In this article, you’ll learn what determines the WhatsApp channel quality and how to keep it high.
WhatsApp Channel Quality
The WhatsApp channel is a phone number connected to the WhatsApp Business API from which the business sends broadcasts. The quality of the channel depends on:
- The number of complaints received from customers. Customers can complain about spam, uncoordinated broadcasts, abusive communications, or block the channel without giving a reason.
- The number of messages read. For example, if many customers don’t read messages, the quality of the channel decreases.
The quality of the channel can be:
- high (green color);
- medium (yellow color);
- low (red color).
Thus, if the channel is constantly receiving complaints and customers are not responding to the messages delivered, the quality of the channel decreases. The quality of the channel also affects the daily limit.
Daily Limit
The daily limit is a certain amount of unique numbers to which a template message can be delivered. In case of complaints about the channel, its daily limit is decreased. The daily limit is set by Facebook for an unlimited period of time according to the quality of the channel.
Five levels of daily limit:
- 250 delivered template messages per day (for channels without Facebook Business Manager verification).
- 1,000 delivered template messages per day.
- 10,000 delivered template messages per day.
- 100,000 delivered template messages per day.
- Unlimited number of delivered messages per day.
To increase the daily limit:
- Maintain high channel quality. To find out the quality level of your channel, contact technical support (support@edna.io).
- Send Х/2 number of delivered template messages within seven days, where X is your current daily limit.
The daily channel limit may increase with high or medium channel quality, as well as in the Correct channel status.
Maintaining Channel Quality
To maintain a high level of channel quality and to reduce the risk of blocking, follow the recommendations below.
Starting Broadcasts
Start sending broadcasts one week after the channel is registered. Then gradually increase the pace over the next three weeks. The high activity of the new channel is considered suspicious and may result in blocking.
Agreeing to Receive Broadcasts
Allow customers to consent to receive your WhatsApp broadcasts. When writing the consent, specify the type of messages you want to send. An example of a consent:
- I agree to receive news and offers from <Company Name> on WhatsApp.
Refusing to Receive Broadcasts
Allow customers to unsubscribe from your broadcasts. This helps maintain the quality of your channel by allowing customers to unsubscribe from broadcasts they don’t want, rather than leaving complaints or blocking your channel. The option to unsubscribe from broadcasts should always be available in the message body. Examples of methods:
- Add the Unsubscribe reply button to the message or the Not interested button.
- Add at the end of the message body “Write a STOP so that you don’t receive any more messages from us”.
Template Message Content
Prepare a high-quality, easy-to-understand message template. We recommend:
- use emoji in the text;
- highlight important parts of the text with bold or italic font;
- break the text into small paragraphs;
- use attachments (images, videos, or files);
- use the reply buttons;
- use the link button or the call button.
Relevance and Sending Time
The broadcast should be relevant for each customer and sent at the appropriate time. Follow the recommendations below:
- Don’t send messages with negative content. For example, reports of debt collection or overdue obligations.
- Make sure that all variables are correctly specified in the message: dates, names, names of goods and services, and so on.
Contact customers directly and personalize message content for them.
- Explain to customers why they are receiving messages from you.
- Tell them why the message is important to them. For example: “You were previously interested in these sneakers.”
- If necessary, tell them that they have previously agreed to receive this message.
- Send broadcasts on time.
- Don’t send broadcasts about promotions that have ended or are about to end.
- Don’t send broadcasts on weekends, at night, early in the morning, or late at night.
Don’t send messages too often. You can send a few test broadcasts to determine the optimal frequency.
Make sure your template messages comply with WhatsApp’s terms of service and commercial policies.
Key template message requirements:
- don’t include information about gambling, credit, the sale of alcoholic beverages, or pharmaceuticals;
- don’t advertise other companies’ services.
Channel Verification
In order for the customer to see the name and phone number of the company when receiving broadcasts, verify your channel. See the article for instructions. The verification allows you to:
- increase customer confidence and reduce the risk of receiving complaints;
- reduce the risk of channel blocking;
- in the event of a block, increase the chances of it being lifted as a result of an appeal.
Communication with Customers
Process all customer responses to your broadcasts in a timely manner. Follow the recommendations below when communicating with customers:
Use a respectful tone of voice when communicating with customers.
When responding to a customer, consider the content of the broadcast and the entire correspondence history with that customer across all communication channels.
Respond to all customer messages in a timely manner, especially if they are urgent. We recommend responding to every customer message within five minutes.
Make sure your chatbot provides customers with relevant answers without repetition and a lot of additional questions.
Set up the ability to escalate customer inquiries to specialists, so that when difficult questions arise, the chatbot can escalate the inquiry to an appropriate specialist. The customer should also have the option of communication with a specialist.
Broadcast Check
Review each broadcast before sending. This will prevent many customer complaints. We recommend:
- Creating a test WhatsApp channel so you can send a test broadcast.
- Sending a broadcast of 1,000 messages from the test channel.
After sending, check the quality of your test channel:
- If the quality remains high (green color) after sending the broadcast, switch to the main channel and send from there.
- If the quality has become medium or low (yellow or red color), review and modify the text of your template message (see the recommendations above) or don’t send the broadcast at all.