When you send a message to a list of contacts, it goes through two main stages before it reaches (or doesn't reach) the recipient. Two KPIs let you track this journey: audience accepted and audience delivered.
The two steps
Audience accepted: the number of contacts from your list selected to receive the message. WhatsApp filters upstream based on:
whether the contact has already received too many marketing messages recently, across all brands combined
whether the number is valid
Audience delivered: among the accepted contacts, how many messages actually reached the recipient's phone.
💡 Accepted therefore comes before delivered in the message's journey. A contact can't be counted as delivered without first being counted as accepted: the number of delivered is always less than or equal to the number of accepted.
Why an accepted message might not be delivered
Once a message is accepted, delivery can still fail for several reasons. WAX classifies these failures into three statuses:
Undeliverable: the number isn't registered on WhatsApp, the recipient hasn't accepted WhatsApp's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, or they're using an outdated version of the app.
Failed: Meta blocked the send (policy or quality reasons), the message was sent outside the 24-hour conversation window without a pre-approved template, or a one-off technical issue occurred. Once a message is "Failed", WhatsApp has stopped trying: it won't arrive unless you send a new one.
Pending: the recipient's phone is off or offline. The message stays pending for up to 120 days, after which the send is cancelled.
👉 For full details on these statuses, see Why some WhatsApp messages are marked as "failed", "undeliverable" or "pending" on WAX.
How to use this day to day
Ask yourself the question in this order:
Is accepted already low? The issue lies with your targeting or contact list quality (segment too broad, low-engagement contacts, sending too frequently).
Is accepted fine but delivered drops? The issue is more technical or tied to recipient behavior (offline phone, blocking, Failed status), not your targeting.