, choose September 3 2024, 09:00 AM (the day after school registration opens). The schedule field also lets you set a time zone; Ferbz defaults to your store’s location (Calgary, Mountain Time).

9. Customize the Message
   In the template editor, replace the {offer} placeholder with “Buy 2 get 1 free on all notebooks – this week only!”. The final message will read:

   Hi {customer_name},  
   Maple Mart’s Back‑to‑School Sale is live! Buy 2 get 1 free on all notebooks – this week only. Stop by or order online.  
   Reply STOP to opt‑out.  
   

   Use the Preview button to see how the message appears on a phone screen.

10. Review Credits Consumption
    At the bottom of the modal, Ferbz displays Credits Required: 342 × 1 = 342 credits. Your current wallet balance (shown in the top bar) is 1,200 credits, so you have enough to cover the broadcast.

11. Save or Send
    Click Schedule Broadcast. Ferbz instantly creates a record in the Scheduled Broadcasts list, showing the campaign name, audience size, scheduled time, and credit reservation.

12. Monitor Delivery on the Reminders Board
    After the scheduled time passes, go to the Reminders board (left‑hand menu). Here you’ll see each broadcast entry listed as a Reminder with status icons: Pending, Sent, Delivered, Read, or Failed. For the Maple Mart campaign, you might see:

    • Sent: 342
    • Delivered: 331
    • Read: 215

    Clicking any row opens the detailed log, letting you export a CSV of phone numbers and statuses for further analysis.

13. Analyse Results in Reports
    Two days later, open Reports → Messaging Effectiveness. Set the date range to September 3‑5 2024. The report shows:

    • Broadcasts Sent: 342
    • Click‑through (if you included a short link to your online store): 27 %
    • Incremental sales attributed (matched via order timestamps): $4,872 CAD

    Compare this to the same period last year (no broadcast) where sales were $2,310 CAD. The difference illustrates the direct lift from the seasonal broadcast.

14. Iterate for the Next Season
    Duplicate the broadcast by selecting it in History and clicking Clone. Adjust dates, update the offer, and you’re ready for the winter hardware promotion without rebuilding the audience filter or template.

By following these steps, Maple Mart moves from a manual, paper‑based phone‑list approach to a fully automated, credit‑tracked WhatsApp broadcast that reaches exactly the customers most likely to buy seasonal items.

General retail stores in Canada often lose repeat business because they cannot efficiently remind customers about seasonal needs. Before Ferbz, Maple Mart’s owner spent roughly 3 hours per week copying phone numbers from the POS, pasting them into a spreadsheet, and sending a bulk message through a personal WhatsApp account. That process produced a delivery error rate of about 18 % (numbers entered incorrectly, contacts not on WhatsApp, or messages blocked as spam).

With the seasonal WhatsApp broadcast, the same owner now:

• Cuts preparation time from 180 minutes to under 10 minutes – the filter builder and template editor automate audience selection and message formatting.
• Improves delivery reliability to 97 % – because Ferbz uses the official WhatsApp Business API, each message is validated and queued by Gupshup, eliminating manual sending errors.
• Recovers revenue – In the back‑to‑school example, the broadcast generated $4,872 CAD in incremental sales, a +111 % increase over the previous year’s same window when no broadcast was sent.
• Reduces inventory waste – By prompting customers exactly when seasonal stock arrives, Maple Mart sold 28 % of its new notebook inventory within the first three days, avoiding over‑stock that would have required discounting later.
• Provides transparent spend tracking – The credit wallet shows a real‑time deduction of 342 credits, and the Reports module ties those credits to sales, giving a clear ROI calculation without guessing.

Overall, the broadcast eliminates the manual, error‑prone steps that previously kept owners from communicating timely offers, directly addressing the pain points of drifting repeat customers and lack of reorder reminders. The result is a measurable lift in sales, better inventory turnover, and a predictable cost structure that fits a price‑sensitive SMB budget.

Ready to replace manual phone‑list blasts with reliable, credit‑tracked seasonal WhatsApp broadcasts? Sign up for a free trial at https://dashboard.ferbz.com/, top up your wallet, and follow the steps above to launch your first campaign. If you have questions or need help customizing templates, reach out to our support team at support@ferbz.com. Ferbz puts your retail store’s seasonal promotions on autopilot, so you can focus on stocking the shelves and serving customers.