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WhatsApp Line Rules and Best Practices for Messaging

Product: Whatsapp Customer Engagement

This guide provides an overview of the essential rules for managing WhatsApp lines and best practices for sending messages, based on Meta’s official documentation. Following these guidelines will help ensure compliance, maintain high-quality interactions, and boost customer engagement.

1. User Consent

  • Opt-In: Your business must obtain explicit user consent before sending messages. Ensure users have opted in to receive communications.
  • Opt-Out: Provide users with an easy and prompt way to unsubscribe from messages. Respect these requests immediately.

2. Account Verification

  • Business Verification: Your business must complete the verification process to gain access to the WhatsApp Business API. This process ensures the authenticity of the business and provides users with a verified badge.

3. Message Types, 24-Hour Rule, and Message Templates

  • Transactional Messages: These include order confirmations, delivery updates, and other non-promotional content. They are allowed as long as the user has opted in.
  • Promotional Messages: WhatsApp has strict rules on sending promotional content, typically allowed only through paid WhatsApp Business API channels.

24-Hour Customer Service Window

  • User-Initiated Conversations: Your business can freely communicate with users within a 24-hour window from the user’s last message. After 24 hours, you must use a pre-approved message template to reach out to the user.

Message Templates

  • Pre-Approved Templates: When reaching out to users for the first time or after the 24-hour service window, businesses must send pre-approved message templates. These templates must comply with WhatsApp’s guidelines and cannot contain promotional content. WhatsApp reserves the right to review, approve, or reject templates at any time.

Note: In Truora’s platform, we refer to Message Templates as Outbound messages. These terms are interchangeable and refer to the same concept: pre-approved templates for sending messages outside the 24-hour window. You may encounter both terms when working with our platform.

4. Messaging Limits and Automatic Scaling

The number of business-initiated conversations (conversations opened by sending Template Messages–referred to as Outbound Messages in Truora’s platform–to a WhatsApp user) is subject to daily limits.

Here’s how to manage and increase those limits:

  • Initial Limits: Your business phone numbers can initiate up to 250 conversations within a 24-hour period.

  • Increase to 1K Conversations: Your business can increase the messaging limit to 1K using the following methods:

    • Business Verification: Complete the business verification process.
    • Identity Verification: After submitting business verification, you may be asked to verify your identity.
    • Open 1,000 Conversations in 30 Days: By initiating 1,000 unique business conversations within 30 days, while maintaining a high quality rating, your business can qualify for an increase in messaging limits.
    • Send High-Quality Messages: Consistently sending relevant and valuable messages that users appreciate can positively impact your quality rating and contribute to increased messaging limits.

  • Automatic Scaling for Higher Limits: Higher limits (10K, 100K, Unlimited) can only be achieved through Automatic Scaling, which becomes available once your limit has been increased to 1K. To automatically increase your messaging limit, your business must meet the following criteria:

    • Connected to WhatsApp Business API: Your phone number must be connected to the WhatsApp Business API.
    • Quality Rating: Your quality rating must be medium or high.
    • Initiated Conversations: In the last 7 days, your business must have initiated at least half of its current messaging limit. For example, if your limit is 1K, you must initiate at least 500 business-initiated conversations.

    If these conditions are met, your limit will increase after 24 hours. Visit Whatsapp Business official Messaging limits documentation for detailed information and instructions.

5. Ensuring High-Quality Messaging

Maintaining high message quality is essential for avoiding penalties and building a positive reputation with Meta, which can also help you qualify for messaging limit increases.

  • Align with Messaging Policy: Ensure messages comply with the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
  • User Consent: Only send messages to users who have explicitly opted in to receive them from your business.
  • Personalization: Tailor messages to individual users by providing relevant content, and avoid generic greetings or intros.
  • Frequency and Length: Avoid overwhelming users with frequent or lengthy messages. Keep communication concise and send valuable information at a manageable pace.

6. Quality Monitoring and Limits Reduction

WhatsApp monitors message quality using user feedback, such as blocks, reports, and reasons users provide when blocking your business. Messaging quality is determined by how well your messages are received over the past seven days, with more recent interactions weighted more heavily.

  • High-Quality Messaging: Maintain a high standard of communication to increase engagement and prevent limit reductions.
  • Low-Quality Penalties: If your quality rating remains low for 7 consecutive days, your messaging limit may be immediately reduced. If your business consistently receives low quality ratings, WhatsApp may even suspend your ability to send messages.
  • User Reports: If users frequently report your messages as spam or abusive, your business may face penalties, such as message limits or, in severe cases, account deactivation.

7. Compliance with WhatsApp Messaging Policies

Your business must adhere to WhatsApp’s strict content guidelines when sending messages, to avoid restrictions or removal from WhatsApp Business Services:

  • Profile Information: Your business profile must include valid contact details such as an email, website, or phone number.
  • Truthful Communications: Do not impersonate another company or mislead users about your business’s nature.
  • Opt-in Permission: You may only message users who have provided their phone number and explicitly opted in to receive communications from your business on WhatsApp.
  • Respect User Preferences: All requests to block, discontinue, or opt-out of communications, whether made on WhatsApp or through other means, must be respected and executed. Remove users from your contact list and avoid confusing, deceiving, spamming, or misleading them with your communications.

Visit the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy for full details.

8. Privacy and Security

  • Data Protection: Your business must handle user data responsibly and comply with applicable data protection laws.
  • End-to-End Encryption: WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that only the sender and receiver can read them.

9. Prohibited Content and Organizations

Your business must avoid certain prohibited content and use cases, including:

  • Prohibited Content and Activities

    • Illegal Activities: Content related to illegal activities, hate speech, violence, or any form of discrimination is prohibited.
    • Spam: Sending unsolicited messages or spamming users is against WhatsApp policies.
    • Sensitive Information: Sharing personal, sensitive, or financial information is strictly regulated.

  • Prohibited Organizations and Use Cases

    • Terrorism and Illicit Activities: Any involvement in terrorism, organized crime, and illicit activities.
    • Sale of Prohibited Products: Sale or promotion of illegal, restricted, or harmful products (e.g., firearms, alcohol, drugs).
    • Fraudulent or Exploitative Services: Any services that are considered fraudulent, misleading, or exploitative services (e.g., dating services, payday loans, peer-to-peer lending).

For a complete list of prohibited uses, regulated verticals, and exceptions, refer to WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.

10. Compliance with Local Laws

  • Regional Regulations: Your business must comply with local regulations and laws, including consumer protection laws and data privacy laws, in the regions they operate.

References

For more details about the content in this guide, WhatsApp Business policies, and how violations of terms and policies are detected, please visit the following sources: