WhatsApp Business Pricing 2023 - Everything you need to know

WhatsApp has recently updated its pricing model which will be effective from June 01, 2023. Businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will now be charged per 24-hour conversation with different rates based on four different conversation categories. 

The conversation-based pricing model will cover four types of conversations instead of the current two – User initiated and Business Initiated Conversations. Any business-initiated conversation will be divided into three categories. In addition, users initiated will be categorized under service conversations. Let’s take a look at the 4 new categories:

User-Initiated Conversations

Service Conversations

These conversations are user-initiated wherein any user can open a new chat to raise queries. Businesses must respond to the user within the 24-hour customer service window. If a business responds with a template message in an open service conversation, it opens a new conversation based on the template category. Here are some use cases for user-initiated service conversations:

Business Initiated Conversations

Utility Conversations

These are business-initiated conversations that can be used to update customers about ongoing transactions such as shipment notifications, order confirmations etc. These conversations usually facilitate an agreed-upon request/transaction between the customer and the business. Here are some use cases of utility conversations:

Authentication Conversations

These are business-initiated conversations that allow businesses to authenticate users with one-time passcodes during the login process such as account verification, account recovery etc. Here is a use case for authentication conversations:

Marketing Conversations

These are business-initiated conversations that include promotions, offers or updates that incentivize customers to respond or take action. Any conversation that doesn’t qualify as a utility or authentication conversation is a marketing conversation. Here are some use cases of marketing conversations:

Additional Changes to the Pricing Model

The updated pricing model has extended the free conversation window from 1 to 3 days when a user initiates a conversation from Facebook/Instagram/Click to WhatsApp ads. In addition, WhatsApp will offer businesses a free tier of 1000 user-initiated service conversations from Jun 1, 2023 This is not applicable for any business-initiated conversations.

Value-driven Approach to Customer Engagement

WhatsApp has been known to prioritize its user experience. Introducing a tiered pricing model will allow businesses to communicate with customers in an effective manner. It is advised to develop a communication strategy based on these predefined categories to optimize and ease user experience.