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2. WhatsApp Integration FAQ's

Enrico Updated by Enrico

Conversation-based pricing is changing starting June 1, 2023. Please see their Pricing changes in this document to learn how this will impact you.

Conversation-based pricing until June 1st 2023

What is a “conversation”?

A WhatsApp conversation consists of messages exchanged between you and your customers. They fall into two categories that are priced differently:

  • User-initiated: A conversation that initiates in response to a user message. Whenever a business replies to a user within the 24 hour customer service window, that message will be associated with a user-initiated conversation. Businesses can send free-form messages within this 24 hour customer service window.
  • Business-initiated: A conversation that initiates from a business sending a user a message outside the 24 hour customer service window. Messages that initiate a business-initiated conversation will require a message template.

All conversations are measured in fixed 24-hour sessions. A conversation starts when the first business message in a conversation is delivered, either initiated by the business or in reply to a user message. Businesses and users can exchange any number of messages, including template messages, within a 24 hour conversation session without incurring additional charges. Each 24 hour conversation session results in a single charge.

Charges for conversations are based on the user’s country code. A user here is defined as the customer that your business is communicating with. Rates for business-initiated and user-initiated conversations vary by country or region.

Until June 1st

How will we charge for conversations?

Facebook applies charges per conversation that are based on the end user’s phone number and rates vary by market. Click here for details.

  • Landbot applies a fixed fee on top of Facebook’s.
  • The first 1,000 user-initiated (Service) conversations each month are free, and any customer with more than 1,000 user-initiated conversations or with any number of business-initiated (Marketing, Utility and Authentication) conversations per month will incur additional fees.

Check Facebook’s pricing documentation here.

About the 1000 free conversations

The free conversations are applied at the WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) level. This includes only user-initiated conversations (Service category). These conversations are not cumulative, they are renewed every month.

Business-initiated conversations (Marketing, Utility and Authentication) are not part of this free tier.

Do the free conversations from Ads that Click to WhatsApp count toward a business 1,000 free conversations each month?

No, the 1,000 free conversations is in addition to any free conversations from Ads that Click to WhatsApp. Learn more about Click to WhatsApp ads here.

If the business doesn't respond to a user message, will the business be charged for that conversation?

No. The user-initiated conversation only starts when the business responds to the user message. Further details here.

How does billing work if I have a yearly plan?

As a yearly plan customer, as always, you will be charged for the extra chat volume on a monthly basis. This means that, starting from March, the new pricing will be applied as well to your subscription when it comes to calculate your extra volume charge.

Conversation-based pricing starting June 1st 2023

What is changing? 

As you know, WhatsApp Business pricing is based on two conversation categories: user-initiated and business-initiated.

Meta is updating and expanding those categories into four new categories as detailed below:

  • There are three business-initiated conversation categories (all of which require customer opt in):
    • Utility conversations - Facilitate a specific, agreed-upon request or transaction or update to a customer about an ongoing transaction, including post-purchase notifications and recurring billing statements
    • Authentication conversations - Enable businesses to authenticate users with one-time passcodes, potentially at multiple steps in the login process (e.g., account verification, account recovery, integrity challenges)
    • Marketing conversations - Include promotions or offers, informational updates, or invitations for customers to respond / take action. Any conversation that does not qualify as utility or authentication is a marketing conversation.
    The fourth category is service conversations – all user-initiated conversations will be categorized as service conversations, which help customers resolve enquiries.

Starting June 1, 2023, new pricing will be applied based on these new categories. You can check here the new rate cards in your local currency.   

How will conversation charges be initiated?

Conversation charges will be based on template categories. Any time a new template message is delivered, a conversation charge will happen unless they belong to the same category. 

For example, if a utility conversation is open and a marketing template is delivered within that open conversation, a new, separate marketing conversation is opened and a marketing conversation charge is initiated.

However, sending multiple templates of the same category within an open 24-hour conversation will not incur additional charges.

The exception to this is free entry point conversations. During the free window, businesses can send multiple templates of different categories, and no new conversation will be opened.

What do you need to do to adapt your templates to the new categories?
  • Existing templates: All your current templates were migrated to the new categories automatically. However, there might be a few cases where recategorization failed. 
Before 15th May, please check your message template categories and status in your 360dialog Hub or WhatsApp Manager:

Other important changes: 

  • Free Entry Points: From March 1, 2023, the free window for conversations that start from Ads that ‘Click to WhatsApp’ and Facebook Page CTAs is being extended from 24h to 72h. More information.
  • Starting June 1, 2023, the first 1,000 free conversations will only apply to the Service Category (formerly user-initiated category). This means that business-initiated conversations will no longer be included in these free conversations. 

If you are facing any issues or you have any questions, please contact: help@landbot.io

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