A short birthday message from a business a customer already likes gets read. ReploChat date reminders send an approved WhatsApp template every year on a date saved on the contact: a birthday, a wedding anniversary, a membership renewal, a car service or a policy expiry. You can send on the day or a few days before, at a time you choose, and each contact gets each reminder only once a year. This guide walks through the setup and includes birthday and reminder messages you can copy.
Date reminders are part of Automation and are included on every plan. Team members need the Automation permission to set them up.
How date reminders work
- Each reminder reads one date field on your contacts, such as "Birthday".
- Only the day and month count, so a birthday saved as 1994-03-12 fires every 12 March.
- ReploChat checks every few minutes. Once the send time has passed in your time zone, every matching contact gets the template.
- Each reminder goes to each contact once per year, even if the check runs again later that day.
- Contacts who opted out (sent STOP) are skipped.
- A date of 29 February is treated as 28 February in years that aren't leap years.
Step 1: add a date field to your contacts
- Open Contacts, then the Fields tab.
- Enter a Name such as "Birthday". The Key is filled in for you; it's used in imports and the app, and can't be changed later.
- Set Type to Date and save.
Only fields of type Date can be used for reminders. Add as many as you need: "Anniversary", "Renewal date", "Next service".
Step 2: fill in the dates
A reminder can only find contacts who have a date saved. There are three ways to fill them in:
- One by one: edit a contact on the Contacts page and pick the date.
- In bulk: import a CSV or Excel file and match the date column to your field. Dates like
2026-03-12,12/03/2026,12-03-2026and12.03.2026are understood (day before month), as are Excel's own date cells. - From the customer: a chatbot Question step saves the answer on the contact under the name you choose. Use your field's key as the name, and ask for the date in a format like 12/03/1994.
Step 3: create the reminder
- Open Automation, then the Date reminders tab, and click New reminder.
- Fill in the Name (e.g. "Birthday wish") and choose the WhatsApp number. Only contacts saved on that number are included.
- Choose the Date field.
- Set Days before (0 = on the day). You can choose up to 60 days before. Use 0 for birthdays and 7 or 30 for renewals.
- Set Send at. The time is in the number's time zone, the one set under Welcome & Away business hours (Asia/Karachi if you haven't set one).
- Pick an approved Template and fill each variable with Customer name, Customer phone, a Contact field (any custom field, such as "Plan" or "Car model") or Fixed text. Give the name a fallback, such as "there", for contacts without a name.
- If the template has a media header (an image of a cake, say), paste the link to the file.
- Tick Active and click Save reminder.
The list shows each reminder as, for example, "On the day at 10:00 · Birthday" or "7 days before at 09:00 · Renewal date", with the template name and how many were sent this year, plus any that failed.
Birthday and reminder message examples
Create these as templates first. Birthday wishes with an offer are usually Marketing; a renewal or service-due notice about an existing account is usually Utility. {{1}} is the customer name and {{2}} a second value.
| Use | Days before | Sample template text |
|---|---|---|
| Birthday (retail) | 0 | "Happy birthday {{1}}! 🎂 Here's 15% off anything in store this week. Show this message at checkout or use code BDAY15 online." |
| Birthday (clinic, salon) | 0 | "Happy birthday {{1}} from all of us at Glow Salon! Your birthday blow-dry is on us this month — reply to book a slot." |
| Anniversary | 3 | "Hi {{1}}, your anniversary is coming up! Order a cake or bouquet by Friday for free delivery in Lahore." |
| Membership renewal | 7 | "Hi {{1}}, your {{2}} membership renews in 7 days. Reply RENEW to keep your benefits, or message us with any questions." |
| Vehicle service | 5 | "Hi {{1}}, your {{2}} is due for its yearly service. Reply with a day that suits you and we'll confirm a time." |
What you'll see after it runs
- Each reminder appears in the customer's chat in the shared inbox, so if they reply ("Thank you! Can I book Saturday?"), your team sees the context.
- The contact's timeline on their profile records that the reminder was sent.
- If a send fails, for example because Meta rejected the template, a variable was empty or the number was disconnected, it's counted as failed on the reminder card.
Frequently asked
I created a reminder after today's send time. Will today's birthdays still get it? Yes. Once the send time has passed, any contact due today who hasn't received it yet this year gets it on the next check.
Can I send on the exact date, not every year? Reminders repeat yearly by design. For a one-off date, a scheduled campaign to a label is a better fit.
What does it cost? Each reminder is a template message, billed by Meta to your own WhatsApp Business Account by category and country. ReploChat adds no markup.