Skip to main content
An automated campaign watches your connected store for one event (an order is paid, a cart is abandoned, a shipment is created) and sends an approved WhatsApp template to the customer involved, either right away or after a wait you choose. Use it for abandoned-cart recovery, order confirmations, shipping updates and review requests. For a one-time send to a chosen audience, use a campaign instead. Automated campaigns are on the Automated tab of Campaigns.

​
Before you start

  • A connected Shopify, Salla or Zid store. Without one the form says Connect your store first and offers Connect a store; see Connect your store.
  • A connected WhatsApp number, and a template that belongs to that number. See Templates.
  • Credits. Automated campaigns cost 1 credit per 5 messages. A message is not sent when your balance is empty; see Credits and failed messages.

​
Create an automated campaign

On the Automated tab, click Create campaign. Everything is on one page, New automated campaign, with a live WhatsApp preview and your price beside it.
1

Trigger

Choose the Store (only connected stores are listed), then When this happens: the event that triggers the message. The events for each store are listed below. If you change the store or the event later, conditions that no longer apply are removed and a notice says so.
2

Conditions

Optional. Without conditions the campaign sends every time the event happens. Click Add condition, then choose a Field, a Comparison and a Value. The comparisons are equals, does not equal, contains, is greater than, is less than, is empty, is not empty, is one of and is not one of. The message is sent only when every condition is met.To send only for some payment methods, pick the Payment method field and choose them from the list, up to 50. The list shows the methods enabled in your store, or the ones used on your recent orders, or the common ones for your platform. A method that isn’t listed can be typed under Add a payment method that isn’t listed and added with Add; capital letters don’t matter.
3

Message

Choose the WhatsApp number, then the Template. Only templates for that number are shown, Approved ones and ones still in review. A template still in review shows “This template is still in review”: Meta has to approve it before messages can be delivered, so choose an approved one to start sending right away. Changing the number clears the template, and says so. New template opens the template editor in a new tab.For every variable in the template, choose a field from the event (the customer’s name, the order number, the total, the cart link) or Custom value to use the same text in every message. A variable that feeds a link button is marked Used in a button link, and Link preview shows where the button will go. The form refuses a choice that would break the link, such as a full checkout address placed after a domain the button already has.
4

Audience

Each message goes to the customer from the event, such as the one who placed the order or left the cart. Send to unsubscribed customers is off by default. Turn it on only for essential messages such as order confirmations or shipping updates; with it off, customers who have unsubscribed are skipped.
5

When

Send is Right away or After a wait. For a wait, enter the Wait time and choose a Unit of minutes, hours, days, weeks or months. The wait can be at most one year (525,600 minutes, 8,760 hours, 365 days, 52 weeks or 12 months).
6

Replies

The agent answers replies is on by default: when a customer replies, your agent answers. Turn it off to send replies to your team.
7

Name and launch

Campaign name is optional, and customers never see it. Leave it empty to use the suggested name. The Cost panel shows “1 credit per 5 messages” and Credits left; with none left it says “You’re out of credits” and offers Top up credits. Click Launch campaign and confirm Launch this campaign? The campaign becomes Active and you see Automated campaign launched.
If a field needs fixing, it is marked in place and the launch stops there. You can pause a launched campaign at any time.

​
Trigger events by platform

The list is fixed per platform. Names are as shown in the form.
Orders: Order Created, Order Updated, Order Status Updated, Order Payment Updated, Order Products Updated, Order Coupon Updated, Order Total Price Updated, Order Shipping Address Updated, Order Customer Updated, Order Refunded, Order Cancelled, Order Deleted, Invoice Created, Review Added.Carts: Abandoned Cart, Abandoned Cart Updated, Coupon Applied.Customers: Customer Created, Customer Updated.Shipments: Order Shipment Creating, Order Shipment Created, Order Shipment Cancelled, Order Return Shipment Creating, Order Return Shipment Created, Order Return Shipment Cancelled, Shipment Creating, Shipment Created, Shipment Updated, Shipment Cancelled.
Events such as Order Updated or Abandoned Cart Updated can fire several times for the same order or cart. Add a condition (for example on the order status) if you only want one message per change.

​
What happens when an event fires

  1. Popcorn checks your conditions. If they do not match, nothing is sent and no credit is used.
  2. The recipient’s phone number is taken from the event. If the event carries no valid phone number, it is skipped. If the number is not in Customers yet, a customer is created.
  3. The message is sent right away, or queued as a scheduled message when you set a wait. Scheduled messages are counted on the campaign page.
  4. Right before sending, Popcorn checks that the phone number is valid, that the customer is subscribed (unless Send to unsubscribed customers is on), that the customer is reachable (marketing templates only; see unreachable contacts), and that you have credits.
  5. The message is sent and a conversation opens in the Inbox. With The agent answers replies on, your agent handles the reply.
A single campaign handles at most 100 events a minute; extra events in that minute are dropped.

​
Abandoned-cart messages are skipped after a purchase

For campaigns with a wait that are triggered by a cart or checkout event, Popcorn asks your store right before sending whether the customer has ordered since the cart was abandoned. If they have, the recovery message is not sent. If the store cannot answer in time, the message is sent anyway rather than dropped. Messages sent right away are not checked, and campaigns triggered by completion events, such as Zid’s Abandoned Cart Completed, are never held back.

​
The campaign list

The list has the filters All, Active, Paused and Draft, Search campaigns, and these columns:

​
Pause, resume and status

Open a campaign and click Pause campaign to stop it, or Activate campaign to resume. A paused campaign receives no events, and nothing is sent. When no messages are waiting, it pauses at once and a notice offers Undo to switch it back on.
Pausing cancels the campaign’s scheduled messages for good. When some are waiting, the dialog Pause and cancel scheduled messages? says how many, and those customers will not receive the message when you resume. Confirm with Pause and cancel messages. Messages already handed to WhatsApp that are waiting for an automatic retry are not affected.

​
Results and why messages were not sent

Open a campaign for Times triggered, Sent, Delivered, Read, Clicks (each with its rate), Scheduled messages, Couldn’t deliver and Credits used. Below them, Details, Trigger, Conditions, Message and Settings show every choice you made, including Delivery timing, Recipients and whether it sends to unsubscribed customers. What each delivery status means is explained in Delivery and reachability. Click Couldn’t deliver to open Why some messages didn’t deliver. Besides the WhatsApp failure causes, automated campaigns have two reasons where the message never left Popcorn: Show contacts and Export all give you the affected phone numbers.

​
Credits

  • Automated campaigns are charged 1 credit per 5 messages, deducted after each successful send. Failed sends are not charged.
  • Nothing is reserved at launch. Each message checks your balance right before it goes out, so keep the balance topped up in busy periods. See Top-ups and renewal.
  • Automatic retries of a message that hit a temporary WhatsApp error reuse the original charge, so they are never billed twice.