In short: Most campaign problems come from four places: the template status, the list, Meta’s messaging limit, or the customer’s phone number. Find your symptom below and apply the fix. For a single customer, check their row in the campaign report.
Problems before sending
- The template isn’t in the list: only Approved templates can be sent. Pending templates are still with Meta. Rejected ones need fixing, see Template Rejected. Paused or disabled templates can’t be used.
- The list doesn’t appear: check it exists under Customers, then refresh the page.
- Fewer recipients than expected: customers who asked to stop getting messages are skipped, and so is anyone in a list you chose to exclude. A customer in several selected lists gets the message once.
- Error about a missing variable: fill every variable ({{1}}, {{2}}…) with text or a customer field.
- “Hi ,” instead of “Hi Dana,”: some customers have an empty field. Fill it in, or send them a version without that variable.
- The campaign won’t start: your monthly template quota may be used up. Buy more from the main page or upgrade your plan.
Messages failed or stuck
Large campaigns go out gradually, so pending is normal at first. If many messages stay pending or fail, check:
- Phone format: numbers without a country code or with extra digits fail. See International Phone Number Format.
- Not on WhatsApp: these numbers always fail.
- Messaging limit: Meta caps how many customers you can reach with templates in 24 hours. See WhatsApp Messaging Limits.
- Error 131049: the person got too many marketing messages from businesses lately. Don’t retry right away.
- US (+1) numbers: Meta doesn’t deliver marketing templates to them.
- Meta payment: without a valid payment method in Meta, messages aren’t delivered. See Meta messaging costs.
- Template paused during the send: messages after the pause fail. See Quality Rating.
Scheduled campaigns
- Need to change it: scheduled campaigns can’t be edited. On the campaigns page, click the cancel icon, then create a new one. Canceling can’t be undone.
- Went out at the wrong time: the time is based on your computer’s time zone when you scheduled it. Check your computer clock.
- Sent right away: Is this a scheduled send? was set to No. Sent messages can’t be recalled.
Common questions
A customer says they didn’t get the message
Check their row in the campaign report. Delivered or read means it reached the phone. Failed means it didn’t, see the causes above.
Some customers got the message twice
The campaign was probably sent twice, for example by two team members. Give each campaign a clear name and have one person approve large sends.
A customer asks to stop getting messages
Mark them as blocked from receiving messages right away. See Opt-Out and Blacklist.
How do I avoid problems next time?
Send a test to 5 to 10 people on your team first. Clean the list of invalid numbers and people who never respond.