Best Practices
Follow these guidelines to maintain good phone health, keep your templates approved, and avoid getting flagged or restricted by WhatsApp.
Opt-In Requirements
WhatsApp requires that customers opt in before you message them. This means:
- Customers must actively agree to receive messages from your business
- You must clearly explain what types of messages they’ll receive
- Opt-in can happen through your website, WhatsApp forms, ads, or in-person
Sending messages to customers who haven’t opted in is a violation of WhatsApp’s Business Policy. It leads to high block rates, quality drops, and potential account restrictions.
Avoid Spam Flags
To keep your block and report rates low:
- Don’t over-message — Space out your campaigns and sequences
- Keep content relevant — Send messages that match what customers signed up for
- Provide opt-out — Include an easy way to stop receiving messages
- Time it right — Avoid sending messages late at night or too early in the morning
- Personalize — Use customer names and relevant details in your messages
Template Approval Tips
To get templates approved by Meta quickly:
- Be specific — Clearly describe the purpose of the message
- Avoid prohibited content — No gambling, adult content, or illegal products
- Don’t be misleading — Template content must match its category
- Use proper grammar — Well-written templates are approved faster
- Include opt-out language — For marketing templates, include “Reply STOP to unsubscribe” or similar
- Avoid excessive variables — Don’t make the entire message a variable
Maintaining Phone Health
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
| Send to opted-in contacts only | Blast messages to purchased contact lists |
| Monitor quality rating weekly | Ignore quality drops |
| Respond to customer replies quickly | Leave conversations unanswered |
| Use approved templates for outreach | Send free-form promotional messages |
| Segment your audience for campaigns | Send the same message to everyone |
The One Sequence Rule
Each contact can only be enrolled in one active sequence at a time. If you enroll a contact in a new sequence, they are automatically removed from the current one. Plan your sequences carefully to avoid interrupting ongoing drip campaigns.
Conversation Categories and Pricing
WhatsApp categorizes conversations for billing purposes:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotions, offers, product announcements |
| Utility | Order updates, account notifications |
| Authentication | OTPs, verification codes |
| Service | Customer-initiated conversations (first 1,000/month free) |
Service conversations (where the customer messages you first) have the lowest cost. Design your workflows and ads to encourage customers to reach out first using Click-to-WhatsApp ads.
Click-to-WhatsApp Ads
For the best results with WhatsApp, use Click-to-WhatsApp ads on Facebook and Instagram. When a customer clicks the ad, it opens a WhatsApp conversation with your business — starting a service conversation at lower cost.
Pair these ads with a Workflow that has a trigger set to catch incoming messages, and you can automate the entire conversation from ad click to conversion.