Diwali WhatsApp messages for customers — 12 ready-to-copy templates
Below are twelve Diwali messages a small business can copy and send today: wishes with no selling, a sale announcement, a last-day reminder, order confirmations and dispatch updates, a thank-you, and a review request for after the festival. Change the words in [brackets] and they are ready.
Key takeaway: send offers only to people who chose to hear from you, no more than two or three times in the season, and always with a way to say stop. Keep Diwali wishes free of offers. Order updates to one buyer at a time (confirmed, dispatched, delayed, delivered) are the messages people actually want, and they bring the next order more reliably than any discount.
TL;DR
- • Wishes: on the day, warm, short, no link.
- • Offers: what’s new, the offer, your order-by date and one link, in the first few lines.
- • Deadline: one reminder the day before your order-by date, then honest “after Diwali” wording.
- • Orders: confirm cash-on-delivery gifts before shipping; send the tracking link the day it leaves.
- • After: thank-you a day or two after delivery; review request the week after Diwali.
Diwali wishes (no selling)
Send these on the day or the evening before. No offer, no link. A wish with a coupon attached reads as an advert, and people can tell.
1. A short Diwali wish
When: Diwali morning, or the evening before
2. A warmer wish for regular customers
When: Diwali, sent one by one to people who have ordered before
3. A Dhanteras wish
When: Friday 6 November
Sale announcements
One main announcement is enough for most small stores, sent a couple of weeks before your order-by date. Put the offer, the deadline and one link in the first few lines, because many people only read the preview.
4. Your Diwali collection is live (early-bird)
When: Early October
5. Free delivery and a free gift
When: Mid to late October
Last-day reminder, and after the deadline
Your order-by date is the last day you can take an order and still deliver before Diwali (ask your courier for their cut-off, then subtract your packing time). One reminder the day before is useful. Three is nagging.
6. Last day to order for Diwali delivery
When: The day before your order-by date
7. After your order-by date (honest wording)
When: From the day after your order-by date
Order messages
These go to one buyer at a time, about their own order, so they are always welcome. They also do more for repeat orders than any offer.
8. Confirming a cash-on-delivery order
When: Before you ship a COD order, especially a gift
9. Order dispatched
When: The day it leaves
10. An honest delay message
When: As soon as you know it will be late
Thank-you and the review request
Send the thank-you a day or two after delivery. Wait until after Diwali for the review request, when people have used what they bought and have time to reply.
11. Thank you, after delivery
When: 1–2 days after delivery
12. Asking for a review, after Diwali
When: The week after Diwali
Etiquette: how not to become the business everyone mutes
- Only message people who chose to hear from you. Someone who ordered on WhatsApp has talked to you about one order; that is not a yes to every offer. Ask once: “Would you like to hear about our Diwali collection? Reply YES.” Then message only the people who said yes.
- Always offer a way out, such as “Reply STOP if you’d rather not get offers”, and honour it the same day.
- Two or three offer messages a season, not ten. After that people mute, block or report you, and a number that gets reported often can be restricted by WhatsApp.
- Send in the daytime. Not late at night, and not during Diwali evening, when families are doing puja.
- A broadcast sends the same text to everyone, so don’t write “Hi [Name]” in one. Write “Hi”, or send the personal ones one by one.
- One picture and one link. Link straight to the product or the Diwali category, not your home page. One emoji is fine; a wall of them looks like spam.
Broadcast list, group, channel or chat?
| What | How it works | Who it reaches | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcast list | Your message arrives in each person’s own chat, like a personal message | Only people who have saved your number | Offers and announcements to past buyers who agreed |
| Group | Everyone sees every message and every reply | Anyone you add; members can usually see each other’s numbers | Not for customers, unless they asked to join |
| Channel | One-way updates; followers can’t see each other | Anyone who chooses to follow | New stock, restocks, festive collections |
| One-to-one chat | A normal conversation | One buyer | Order confirmations, delays, thank-yous, review requests |
Never add customers to a group without asking. Everyone in it can see their number and every reply, and most people leave. For a click-to-chat link to put in your Instagram bio, use the free WhatsApp link generator.
Where your store can do the typing
The messages above are for sending by hand from the WhatsApp Business app, and that is how most small stores start. As orders grow in October, a few of them can come from your store instead. On SitesPlaced:
- Free: WhatsApp checkout sends the buyer’s cart to your WhatsApp as an order, so the conversation starts with everything you need. Every store also has a Track Order page (for example
yourbrand.sitesplaced.site/track-order) to paste into message 9. - Growth (₹499/month): connect the WhatsApp Business API, which is Meta’s official way for a business to send automatic messages from its own number. Each buyer then gets an order confirmation with a tracking link, and you get a new-order alert. Product reviews are on Growth too: when you mark an order delivered, the buyer gets a review email, and the order has a Copy review link button to paste into message 12.
- AI Co-founder (₹1,499/month): broadcasts to your subscribers and past buyers, and abandoned-cart reminders, through a Meta-approved template that carries a “Reply STOP” line. The AI also drafts the broadcast for you.
More on setting this up: WhatsApp Business API order notifications and a WhatsApp order system for small businesses. For which offer to put in message 4 or 5, see Diwali sale ideas that don’t eat your profit.
Frequently asked questions
What should I write in a Diwali WhatsApp message to customers?
Keep wishes and offers separate. A wish is two or three warm lines with your name and no link. An offer message says what is new, the offer, the last date to order for delivery before Diwali, and one link, in the first few lines. Add a line such as “Reply STOP if you’d rather not get offers”.
Can I send Diwali offers to all my WhatsApp contacts?
Send offers only to people who chose to hear from you, such as past buyers who said yes when you asked. Messaging people who never agreed is spam: they block or report you, and too many reports can get a WhatsApp number restricted. A broadcast list also reaches only people who have saved your number.
What is the difference between a WhatsApp broadcast list and a group?
A broadcast list sends your message to each person separately, so it arrives like a personal message and nobody sees who else got it. A group puts everyone in one chat, where members see every reply and can usually see each other’s numbers. For customers, use a broadcast list or a channel, not a group they didn’t ask to join.
How many Diwali messages should a small business send?
Two or three offer messages across the whole season is plenty: one main announcement, perhaps a second offer, and one reminder before your order-by date. Add a wish on the day with no offer. Order updates to individual buyers don’t count against that, because they are about the buyer’s own order.
Should I send Diwali wishes with an offer?
No. On Diwali itself, send wishes only. An order placed on Diwali can’t arrive in time to be used for it, and a wish with a coupon attached reads as an advert. Keep offers for the weeks before, and a thank-you or review request for the week after.
Can my online store send WhatsApp order messages automatically?
On SitesPlaced, the Growth plan (₹499/month) connects the WhatsApp Business API, so each buyer gets an order confirmation with a tracking link from your own number, and you get a new-order alert. The AI Co-founder plan (₹1,499/month) adds broadcasts and cart reminders through an approved template, with Reply STOP handled for you. WhatsApp checkout, where the cart arrives on your WhatsApp as an order, is free.
Give every message a store link to point at
Publish a free store with UPI, cash on delivery and WhatsApp checkout, then put its Diwali category link in every message. 0% commission, and a Track Order page for every buyer.
