Channel order and WhatsApp cost

Every automated message tries channels in the order you set, and stops at the first one that reaches the customer. The lower-cost channels come first; a paid WhatsApp template is used only if you allow it, and only up to a monthly limit you set. Your messages get through without surprise bills.

The channels

• Telegram: free; reaches only customers who have already messaged your shop's Telegram bot.
• Email: free; for customers with an email on their contact, if you have an email channel.
• WhatsApp within 24 hours: an ordinary message to a customer who wrote to you on WhatsApp in the last 24 hours. It is a service message: the first 1,000 a month on each number carry no Meta charge, and Meta charges for the rest.
• WhatsApp template (paid): reaches the customer at any time, and Meta charges for it.

If your account does not have a channel, it shows "Your account has no such channel" and the message skips it.

Order the channels

1. Open Campaigns, then Automated messages, and select Settings and results on the message.
2. In Channel order (1), drag a channel into place, or use the up and down arrows beside it.
3. To switch a channel off for this message, select its name in the buttons below the list; select it again to bring it back.
4. Below the list, Actual order shows the result once the paid-template choice is applied.

Choose when the paid template is used

• No paid messages (2): no paid message is sent. A customer no channel can reach without a charge does not get it.
• WhatsApp template as last resort: the default. The lower-cost channels are tried first, the template for whoever none of them reaches.
• WhatsApp template first: the template first, the lower-cost channels if it cannot be used.

You pick the template itself in each step of the message. Without one, the step goes out on the other channels only, whatever you choose here.

Cost and monthly limit

1. In Cost and monthly limit you see the Meta template category: Marketing (costs more) or Utility (costs less), with an estimate of the paid messages a month and their cost in US dollars at Meta's prices.
2. In This message's monthly limit on paid messages (1), enter a number such as 500, or leave it empty for no limit.
3. In Account monthly limit for all automated messages (2), set one ceiling across all messages.
4. Select Save.

We let you know at 80% and 100% of any limit. At 100%, paid messages stop until the start of next month, and messages with no charge carry on.

Automated messages' share of the monthly service-message allowance

The first 1,000 service messages a month on each WhatsApp number carry no Meta charge, shared by your team's replies and your automated messages; Meta charges for every one after them. In Automated messages' share of the monthly service-message allowance (%) you set how much the automated messages may use; the rest stays for your team. Past it, an in-window WhatsApp message counts as paid, at the service rate, in the estimate and the limits above. The field is hidden only if the platform has switched the service-message meter off. See WhatsApp service messages.

Note: costs are estimates. Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business account directly, and its invoice is the reference.