How do I recover a salon client list from a closed WhatsApp group?

Turn your WhatsApp contact list into an import file

Recovering a salon client list from a closed WhatsApp group means manually collecting the names and mobile numbers you still have — from your phone's contacts, an old broadcast list, or admin access to the group before it closed — and turning that into a spreadsheet you can bulk-import into Waya. There's no automatic way to pull a client list out of WhatsApp; it has to be assembled by hand once.

This is worth doing properly rather than starting from zero, since a closed group usually represents months or years of relationship-building you don't want to lose along with the group itself.

What to do differently this time so it doesn't happen again

The underlying problem with a WhatsApp group as a client list is that Waya has no WhatsApp channel and neither does the group itself once it's gone — the client relationship lived entirely inside a tool you didn't control and could lose access to at any time.

Moving to a wallet card fixes that specific risk: the card lives on the client's own phone, in her own Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, independent of any group, admin account, or app you might lose access to later. Once she's on it, automatic triggers — welcome, stamp, reward, and win-back — replace whatever manual broadcasting the group used to do.

• Collect names and numbers from contacts, old broadcasts, or admin exports before the group is fully gone
• Clean the list into one name column and one mobile number column
• Import in bulk on Growth and above, rather than re-enrolling one by one
• Move future communication onto the wallet card, not a new group

What bulk import needs from your recovered list

The import tool needs exactly two things per row: a name and a mobile number, in a consistent format. Anything else you happen to have from WhatsApp — profile photos, message history — isn't used and doesn't need to be included.

This is a Growth-plan feature and above, since a recovered client list from an active WhatsApp group is often large enough to exceed the Free plan's 100-customer ceiling immediately.

Recovering and re-enrolling your list in six steps

Move quickly if the group is still partially accessible.

1. Collect every available number

   From phone contacts, old broadcasts, or admin access before it's gone.

2. Clean the list into two columns

   Name and mobile number, one consistent phone format.

3. Upload it via bulk import

   Available on Growth and above, not on the Free plan.

4. Design your card if you haven't already

   Match your salon's branding before inviting anyone to add it.

5. Send an invitation to add the card

   Reach clients so they actually add it to their wallet, not just appear in your list.

6. Turn on welcome and win-back triggers

   So future communication happens automatically, not through another group.

The welcome message replaces what the group used to do

Once a recovered client adds her card, the same automatic welcome trigger fires as it would for any new enrollment, giving her an immediate reason to trust the switch rather than feeling like she's lost the relationship entirely.

From there, ongoing reminders live on her lock screen instead of in a group chat she has to remember to check.

Recovery is a Growth-plan feature, but test the concept on Free first

Bulk import needs Growth (85 SAR/month or 867 SAR/year) and above, since a recovered WhatsApp client list is usually larger than the Free plan's 100-customer cap. If your list is small enough to fit under that cap, you can test the whole recovery approach on Free before paying anything.

One limit to remember: Waya has no WhatsApp channel of its own, so this move is a one-way switch to lock-screen messaging — there's no way to keep sending through WhatsApp alongside the card.