WhatsApp Business Platform Conversation Categories and Pricing Changes, starting 1 June 2023

With close to 2.5 billion monthly active users globally, WhatsApp is ranked the most popular mobile messaging app worldwide. And it’s no news that more and more businesses are leveraging WhatsApp to interact with their customers—from authentication, to real-time notifications, to marketing promotions.

To better align the use cases with the WhatsApp product experience, Meta has announced updates to the conversation categories and pricing, starting 1 June 2023. Here’s what you need to know, and how the new changes would impact your business.

First, how does WhatsApp Business Platform work?

Every conversation that comes through the WhatsApp Business Platform falls into two types: business-initiated and customer-initiated. Business-initiated conversations are first initiated by the business, with pre-approved message templates. User-initiated conversations are first initiated by customers and later replied by businesses.

No matter if it’s business or user-initiated, your business will get a 24-hour conversation window. Within the 24 hours, you can exchange any number of messages with your customer—either freeform messages or automated with templates.

New conversation categories and fees, from 1 June 2023

Starting 1 June 2023, WhatsApp will be expanding the list of conversation categories and together with that, implementing new prices.

The current business-initiated conversations will be split into three new categories: utility, authentication, and marketing conversations, and they each will have new rates. The current user-initiated conversations will be renamed to service conversations, with the rates remaining the same. Let’s further break down the existing and new pricing model.

Current_vs._New_Conversation_Categories_(effective_1_June_2023).png

To learn more, please refer to the official release by Meta.

What is the difference between authentication, utility, and marketing conversations?

Service conversations (or user-initiated conversations) remain the same, where businesses can reply to customers using freeform messages. Imagine resolving a customer inquiry.

On the other hand, authentication, utility, and marketing conversation differ in their message template content and associated charges. Here is a breakdown.

Overview_of_WhatsApp_conversation_categories.png

The message template used will determine the conversation category, hence the conversation fee charged. When chatting with customers over WhatsApp, it is likely that your business would jump from using one conversation category to another. This opens up a new 24-hour conversation window, where new conversation fees would apply as well.

Here’s how it might look:

  • A customer reached out over WhatsApp, asking about your store’s opening hours. You replied. You then replied with a freeform message, opening a service conversation.
  • A few hours later (still within the 24-hour conversation window), you sent a message promoting an in-store sale, using a marketing message template.
  • This opens a separate marketing conversation and a new conversation window.
  • Therefore, both service and marketing conversation fees would apply.

For more examples, see Meta’s pricing explainer document.

How will your business benefit from the new changes?

Build customer relationship with 1,000 free conversations every month

For every WhatsApp Business Account you own, you will be given 1,000 free service conversations. This gives your business the opportunity to not only provide support, but also build customer trust from the get-go.

The best part? The free conversations refresh every month, making them a perfect fit for customer acquisition and retention plans.

Achieve cost optimization with maximum customer value at every touch point

Are you looking to utilize WhatsApp throughout the customer journey? Then, you’ll definitely benefit from the new changes! With the split of business-initiated conversations to authentication, utility, and marketing, as well as a differentiated pricing, you will be able to better optimize your budget spends across the different use cases.

For instance, you will be able to enjoy a relatively lower cost for messages you typically send more of, such as OTPs for login verification or notifications for order confirmations.

Start having conversations with your customers on their favorite channel

If you’ve yet to include WhatsApp as part of your customer communication strategy, now is the time! 8x8 offers WhatsApp for Business service as part of our Chat Apps solution, enabling you to integrate WhatsApp seamlessly and easily with any of your existing systems.

To learn more about how we can help enhance your communications, check out 8x8 Chat Apps API.