Black Friday WhatsApp Campaign: Templates + Checklist

In this guide we build the campaign in order: who you can write to, which template type to choose, and what to send on which day. At the end you'll find message examples you can copy and edit, and a pre-send checklist. If you'd like an overview of where WhatsApp contributes to sales first, start with our guide to increasing sales with WhatsApp on Black Friday.

Who can you write to? Consent is three separate questions

This is what campaign teams mix up most often. Meta approving your template doesn't mean you have permission to message that person. And neither shows that your campaign content is lawful. There are three separate gates, and you have to get through all three.

1. Meta's opt-in requirement. For messages a business starts, Meta requires the person to have agreed beforehand. Your business name must be clearly stated in the opt-in text, and the person must know they agreed to receive messages from you. The opt-in doesn't have to be specific to WhatsApp, but it has to be collected in line with local law (Meta opt-in documentation).

2. Turkey's commercial message rules. Law No. 6563 and the Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages require prior consent to send commercial electronic messages to recipients who are not merchants or tradespeople. Consents are recorded in the İYS (Turkey's commercial message registry), and the recipient can use the right to refuse at any time. We don't give a definitive ruling on how WhatsApp messages are treated in this system. We recommend showing your list and consent wording to a legal adviser. The details are in our article on whether bulk messaging on WhatsApp is legal.

3. The content itself. An approved template and a permission-based list don't make a misleading discount claim legitimate. We come back to this below, in the 10-day rule.

Marketing or utility? Choose the template category correctly

On the WhatsApp Business API, if you are the first to write to a customer, you have to use an approved template. Meta divides templates into three categories: marketing, utility and authentication. A Black Friday announcement, a discount, VIP access, a "last day" reminder: all of these are marketing.

An order confirmation, a shipping notice and a delivery notification are utility. It may be tempting to hide a campaign sentence inside a utility template. Don't. Meta can change the category or reject the template, and a low quality rating affects your number's sending capacity. You can find what templates are made of and examples for each category in our template message examples article; for reasons templates get rejected, see reasons for template approval rejection.

On cost, since 1 July 2025 Meta has charged per message, by category, and only for delivered messages. A marketing template is the most expensive category. Since 1 October 2026, replies you give in the 24-hour window after the customer writes are also charged beyond 1,000 messages per number per month (Meta pricing). To work out the campaign budget you can use the WhatsApp cost calculator.

The per-user marketing limit: you can't write to everyone every day

We see this a lot in November: the list is clean, the template is approved, but in the report some messages show as "failed". The cause is most often Meta's per-user marketing limit.

This limit isn't a fixed number. Meta adjusts how many marketing messages a person can receive based on that person's recent engagement, and the cap applies not to a single business but to all the marketing messages the person receives. So in November, when everyone is sending campaigns, your customer is also receiving messages from other brands, and your message can run into the cap. In that case the message isn't delivered, and the system returns error code 131049. Meta advises waiting at least 24 hours before trying again (Meta per-user limit documentation).

What do we do in practice?

• We don't plan marketing messages to the same person on three days in a row. We split the calendar by segment.
• We don't resend failed messages right away.
• We try to get a reply. If the person answers your message, the 24-hour window opens, and marketing messages you send inside that window don't count toward the limit. That's why a button like "Would you like the size chart?" works.

A campaign calendar counting back from 27 November

The calendar below starts from today (30 October). Shift the dates to match your own campaign start.

The 10-day rule: how do you write the discount line?

According to the Ministry of Trade's announcement, since 1 August 2026 the "price before the discount" in discount sales advertising is the lowest price applied in the 10 days before the date the discount starts. Conditional campaigns (such as "buy 2, get the 3rd free") are also covered (Ministry of Trade, 29 July 2026).

Your WhatsApp message is an advertisement too. If you write "50% off", make sure that 50% is calculated against the lowest price of the last 10 days. A price rise made just before the campaign doesn't enlarge your discount; on the contrary, it puts you at risk. One tip: showing a clear price in the message instead of a percentage ("899 TL instead of 1,299 TL") is less tiring for the reader and for you, as long as the price you say it replaces is accurate.

Segmentation: don't send everyone the same message

In November, a single list and a single message strains both the limit and the quality rating. We suggest at least these five groups:

• VIPs / frequent shoppers: early access, a short and personal tone.
• Existing customers: products chosen by the category they bought before.
• New opt-ins (no order yet): a first-purchase benefit, with shipping and return terms made clear.
• People interested in a category: for example only cosmetics or only shoes.
• Cart abandoners: this is not a campaign message but a separate automation. We cover the flow in our abandoned cart guide.

In Chatopya you can segment contacts by tag, order history, interest and custom fields, and upload lists from Excel. If Shopify, Trendyol and Hepsiburada are connected, lists come in automatically from the integration. You can also schedule sending by time zone; there's no use in sending an "the deal has started" message at 2:00 am.

Message examples

In the templates below, fields like {{1}} and {{2}} are variables. They fill in automatically for each person at sending. Place variables at meaningful points instead of squeezing them into the middle of a sentence; Meta can reject templates whose variables have unclear context. All of these are in the marketing category.

1. Teaser (17–19 November)

Hi {{1}}, our Black Friday deals start on 27 November.
Would you like to see our picks in {{2}} first?
[Button: Let me know] [Button: Not interested]

{{1}} is the customer's name, {{2}} the category they bought from or were interested in before. A "Let me know" reply opens the 24-hour window. Take anyone who says "Not interested" out of this campaign; that's good for your quality rating too.

2. VIP early access (25–26 November)

{{1}}, we open the deals a day early for our regular customers.
Early access is valid until {{3}} on {{2}}.
[Button: Go to early access]

{{1}} is the name, {{2}} the date, {{3}} the time. Actually enforce the end time. And if the same price is open to everyone the next day, don't hide that either.

3. Campaign opening (27 November)

Black Friday has started, {{1}}.
Prices on {{2}} are valid until {{3}}. Shipping and return terms are on the product page.
[Button: See the products]

{{2}} is a category or collection name, {{3}} the campaign end date. If you say "while stocks last", stock should really be limited.

4. Last day (29 November)

{{1}}, Black Friday prices end tonight at {{2}}.
The {{3}} you looked at is still in the campaign.
[Button: Go to the product]

{{3}} is the product or category the customer was interested in. Send this message not to the whole list but to people who haven't bought in the campaign yet and who clicked the previous message.

5. Cyber Monday (30 November)

Hi {{1}}, our Cyber Monday {{2}} selection is live today.
Deals run until {{3}}.
[Button: See the selection]

Showing someone who bought on Black Friday the same product cheaper the following weekend shakes their trust. Build this message around a different category or a complementary product.

6. (Optional) Back in stock

{{1}}, the {{2}} you asked about is back in stock in size {{3}}.
[Button: Go to the product]

Send it only to people who asked for stock notifications. Even if it has no discount or campaign language, Meta may treat this message as marketing; Meta decides the category during the approval process.

Which button and which call to action should you use?

One message, one job. When a single message has "see the products", "copy the coupon" and "write to us" all at once, clicks get spread out. Point the link button straight at the relevant collection, not the home page. Add UTM parameters to the links so you can separate sales that come from WhatsApp in your site's analytics. Also add a reply button: it gives the customer an easy way out and it opens the 24-hour window.

How will you measure the campaign?

We look at two sources. Chatopya's campaign report shows delivery, read, reply and link click data for each message; from there you read which segment and which template got attention. Orders, revenue and conversion come from your site's or store panel's analytics, through the UTM links.

Add these to the report screen too: the number of messages that dropped with code 131049, people who said "Not interested", and blocks. If these three are rising, it's time to change the frequency or the segment in the next wave. We cover the technical side of bulk sending in our article on how to send bulk messages on WhatsApp.

Pre-send checklist

You can print this and take it to the campaign meeting.

Consent and list

• Everyone on the list has an opt-in that includes our business name.
• Opt-ins are consistent with the İYS and internal records; legal has seen the opt-in wording.
• People who earlier asked to opt out have been removed from the list.

Template

• All campaign templates are in the marketing category and approved.
• Sample values for the variables are filled in, with no empty fields.
• Each message has one main button and a reply/opt-out option.

Price and content

• The "old price" is based on the lowest price of the last 10 days.
• The campaign end date and conditions are clear in the message or the link.
• The products named in the message are in stock.

Sending

• Segments are separated; no marketing messages to the same person on consecutive days.
• Sending times are set.
• The budget has been worked out with the cost calculator.
• An agent to handle incoming replies and a workload plan are ready.

Measurement

• The links have UTM.
• 131049 errors, opt-out requests and blocks are being tracked.

Frequently asked questions