It is best to have their agreement, recorded with date and form, and a simple opt-out. Check with the responsible department of your organisation which rules apply to it.
Public sector
How a municipality can notify residents on WhatsApp
Notifying residents on WhatsApp from a municipality follows an order: define the type of notice, prepare the list as a CSV, obtain and record consent, build the template, choose when to send, handle the replies and review the results. Each step notes what Textra does.
Summary
- Tell informational notices apart from notices that ask for an action.
- The sender must be recognisable to the resident.
- The list is built from a spreadsheet exported in CSV format, listing phones and the useful data.
- Note when and in what way each resident agreed, and leave an easy opt-out.
- Decide who handles replies before sending.
1. Define the type of notice
A municipality's notices usually fall into three types: reminders (an appointment, a due date), notices of an event affecting a neighbourhood (works, a service cut) and invitations (a meeting, an event day).
For each type, write down what residents need to know, what they must do, whether they must do it, and by when. A notice that asks for nothing is written differently from one that asks for an action.
2. Choose who sends
Residents must recognise who the message comes from. Use a WhatsApp number of the organisation, with a clear name, and sign each notice with the department that sends it.
Notices from Textra go out over WhatsApp through Meta's official API, from the channel you configure for your organisation.
3. Prepare the list
Build a table with each resident's phone number, alongside the data you plan to use to split or personalise: neighbourhood, type of procedure, appointment date. Export it as CSV: each datum in its column and each person in a row.
Check that the phone numbers are complete and that each person appears once. If a notice goes only to one neighbourhood, that column lets you build the group.
In Textra you load that CSV, which must carry a phone column, and add custom attributes, which can be text, numeric or yes/no. With them you define segments, for example everyone living in one neighbourhood; before the send, the preview shows how many contacts qualify plus a sample.
4. Consent
It is best that each resident has agreed to receive notices on this channel. Note when and in what way they did so, and make it easy to stop receiving them. Check with the responsible department of your organisation which rules apply to it.
In Textra each contact has a consent record: you enter it manually or the person gives it when answering (for example YES or ACEPTO), and an opt-out is noted with words such as CANCELAR, BAJA or STOP. If the campaign is marketing, Textra skips contacts who have no consent on record.
5. Build the template
Outgoing notices are built as a template: a fixed text with blanks that are filled in for each resident. Write a short message with the sending department, the main fact and, if needed, what to do.
In Textra the template has a category, and the blanks can take a value from the contact, such as the name or the appointment date. To decide which one fits, see the categories guide.
6. Choose when to send
Send when residents can read and act: an appointment reminder some days ahead, a works notice before it begins. Avoid the night and the hours when the department cannot handle replies.
Textra lets you pick between sending now or booking a day and time ahead; a booked send accepts changes or cancellation.
7. Handle the replies
Many residents will reply. Decide beforehand who reads those replies, within what time, and what gets a standard answer.
Textra brings an AI agent able to respond in WhatsApp to residents who write back, per the instructions you define. If the question demands it, the agent passes it to someone in the department, who gets a notice and can take charge of the conversation.
8. Review the results
After sending, check how many messages arrived, which did not, and what people answered. Numbers with no delivery and opt-outs are data for cleaning the list.
In Textra each recipient's delivery shows individually, and there are campaign reports.
Illustrative example
One case, step by step
- The works department has to tell residents of two streets that a service cut will happen on Thursday. It is a notice of an event affecting a neighbourhood.
- It exports a CSV from its spreadsheet with phone, street and name, and imports it. It builds a segment with the two streets and looks in the preview at how many contacts qualify and a sample.
- It picks a template with the resident's name, the street, the day and a phone number for questions, and books the send two days ahead.
- Replies arrive in the conversation; the agent answers the simple questions and the rest pass to someone in the department.
- After sending, the department checks the delivery status and removes from the list the numbers that received nothing.
Frequently asked questions
In a spreadsheet listing each person's number and the data that will serve to segment, exported as CSV. Textra loads CSV; Excel files are not accepted.
Decide beforehand who reads them and within what time. In Textra the agent can settle the simple questions and pass the rest to someone in the department.
Yes. In Textra you can book the send for a later day and time, and edit or cancel it ahead of dispatch.
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