Quick answer
Use a WhatsApp group for a small community that should talk to each other, such as a class parents' group. Use a broadcast list to send private one-to-one updates to a few hundred contacts who saved your number. Use a channel for one-way news to a large audience. For personalised promotions and reminders to thousands of customers, use WhatsApp Business API broadcasts.
Key takeaways
- Groups are two-way conversations where every member can see the others' phone numbers, which is a privacy problem for customer lists.
- Broadcast lists send each person a private message, but only reach contacts who have saved your number, and lists are small.
- Channels are one-way and hide followers' numbers, but people must find and follow you, and updates sit outside the main chat list.
- None of the three gives you per-customer personalisation, scheduling or reliable reports.
- WhatsApp Business API broadcasts use approved templates sent one-to-one to opted-in contacts, with tracking and opt-out handling.
Most Kenyan businesses start reaching customers on WhatsApp with whatever the app offers: a customer group, a broadcast list, or more recently a channel. Each one looks like a way to "send to many people", but they behave very differently once replies, privacy and scale come in.
This guide is for owners and marketers deciding how to share offers, updates and news on WhatsApp. It compares the three app features side by side, shows where each one breaks down, and explains when a business should move to API broadcasts instead.
What is the difference between a group, a broadcast list and a channel?
A group is a shared chat where everyone can post and see each other. A broadcast list sends your message to each recipient as a separate private chat. A channel is a one-way feed people follow, where only admins post.
| WhatsApp group | Broadcast list | WhatsApp channel | API broadcast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who can post | All members, or admins only | Only you | Only admins | Only you |
| Recipients see each other | Yes, names and numbers | No | No | No |
| Where replies go | Into the group, seen by all | Private chat with you | No replies; reactions and polls | Your shared team inbox |
| Audience size | Capped (WhatsApp lists the current limit) | Small lists of a few hundred | Large, no fixed cap | Grows with your messaging limit |
| Who receives it | Anyone you add | Only contacts who saved your number | Only people who follow | Opted-in contacts you select |
| Personalisation | None | None | None | Name and details per customer |
| Reports | None | Basic ticks per chat | Follower and reaction counts | Sent, delivered, read and failed |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free | Paid per message |
WhatsApp changes these limits from time to time, so check the WhatsApp Help Centre for current group and broadcast list sizes.
When does a WhatsApp group work for business?
Groups work when the members genuinely need to talk to each other, not just to you. A class parents' group at a Nakuru school, a running club sponsored by a sports shop, or a staff group for branch managers are good fits.
They work badly as customer mailing lists. Every member sees every other member's phone number, which shares personal data without consent and invites competitors and spammers to harvest your customers. One loud complaint is seen by everyone, and people leave noisy groups quickly. Under Kenya's Data Protection Act, exposing customers' numbers to strangers is exactly the kind of handling you want to avoid.
If you do run a group, set it so only admins can send messages, keep it small, and tell people clearly what it is for when they join.
When does a broadcast list work for business?
A broadcast list suits a small business with a few hundred loyal customers who already chat with you. Each person receives your message as a normal private chat from your number, and their replies come back to you alone.
The catch is that a contact only receives the broadcast if they have saved your number in their phone. Many people never do, so a broadcast to 256 contacts may quietly reach far fewer. Lists are also small, cannot be scheduled, and offer no personalisation or proper reporting. If many recipients block or report you, WhatsApp can restrict your number, which is how plenty of Kenyan shops lose a number they have printed on every receipt.
When does a WhatsApp channel work for business?
A channel works for broadcasting news to a large audience that wants to follow you, such as a radio station, a county government office, a football club or a popular Nairobi restaurant announcing menus and events. Followers do not see each other, and you do not see their phone numbers.
The trade-off is reach and control. People have to discover and follow the channel, updates appear in a separate tab rather than in the chat list, and many followers never switch notifications on. You cannot target a segment, send an order update to one person or hold a conversation. A channel builds an audience; it does not replace customer messaging.
What are WhatsApp API broadcasts?
API broadcasts are approved WhatsApp template messages sent one-to-one, from your business number, to customers who agreed to hear from you. Each customer receives a private message addressed to them, and replies land in your team inbox.
Because they run on the WhatsApp Business Platform, you can personalise each message with the customer's name, order or appointment, target a segment such as "Mombasa customers who bought in the last 90 days", schedule the send and follow delivery live. There is no need for customers to save your number. Every message is paid: on chat.or.ke, promotions cost KES 4.50 each and updates such as reminders cost KES 0.90, charged from a prepaid M-Pesa wallet.
With chat.or.ke broadcasts, contacts who opted out, keep failing or were messaged too often are filtered out automatically, and sends are paced to stay within WhatsApp's limits.
Worked example: a Mombasa hotel
A beach hotel in Nyali wants to reach past guests about a low-season offer, keep a few dozen tour guides informed, and share event news with anyone interested.
- Tour guides: a small admin-only group, because guides benefit from seeing each other's questions.
- Event news and photos: a channel promoted on the hotel's Instagram and receipts, open to anyone.
- Past guests: an API broadcast to guests who ticked "send me offers on WhatsApp" at check-out, personalised with their first name and filtered to those who stayed in the last year. Replies go to the reservations team in a shared inbox, where they can quote rates and confirm bookings.
Using the guest list as a group would have exposed hundreds of guests' numbers to each other, which is the mistake this setup avoids.
Which should you choose?
Pick by purpose, not by habit:
- People need to talk to each other: a small group with clear rules.
- A few hundred regulars, simple updates, no budget: a broadcast list, accepting that some people will not receive it.
- Public news to a big audience who chooses to follow: a channel.
- Personal offers, reminders and order updates to opted-in customers at scale: API broadcasts.
Many businesses end up using a channel for audience-building and API broadcasts for customer messaging. If you are still on the free app and wondering when to move, read WhatsApp Business app vs API. Before any broadcast, make sure your list is genuinely opted in; our guide on building a WhatsApp opt-in list shows how.
Can I move my group or broadcast list to the API?
You can reuse the contacts, but not the consent you assumed. Before adding group members or broadcast-list contacts to API broadcasts, confirm they agreed to receive marketing messages from you on WhatsApp. A simple message asking them to reply YES, or a tick box at your till or on your website, records that agreement.
On chat.or.ke you can import contacts from a CSV file, tag them by interest or location and target the tags in broadcasts. Then follow our guide to sending WhatsApp broadcasts without getting blocked for your first campaigns.
Published 20 October 2026 Updated 20 October 2026 Plain-text version
