Good Ramadan WhatsApp marketing respects the rhythm of the month: fewer messages, timed around iftar and family evenings rather than through the fasting day, with Eid gifting and delivery deadlines made very clear. Diwali works similarly, built around gifting and cut-offs. Plan both backwards from the delivery date, and get Meta template approval weeks before you need to send.
A note on timing as I write this (November 5, 2026): Diwali is this Sunday, November 8. If you sell in India, this year's campaign window has mostly passed, so your job this week is delivery updates, COD confirmations and fast replies. Use this guide to plan Ramadan 2027, which starts in about three months, and Diwali 2027.
Key dates for 2026 and 2027 (approximate)
Islamic dates follow the lunar calendar and are confirmed by moon sighting, so they can shift by a day and differ between countries. Diwali follows the Hindu lunisolar calendar, and regional observances vary. Treat these as planning windows, and confirm locally.
Occasion
Expected date
Plan campaigns from
Diwali 2026
Sunday, Nov 8, 2026 (festival roughly Nov 6 to 10)
Sources for these estimates are listed at the end of the article. For Eid, I'd plan for both possible dates and set your delivery cut-off against the earlier one.
How Ramadan changes when people shop and read messages
During Ramadan, many households reorganise their day around suhoor (the meal before dawn) and iftar (the meal at sunset that breaks the fast). Evenings get busier and more social. Plenty of your customers won't be fasting, and those who are won't all follow the same routine, so avoid assumptions.
What that means for WhatsApp:
Don't send around iftar. That hour belongs to family. A promotional ping as people sit down to eat is the fastest way to look careless.
Look at your own data. Pull last Ramadan's Shopify orders by hour of day. That tells you more than any general advice, including mine.
Send less, not more. Ramadan is a month of reflection for many people. Two or three well-timed messages beat a daily deal.
Staff the evenings. If customers browse late, questions arrive late. Make sure someone can answer.
What respectful Ramadan and Eid messages sound like
A sincere greeting is welcome. "Ramadan Mubarak" and "Ramadan Kareem" are both widely used; "Eid Mubarak" for Eid. Use the greeting your customers use. If your audience spans Arabic, Urdu, Malay or Indonesian speakers, the greeting and language may differ, and our guide to multilingual customer messaging helps with the practical side.
The demo broadcast dashboard shows where to build and monitor WhatsApp campaigns.
Things I'd avoid:
Turning religious practice into a gimmick ("Fast-ing deals!", countdowns to iftar as a sales device).
Religious imagery used decoratively without care.
Sending Ramadan promotions to your whole list on the assumption that everyone observes it. Segment by people who've bought Eid gifts before, or who opted in to Ramadan and Eid updates. Segmenting WhatsApp campaigns around customer needs explains how to think about this.
A good first-week message:
Ramadan Mubarak from all of us at Noor Home. Our Eid gift edit is now live, with gift wrapping included on every order. We'll share delivery cut-offs for Eid closer to the time, so you can plan ahead.
Browse: noorhome.store/eid
Warm, useful, no pressure.
A Ramadan and Eid WhatsApp calendar
Here's the shape I'd use for 2027, working backwards from Eid al-Fitr:
Early January: decide your Eid gift range, check stock, and talk to your courier about Ramadan and Eid capacity. Write your templates.
Mid-January: submit templates to Meta. Review can take up to 24 hours, but leave room for rejections and edits.
Ramadan week 1: one greeting with your gift edit (example above).
Mid-Ramadan: one message about gifting, with delivery cut-offs by city or region.
Last ten days: the delivery cut-off reminder. This is the message customers actually thank you for.
The night before Eid: if you offer local pickup or same-day delivery, one short note. In parts of South Asia, Chaand Raat is a big shopping night.
After Eid: a short "Eid Mubarak, thank you" with no offer, and order updates for anyone still waiting.
Eid al-Adha is a separate occasion with its own rhythm. Don't just reuse your Eid al-Fitr campaign two months later.
Diwali campaigns: gifting, hampers and corporate orders
Diwali shopping often starts well before the main day. Dhanteras, at the start of the five-day festival, is traditionally associated with buying gold, silver and new utensils. Gifting runs through the whole season: dry fruits, sweets, clothing, home decor, hampers.
For WhatsApp, three things work well:
A gift guide by budget. "Under ₹1,000", "₹1,000 to ₹2,500" and so on. Easy to scan on a phone.
Corporate and bulk orders. Companies order Diwali hampers for staff and clients, and they love being able to ask questions on WhatsApp. Have a saved reply that asks for quantity, budget, delivery addresses and invoice details. Our guide to wholesale and B2B enquiries on WhatsApp covers the full flow.
Clear delivery cut-offs per city, because courier networks are stretched in the run-up.
Happy Diwali from Saffron & Co. Order your hampers by Oct 23 for delivery in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru before Diwali. Ordering 20 or more for your team? Reply here and we'll put together a quote.
(That date is illustrative. Set yours from your courier's actual timelines.)
If you already have an opted-in Shopify audience, start a WhatFlow broadcast from selected customers or a Shopify segment in Admin. For a scheduled campaign built from CSV, Excel or existing conversations, use Team Inbox. Map the template fields, send a test, and make sure someone owns the replies. The campaign walkthrough shows both routes.
Delivery cut-offs and courier capacity
Festival season stretches couriers. Ask yours early what their peak cut-offs and pickup schedules will be, then publish your own customer cut-off with a buffer. The method is the same as for any holiday: carrier date, minus your packing time, minus a buffer. Our holiday shipping cut-off guide walks through it and has wording for banners and WhatsApp.
COD during festival season
In markets where cash on delivery is common (India, Pakistan, much of the Gulf), festival peaks also bring more unconfirmed COD orders: duplicate orders, wrong addresses, people who changed their mind. Every one that gets refused at the door costs you shipping both ways.
A COD confirmation is a message sent right after a cash-on-delivery order asking the customer to confirm before you ship. With WhatFlow, that confirmation goes out as a WhatsApp template with reply buttons, and the customer's tap can tag or cancel the order through Shopify Flow. During Ramadan or Diwali, I'd make sure it's running before the rush, not during it. Turning WhatsApp order replies into Shopify actions shows the setup.
Assalamu alaikum Fatima, thanks for your order #2291 (Rs 6,450, cash on delivery). Please confirm so we can ship it before Eid.
[Confirm order] [Change address] [Cancel]
Opt-in still applies during the holidays
Seasonal goodwill doesn't change WhatsApp's rules. Business-initiated messages need the customer's opt-in, opt-outs must be honoured, and every promotional message outside the 24-hour service window needs an approved template. If a template gets rejected, our guide on why Meta rejects WhatsApp templates covers the usual reasons.
If you're running festival season with a bigger team
For larger brands, Ramadan, Eid and Diwali often mean temporary staff, multiple languages and several cities. WhatFlow's WhatsApp Business API runs on the official Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, and its shared inbox has no seat fees, so adding seasonal agents for six weeks doesn't add seat costs. Use inbox assignment and filters to route Arabic or Urdu conversations, corporate gifting enquiries and COD issues to the right people, and give everyone the same saved replies with this season's cut-offs.
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The stores that do well in these seasons don't send the most messages. They send the greeting that feels sincere, the cut-off that saves someone's Eid gift from arriving late, and a quick reply at 10pm when a customer has a question. Plan the dates now, and the rest is good manners.
Frequently asked questions
When does Ramadan start in 2027?
Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around February 7 or 8, 2027, with Eid al-Fitr around March 9 or 10. Exact dates depend on the sighting of the crescent moon and can differ by a day between countries.
What time should I send WhatsApp messages during Ramadan?
Avoid the hour around iftar, when people are breaking their fast with family. Many stores send after iftar in the evening, but check your own Shopify orders by hour from last Ramadan before deciding.
Is it okay to say Ramadan Mubarak in a marketing message?
Yes, a sincere greeting such as Ramadan Mubarak or Ramadan Kareem is common and welcome. Keep it separate from hard selling, and don't build discounts around the fast itself.
When is Diwali in 2027?
Diwali 2027 is expected on Friday, October 29, with the wider five-day festival around it. Regional observances can differ by a day, so confirm with a local calendar.
