In Egypt and across the Gulf, attendees read WhatsApp and often leave email unopened. Sending confirmations and reminders there works, but it runs on Meta’s rules: a business number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, message templates approved in advance, consent from the recipient and a charge for each template delivered. This guide covers each of those for an event organiser and notes where evenclo handles them.
Send from your own business number
Messages should come from your organisation’s number, so attendees see a name they recognise and replies reach your team. The number is registered on the WhatsApp Business Platform under your own Meta business account. evenclo connects to that number and sends confirmations and campaigns from it.
Get templates approved before you need them
Any message you start, as opposed to a reply, must use a template Meta has approved. Approval is per language, so an Arabic confirmation and an English one are two templates. Write them weeks ahead: a confirmation with the QR code link, a reminder the day before, a room or time change and a thank-you with the survey. Meta gives each template a category (marketing, utility or authentication), and the category sets the price.
Ask for consent at registration
Put a separate, unticked box for WhatsApp updates on the registration form, apart from consent to marketing. Egypt’s Personal Data Protection Law (Law 151 of 2020) requires prior consent for electronic marketing, and it becomes enforceable when its transition period ends on 31 October 2026. evenclo stores the opt-in with the registration and sends campaigns only to people who gave it.
What it costs
Since 1 July 2025 Meta charges for each template message delivered, at a rate set by the template’s category and the recipient’s country code. Marketing templates cost the most. A utility template, such as a confirmation or a reminder, is free when sent within 24 hours of the attendee messaging you, and replies you write in that window are free too. Check Meta’s current rates for Egypt and the Gulf before you budget a campaign to ten thousand people. Space campaigns out: one message a day in the week before an event is more than most attendees want.
Send without double messages
Schedule campaigns in the venue’s time zone and aim them at a filtered audience, such as people who have not checked in yet, one ticket type or exhibitors only. A retried send must never message the same person twice. evenclo’s dispatcher skips anyone that campaign has already reached, so a run interrupted halfway can be restarted safely.
Common questions
Can I send event reminders on WhatsApp without templates?
Only as replies within 24 hours of the attendee messaging you. Any message you start needs a template Meta has approved.
How much does WhatsApp charge for event messages?
Since 1 July 2025, a rate per delivered template, set by its category and the recipient’s country. Utility templates sent inside an open 24-hour window are free.
Do attendees have to opt in to WhatsApp messages?
For marketing, yes: Egypt’s data protection law requires prior consent. Ask with a separate unticked box on the registration form.
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