Meta-issued WhatsApp Marketing Amendments from June 1

“The said changes will be implemented from June 1, 2023. Every Business using WhatsApp APIs must get acquainted with them.”

Meta, WhatsApp’s Parent Company, periodically releases newer transactional notifications regarding running WhatsApp Business APIs for surveying and promotional campaigning purposes. This WhatsApp Business API Platform facilitates Businesses to have maximum outreach to users over WhatsApp all around the world. WhatsApp boasts a whopping two billion+ users around the world. Therefore, marketing campaigns built over the WhatsApp app become the most portent promotional campaign out there, engaging and serving end consumers.

This year, Meta decided to update the Business Model on WhatsApp. Effective from June 1, 2023, the to-be-reflected updates with include the following amendments:

• Template Categories
• Conversation Types
• Conversation Pricing

To know all about what’s changing over and in WhatsApp and the levying of the new conversation charges, read the following article. The suggested changes are few but effective. It will streamline the campaigning procedure over the social media app.

Updations in Conversation/Message Template Categories

This is where Meta has really made changes for Business APIs operating in the WhatsApp domain.

Old Conversation Templates

Before June 1, Businesses are to be charged as per the following types of conversations with WhatsApp Users, namely:

1. Business Initiated Conversations or BIC
2. User Initiated Conversations or UIC

With the latest amendments released by Meta on April 1, 2023, message template categories on WhatsApp have been changed into a new category selection from June 1, 2023. The said conversation types as well as their pricing will go live on the coming June 1.

New Conversation Templates

From the previously defined Business Initiated Conversations or BIC, the June Notification will split the BIC conversations into the following three types:

1. Marketing Templates

The WhatsApp chats sent to market a product/service to the end users can be termed as a Marketing Template Conversation. These conversations are generally regarding the relevant offers to customers who’ve opted for or showed interest in the like services in the past. By default, any previous Business-Initiated Conversation not qualifying as an Authentication or Utility conversation will be considered a Marketing Conversation.

2. Utility Templates

Any conversation relating to a transaction such as the following can be termed as Utility Template Conversations, opted by the customers on WhatsApp:

• Notifications after the service purchase
• Notifications after the purchase of the product
• Recurring Billing Statements

3. Authentication Templates

The conversations aiding Businesses in authenticating users with OTPs or passcodes at procedural steps during the account creation or login procedure such as the following can be termed Authentication Templates:

• Customer Registration
• Customer’s Account Recovery
• Resolving Challenges to Customer Identification

4. Customer Service Template

Here, the previous User-Initiated Conversations or the UIC has been renamed as Service Conversations. Such service templates are useful in responding to customer inquiries and issues.

META’s New UIC/BIC Charges Per Plan

Businesses using Cunnekt’s WhatsApp Business Platform are charged on a per-conversation basis, encompassing all messages conveyed during a 24-hour session. Each of our plans offers UIC / BIC charges as per the following:

For any queries, reach out to your Account manager or WhatsApp us on +919873617805

Updates on the Conversation Windows

Every Marketing, Utility, and Authentication conversation over WhatsApp, w.e.f. June 1, 2023, is generated in the form of a templated message delivered to the end user. The service conversation begins with the delivery of a free-form message response within 24 hours of the incoming customer query.

A 24-Hour Conversation Window

Once you initiate a conversation with message delivery, Meta opens a 24-hour window for you to send the message(s), as per the conversation type. You can send N number of messages within a particular session window, without incurring any additional fee from Meta.

A Window is particular to One Conversation Type

Meta restricts Businesses to use only one template from a particular conversation category to send messages. You cannot send messages through a window matching a different category. To send a message type different from the opened conversation window, Meta will open a new conversation window and charge a separate fee.

Updates on Conversation Template Pricing

From June 1, Meta will implement its new pricing scheme for every conversation type, i.e., marketing, utility, authentication, and service. Although the pricing of each conversation will depend on various factors, we will give you a general idea of the employed pricing scheme of WhatsApp in the following pointers:

• Marketing Conversation Rates will be higher in comparison to Utility conversation rates
• Utility Conversation Rates will be higher than Authentication Conversation Rates
• Service Conversation Rates will be levied in the same manner as the current UIC charges.
• Conversation Rates differ for different markets and nationalities

Note: In case a Business receives a message from a User but chooses not to reply, then they won’t be charged. A Service Conversation charge can only be levied after the business issues its first reply to the received user message.

Free Conversations on WhatsApp Business

Meta waived off the referral conversation charges for Businesses engaging through Click on WhatsApp and CTA on Facebook Page as their WhatsApp fees until March 1, 2023. Post this period, Meta also extended the conversation window duration to 72 hours for Businesses to engage with their customers levying no fee. From June 1, 2023, WhatsApp permits free messaging services for Businesses engaging in marketing, utility, authentication, and service referral conversations during the 72-hours window.

1000 Free Conversations for Service Messages from June 1, 2023

Currently, every Business is allocated 1,000 free conversations per month for conversational purposes, both business-initiated and user-initiated. But, from June 1, Meta will be limiting 1,000 free service conversations per month to User-Initiated Conversations, or Service Conversations only.

Why such Updates?

The whole purpose of WhatsApp to amend its conversation pricing is to better reflect the multimedia message value from a regular text message. Multimedia showcases the engaging capabilities of WhatsApp marketing messages. Therefore, Meta chooses to soar the prices of these conversational templates, at the same time lowering the cost of its utility messages.

About the Writer

Sumant Kumar