Whatsapp owned by Meta is going to make a big change in the pricing policy of its business platform. From 1 July 2025, the company will charge a fee from all business accounts on the basis of per-message, which was still applicable on the basis of per-conversation.
META has described this change as a step towards matching and making pricing more transparent with the ‘messaging industry’s standard’.
Client interaction will get more flexibility
Under the new rules, if a business account responds to the user’s message and that answer is sent as a utility template, no fee will be charged on that message. This facility will be implemented only when the message is sent within the customer service window.
Utility template means that a message that is associated with transaction, order or service updates with the customer. These are informational, not promoter. At the same time, Customer Service Window states how long the conversation between the business account and the customer will be considered as ‘service interaction’. During this time some messages are not charged or concession is received.
Category and time role in pricing
According to the new arrangement to be implemented from July 1, WhatsApp will now levy a fee on every delivered message. This fee will apply to three categories of messages:
- Marketing template
- Utility template
- Authentication template
If these messages are sent outside the customer service window, each will have different charges. At the same time, the utility messages sent within the window will be free.
Volume-based rating system will also apply
Whatsapp has also announced that it will now introduce the volume tiering system. This means that those who send a large number of messages to the business account WhatsApp platforms will get messaging facility at low rates. This change will encourage companies to increase their reach through WhatsApp.
How will the charge of business account be fixed?
Whatsapp will charge on every message when they are delivered. Charge will be decided keeping in mind two things:
- The country code of the receiver’s phone number, that is, in which country it is.
- What is the category of the message, such as marketing, utility or authentication.
What will be the effect on business account?
Due to this change, those business accounts will have to revisit their strategy, which till now were using WhatsApp as a low -cost communication tool. Especially companies sending marketing and promotional messages will have to take new decisions in terms of both cost and frequency.
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