WhatsApp Business is reducing utility message rates and increasing marketing message rates. A change that aims to encourage business communication and reduce spam.

The new utility rates will take effect on August 4, while the marketing conversation rates will take a couple of months longer, as they will take effect on October 4. This is the first change to conversion rates since WhatsApp moved from a flat rate to charging by category.

The platform has sought to address user complaints about the increase in spam messages on WhatsApp over the past year. With this rate change, the company has implemented the first measures to protect users.

Another measure they tried to implement earlier this year was restricting marketing messages sent to users in India through “Marketing Template Message Limits per User” guidelines. In this way, Meta blocks messages it deems “less likely to be read” to avoid saturating users.

From Meta, they explained to TechCrunch that they are working to find the right combination of tools to maintain an excellent experience when sending messages to businesses via WhatsApp. The brand's goal is for WhatsApp to become the main communication channel between brands and customers.

How do WhatsApp Business rates work?

Meta offers four different rates for its messaging services: marketing (offers, new products), utility (order updates, account balance), authentication (one-time passwords), and service (customer inquiries).

The rates are different in each country. For example, in Spain, the marketing fee is €0.0509, while in India, marketing fees range from $0.0099 to $0.0107 (+8%), and conversion fees are down by 67%.

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