Turn viral buzz into repeat café visits with Ferbz seasonal WhatsApp broadcasts

Below is a step‑by‑step walk‑through that mirrors what you would see on screen as you create and launch a seasonal broadcast. The example uses a fictional café, Brewed Awakening, located in Austin, Texas, preparing a “Fall Harvest Latte” launch on September 15.

1. Prepare your message template

1. From the left navigation bar, click Automation → Templates.

2. Click New Template.

3. Choose WhatsApp as the channel.

4. Enter a name – e.g., Fall Harvest Latte Promo.

5. In the body field, type the message you want to send:

   🍂 Hey {{first_name}}! Our new Fall Harvest Latte is here – 20 % off for the next 48 hours. Show this WhatsApp or tap the link to claim: {{promo_link}}. See you soon! – Brewed Awakening
   

   The double‑curly braces are Ferbz’s merge tags that pull data from the Customer profile.

6. Click Save. The template is now reusable for both broadcasts and automation journeys.

2. Build the audience filter

1. Navigate to Customers → All Customers.

2. Click Filter at the top right.

3. Add the following conditions:

   • Last order date ≥ “30 days ago” (captures regulars who haven’t visited recently).
   • Has tag = “Loyalty Card” (targets those already in the loyalty program).
   • City = “Austin” (optional geographic narrowing).

4. Ferbz instantly shows the count of matching customers – let’s say 1,842.

5. Click Save Filter and name it Fall Harvest Target.

3. Create the broadcast

1. From the main menu, select Broadcasts.
2. Click New Broadcast.
3. In the Audience dropdown, select the saved filter Fall Harvest Target.
4. In the Template dropdown, choose Fall Harvest Latte Promo.
5. Review the preview; Ferbz will substitute a sample name and link so you can see the final look.

4. Schedule or send immediately

• Immediate send: Click Send Now. Ferbz will immediately queue the 1,842 messages.
• Scheduled send: Click Schedule, pick September 15 2026, 09:00 AM CST, and confirm.

When you confirm, Ferbz shows a cost estimate: “1,842 messages × 1 credit each = 1,842 credits.” If your wallet balance is sufficient, the broadcast is accepted; otherwise you’ll be prompted to top up.

5. Monitor delivery

1. Switch to the Reminders board (still in the left navigation).

2. Find the row labeled Broadcast – Fall Harvest Latte Promo.

3. Columns display Scheduled, Sent, Delivered, Read, and Failed counts.

   After a few minutes, you might see:

   • Sent: 1,842
   • Delivered: 1,831
   • Read: 1,642
   • Failed: 11 (invalid numbers or opt‑outs)

You can click the Failed number to export a CSV of those contacts for later re‑engagement.

6. Track impact in Reports

1. Go to Reports → Messaging Effectiveness.
2. Set the date range to September 15 – September 22, 2026.
3. Choose the metric Orders generated from broadcast. Ferbz cross‑references the Billing module: any order that completed with a “source = broadcast” flag is counted.

In our example, Brewed Awakening sees 112 new orders attributed to the broadcast, with an average ticket size of $7.45, yielding $834.40 in incremental revenue.

7. Follow‑up with an automation reminder (optional)

If you want to thank customers who purchased the latte, create a simple automation:

• Trigger: Order completes where product = Fall Harvest Latte.
• Action: Send WhatsApp using a “Thank you for trying our Fall Harvest Latte!” template.

Because the order already exists in the Billing module, Ferbz enrolls those customers instantly, and the reminder clock starts based on the automation’s “wait 2 hours” setting. The follow‑up will appear on the Reminders board alongside the original broadcast, giving you a full view of the entire seasonal campaign lifecycle.

Full Worked Example Recap

By following these exact clicks, selections, and fields, Brewed Awakening turns a seasonal buzz idea into a data‑driven WhatsApp push that drives foot traffic and tracks every dollar earned.

Before Ferbz: A café owner typically writes a seasonal promo in a spreadsheet, copies phone numbers from a handwritten list, and manually sends individual WhatsApp messages or uses a personal phone to broadcast. That process is error‑prone, takes ≈ 3 hours to prepare a list of 1,800 contacts, and yields no delivery or read metrics. Missed numbers, duplicate sends, and lack of follow‑up mean the promotion’s impact is invisible, and regulars who have drifted away remain unnoticed.

After Ferbz: The same owner spends ≈ 15 minutes building a filtered audience, another 5 minutes selecting a pre‑approved template, and a final 2 minutes to schedule the send. The total effort drops to ≈ 22 minutes, a ≈ 88 % time saving. Because the broadcast runs through the official WhatsApp Business API, delivery is reliable and each status (sent, delivered, read) appears instantly on the Reminders board—eliminating guesswork.

The concrete revenue lift is evident in the Brewed Awakening example: 112 new orders and $834.40 of incremental sales from a single 1,842‑credit spend, a return on credit spend of 45 % (i.e., $834.40 ÷ 1,842 credits ≈ $0.45 per credit). The owner also recovers ≈ 6 % of customers who hadn’t visited in the previous month, directly addressing the core pain point of “regulars quietly stopping visits.”

Furthermore, the broadcast integrates with Automation so the owner can automatically enroll purchasers into a thank‑you journey, turning a one‑time push into a longer‑term relationship builder without any extra manual work. The Reports module quantifies the exact lift, allowing the owner to justify future credit purchases and refine seasonal messaging based on read rates and conversion numbers.

Overall, Ferbz’s WhatsApp broadcast seasonal campaign gives café owners a repeatable, measurable, and credit‑controlled way to convert viral or seasonal buzz into actual foot traffic and sales, while eliminating the manual spreadsheet‑to‑phone workflow that previously wasted time and left revenue on the table.

Ready to turn your seasonal buzz into measurable café visits? Sign up for a free trial, load your credit wallet, and launch your first WhatsApp broadcast in minutes. Visit the dashboard at https://dashboard.ferbz.com/ and explore the Broadcasts tab, or reach out to our support team at support@ferbz.com for a quick walkthrough. With Ferbz, seasonal promotions become a repeatable, credit‑controlled engine for steady foot traffic and revenue.