WhatsApp API: Terms and Conditions
A "conversation" is a message or group of messages between a customer and a business. It lasts 24 hours from the date of the first message from the customer or the company, regardless of the number of messages during the session. Conversations on WhatsApp are divided into two types, customer-initiated and Business-initiated.
This article will explain the terms and conditions of the following:
Customer-initiated conversations
Business-initiated conversations (Marketing campaigns)
Let’s start 👌!
Customer-initiated conversations
It is a conversation a customer starts with your business on WhatsApp. If the client sends the first message, WhatsApp gives you 24 hours to interact with them by sending any message without any conditions. After 24 hours, the response window closes, and any new message is considered business-initiated.
Business-initiated conversations (Marketing campaigns)
A conversation started by a business outside of WhatsApp’s 24-hour window using a pre-approved template by Meta.
To start a business conversation, the following three conditions must be met:
Payment method activation and free monthly messages.
Message template status.
WhatsApp number tier.
🔴 Alert
Failing to meet any of these conditions will lead to the inability to start any new conversation.
Payment method activation and monthly free messages.
WhatsApp provides you with 1000 free conversations each month. However, after these conversations, you must pay WhatsApp the price of any additional conversation.
The payment method is straightforward and similar to how you pay for paid ads on Instagram. First, you must link your credit card to your WhatsApp account from the Business Settings page.
⚡ Attention
This article will help you set up your WhatsApp Business Account payment method.
Template message status.
WhatsApp only allows a business to initiate a conversation with a customer once it has approved the text of the message, much like the process for approving Instagram ads.
After submitting the template, you can view the status of the template right from the template page, which is the following:
Approved: this indicates that WhatsApp approved the template, and you can start using it in your marketing campaigns.
Disabled: this indicates that WhatsApp disabled the template, mainly because your customers marked the template as spam. Therefore, you should avoid spamming users or sending messages to contacts that don't know your brand. Therefore, you can’t use this template.
Flagged: WhatsApp flagged the template due to suspicious behavior, normally spamming. If the spam reports continue to rise, the template will be disabled. See quality rating.
In Appeal: indicates that the WhatsApp team reviews the template after you submit an appeal request to a rejected, disabled, or paused template. The appeal will be reviewed, and a decision will be made within 24 hours. See Appeals.
Paused: The template has been paused due to recurring negative customer feedback. Message templates with this status cannot be sent to customers. Pausing durations are as follows:
1st Instance: Paused for 3 hours.2nd Instance: Paused for 6 hours.
3rd Instance: Disabled.
Pending: The template is under review by WhatsApp. You need to wait for the decision before using the template. Pending is a temporary status.
Rejected: this indicates that WhatsApp has rejected the template due to violating WhatsApp policies. You can always edit the rejected template. See Appeals.
Therefore, try to avoid WhatsApp's common rejection reasons.
🔴 Alert
Getting blocked by many customers is one of the most significant indicators that enable WhatsApp to recognize customer dissatisfaction with the message templates.
⚡ Attention
Template Invalid Status
If your template is Invalid, you can fix this by editing the template direct from inside BusinessChat.
Number Tier (messages daily limit)
The quality rating of a WhatsApp number directly affects the maximum number of messages you can send daily.
To check the number of conversations that can be started within 24 hours from the BusinessChat platform, open the WhatsApp Numbers page and check the daily number limit.
Your WhatsApp number can be classified under one of 5 tiers, as shown in the image below:
You can level up from one tier to another based on the number of messages you sent during the past 24 hours, and customers' positive responses to the marketing campaigns sent to them.
Downgrading from one tier to a lower one results only from negative customer response to the marketing campaigns.
WhatsApp automates the upgrade and downgrade of your number’s tier.
🔴 Alert
WhatsApp has not published algorithms that enable it to identify customer dissatisfaction with messages. However, getting blocked by many customers is one of the most significant indicators that enable WhatsApp to recognize customer dissatisfaction with the message templates. That’s why we don’t support purchasing databases and randomly sending marketing campaigns.
Perfect😄! You are now ready to create and use WhatsApp templates.